This is a time of year when many of us don't find it too difficult to come up with reasons why we love living in Rotorua and the Waiariki region.
For those passionate about the outdoors and recreation, the proximity to the forests, lakes and the sea provide the perfect playground
for individuals, whanau and competitors.
For those like me, who enjoy sitting back and taking a more relaxed appreciation of things, the array of festival and music options during the last month have been sensational, including Lakeside, opera, jazz, reggae and R&B.
While the weather has done its best to heat up in recent days, so too must prospects for business.
The election is set for November 26 and political battle lines have been drawn providing, if nothing else, a degree of certainty for getting on with the year ahead.
But much of the focus has been more on which parties aren't prepared to work together, rather than those that are. This is likely to set the tone for a year of political jostling. It is going to be a tough ask to propose any substantive policies in a year when the cupboard is so bare and it costs near $1 billion a month just to keep the machine turning.
One certainty is that the rumblings within parties and their individual MPs will amount to nothing if we haven't grasped the reality that 2011 will be all about the need to fix the economy, create more jobs and improve the wellbeing and social fabric of our society.
Our ability to enjoy the things we do comes at a cost. Our obligation to meet the cost and remain productive and able to pay our way, is something we face together. Nationally, regionally and locally, we can't keep borrowing beyond our means.
Much of what we need to do is achievable - we simply need to be more creative, encouraging investment, creating sound opportunities and capturing our wealth, as individuals, corporates and iwi, by reinvesting in value-adding ventures, industry and infrastructure to grow a prosperous New Zealand.
We are a nation of opportunity and, while we haven't fallen off the edge yet, we are not far from it.
