Intergen's newsletter, Smarts, now available for online reading. Intergen provides information technology solutions across Australia, New Zealand and the world based exclusively on Microsoft’s tools and technologies.

1. Our Technical Services team deserve a special mention. The team has not only
had to deal with the Auckland office move and the establishment of the
Christchurch office on top of their normal work load, but also a planned power
outage in our Wellington office. We have a contingency plan to cope with power
outages. A generator was rented and parked on the car park above our server
room. The switch in the server room was flicked from mains to generator and we
went through a six hour power outage without a moment’s interruption to service.
Neal Blomfield has just returned from a week in Seattle where he was one of
about 100 people from around the world participating in a Software Design
Review for Microsoft’s Indigo technology. Indigo represents the next step for
Service Orientated Architectures and is due for release late in 2005. Neal
was the only New Zealander there and the knowledge he gained
is critical to Intergen maintaining its leadership in the
areas of web services and application integration.
Also worthy of mention is the Intergen Creative
Studio, finalists in the e-Government section of
the annual TUANZ (e)-vision Awards for our work
on the www.ltsatransact.govt.nz site.
the last SMARTS for 2004 and, although it seems
very early, the team at Intergen and I would like
to take this opportunity to wish you and your family
a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
It has been a busy few months at Intergen. Our
Auckland team completed their move to new offices
in Takapuna. It is great for the team to have new
offices with a fitout tailored specifically for our
needs. It is also great to have a proper
server room in Auckland with a high
speed internet connection over AT&T
fibre. This gives us the opportunity
to build redundancy in to our
hosting offering.
We have also opened an office in Christchurch.
We are now able to provide a greatly improved level
of support to our South Island clients. The team is based
in Armagh Street and has been busily pursuing new
opportunities as well as working with existing clients.
I S S U E E I G H T
>> HOT NEWS:
>> T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E
NEW PRODUCT >>
2
3
4/5
6
7
8
Offices, outages,
and ovation
< Copyright 2004 Intergen Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission of Intergen Limited >
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS >>
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS >>
INTERGEN NEWS >>tony.stewart@intergen.co.nz
INTERFACE DESIGN >>
INTERGEN PEOPLE >>
CSA for CRM in NZ. Intergen is now
a Certified Software Advisor (CSA) for
Microsoft CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) in New Zealand. Emma
Cuttance and Dwayne Bace passed three
exams which covered understanding the
application functionality as well as the
ability to install, configure and customise
Microsoft CRM. The Certification is
granted by Microsoft Business Solutions
to companies which demonstrate a
defined level of expertise with Microsoft
CRM, and are therefore better able to
help customers achieve successful
solutions. For Intergen’s clients, the CSA
status reinforces our demonstrated
expertise with Microsoft CRM and our
ability to deliver successful CRM solutions.
New Auckland office phone
and fax numbers. As a result of
the recent Auckland office move to
Level 1, 2 Fred Thomas Drive, Takapuna
there are new phone and fax numbers:
>> Phone: 09-966 3070
>> Fax: 09-966 3071

2. Web Analytics – Intelligent
Website Evolution
>> INTERGENITE:
< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E E I G H T >>> B U S I N E S S S O L U T I O N S
Mark Trotter
What do you do?
I work in the Professional Services team
as a Solution Manager, but also dabble
in a bit of development when time
permits.
How do you make a difference?
I look after customers’ needs and
concentrate on project delivery to
ensure the best solution possible is
delivered.
What do you love about your job?
Working in the many different
industries that Intergen is involved
with, finding out about the nuts and
bolts that make them work and
applying technology to make them
work better!
A bit about yourself?
I am a car nut and I’m always looking
for the next ‘go faster’ bit to make my
go faster! I love playing with new
technology and am always looking for
the next gadget to play with...
>>2
There’s more to building and developing websites
than most people think. In this article Intergen’s
Professional Services Jeff Sutherland explains how
we can provide customers with regular analysis of
user interaction of their website.
Web Analytics works in conjunction with the Interaction Prototyping system our
Creative Studio utilises to ensure web users have a positive experience when
navigating your site.
“Thank goodness our website is finally up (or rebuilt/enhanced/modified), now
we can relax.”
Well yes, and no. Go ahead, take a deep breath and congratulate yourself! OK,
break’s over, it’s time to get on with it.
Websites need to evolve over time to reflect changes in your business and your
customer’s interaction with it. If your store or the service you offer was confusing
or didn’t do the best job possible of serving your customers, you would want to
know so you could change it, right?
Your website is a reflection of you and your organization. It truly is the storefront
or virtual lobby of your business for those who wish to work with you, or more
importantly transact with you online. It carries your brand and for some is
possibly the only channel in which they will ever interact with you.
But given the nature of the Internet and online interaction, how do you know
what your customers are doing or where they are going on your website? How
do you know what changes to make to assure that they have the optimum
experience possible?
If asked, would you be able to tell:
>> How long they stayed in your “store”?
>> Which “door” they came in? (Yes, there is often more than one.)
>> Which “door” they exited through?
>> What “departments” they visited?
>> Where your customers came from?
>> If most of your visitors go to one particular department of your site?
>> What information they look at?
>> What information they don’t look at?
>> If they came directly to your site or were they “referred” there?
>> Did they find you via a search engine? If so, which one?
Answers to these questions are available for your site but how do you make meaningful
changes based on this information? What indicators do you look for and how do
you modify your site to optimize its value to your visitors and your organization?
This is the art and science of Web Analytics.
In a nutshell, Web Analytics is the method of looking for patterns in the
data generated by the use of your website and then applying that information
in the best possible way for you and your visitors. One of the greatest
aspects of making this informed change is that the resulting variation (or
lack thereof) in behavior by your visitors is itself measurable and can be
made meaningful. The application of web analytics results in a continuing
“feedback loop” that allows
you to intelligently evolve
your website to support your
business objectives.
This is what we bring to the
table… the knowledge,
experience, technical savvy
and business acumen to
intelligently effect
meaningful, informed change
to your web presence.
jeff.sutherland@intergen.co.nz
BUILD
ANALYSE
with web
analytics
FEEDBACK
(site data)
CLIENT DEPLOY

3. < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E E I G H T > >>3>> I N T E R F A C E D E S I G N
SERVICES OFFERED
BY INTERGEN
CREATIVE STUDIO
Brainstorming and workshop
facilitation
Identity development
Web site usability audits
Concept prototyping
Web site interface design
Application interface design
New Zealand Government Web
Guidelines compliant design
Web site build, production and
maintenance
Digital illustration and photographic
manipulation
Motion graphics (animation)
Visual standards documentation
You’ll find more information about
Intergen Creative Studio at our web site
in the Services section
http://www.intergen.co.nz/Services/
CreativeStudio/
and some descriptions of our
accomplishments in the Experience
section
http://www.intergen.co.nz/Experience
/DesignLead/
You can also contact our Creative Director
Eamon O’Rourke at
eamon@intergen.co.nz
Get creative!
It’s time to shed a bit of light on the visual
communication design skills offered by our
specialist Creative Studio team. Our interface
designers are well known for their successes
designing application interfaces, intranets and e-
government compliant web sites. However, there’s
much more to their skills and
experience than that!
No project too big, no task too small
There’s no question that with massive, successful
web sites like www.meridianenergy.co.nz,
www.immigration.govt.nz and
www.wellingtonnz.com under our belt, no
project is too big for Intergen’s creative team.
“I know you guys are busy. I didn’t want to
bother you with this small project”. Not true!
Our interface designers pride themselves on
their attention to detail and looking after the absolute minutiae of our customers
web sites on an ongoing basis. We enjoy long relationships with our loyal
customers and know that the greatest mutual benefits come from brand and
business knowledge accrued over time.
Having made a significant investment in the look and feel of your web site,
sustaining the consistent and professional presentation of your brand
communication online requires ongoing resource and commitment. While content
managed solutions enable you to freely publish new content, they also present
ongoing challenges sustaining the visual presentation standards established
when your web site was first rolled to live.
“Because the internet is an inherently fluid medium, the greatest challenge facing
web site owners is sustained control of visual presentation standards achieved
at go live” – Alan Doak, Senior Interface Designer
Don’t make me think
Is your web user interface keeping up with the needs and demands of your
audience? Is it meeting the communication and interaction requirements of the
business? Is it providing the returns you anticipated?
Keeping your interface design aligned with desired user activity is a constant
challenge. Even a relatively new interface solution can benefit from a usability
audit and customer activity review, as subtle changes can achieve dramatic
results.
We recently conducted a mid-life review of the highly successful WellingtonNZ.com
homepage and have significantly changed traffic patterns through the site as
the result of minor design and information hierarchy presentation.
“Accessibility and usability criteria must be
factored into decision-making processes for
the entire project duration. Anything less
is a Bandaid strategy” – Rebecca Cox,
Production Designer
TUANZ (e)-vision Awards Finalist
We were thrilled to be recognised by our
peers in the annual TUANZ (e)-vision Awards
with the Land Transport Safety Authority
Transaction Centre (www.ltsatransact.govt.nz)
reaching the finals in the e-Government
category. This project represented a rare
opportunity to create a transactional web application that eliminates the need
for our country’s 2.2 million vehicle owners to conduct over-the-counter transactions
every time they need to relicence their motor vehicle (among other things).
For the second year running Eamon was also a guest judge at the TUANZ
(e)-vision Awards, this time in the Information/Reference category. Once again
he was highly impressed with the standard of the finalists and the eloquence
of the solutions in this challenging category.
“I’m greatly encouraged and enthused by the quality of solution New Zealand’s
leading web designers are providing. The bar has been raised again!” – Eamon
O’Rourke, Creative Director
At the TUANZ (e)-vision Awards: Eamon, Kahu,
Mark, Alan, Jill and Rebecca

4. Intergen and Content
Management
The Internet continues to redefine the possibilities
for organisations well beyond what many have
ever imagined. Websites and online applications
are now a core component of business interaction.
Some organisations now focus much of their
attention to what they do online.
This requires levels of quality, service and timeliness not possible or practical
using traditional tools and techniques. A centralised and easy-to-use content
management solution is a critical component. Successfully designed and
implemented it will streamline content publication and allow content to be
personalised to meet customers’ requirements.
Intergen has a long history of the design, development, implementation and
hosting of content managed Internet solutions. This includes the set-up of New
Zealand’s first Microsoft Content Management Server-based website and hosting
environment. Our methodology has been finetuned to cater to the aspects
particular to ensuring successful content management.
K a n d u h ö r a t r u m m o r n a , F e r n a n d o ?
Can you hear the drums, Fernando? Intergen is proudly beating the drum for the
latest import from Sweden. To compliment our extensive experience with Microsoft’s
Content Management Server product and based on customer feedback, we
determined that an alternative product offering from Intergen was required.
Following a worldwide search involving product suppliers from New Zealand,
USA, UK and Sweden, Intergen has chosen to bring EPiServer to the
New Zealand market.
EPiServer, from ElectroPost in Sweden, stood out as the best fit for New Zealand
website requirements. In addition to offering extensive out of the box functionality,
EPiServer allows Microsoft solution specialists like Intergen to extensively customise
and extend functionality without requiring significant redevelopment or negatively
impacting on-going support. Used in over 1150 Internet-based solutions, EPiServer’s
pedigree dates back 10 years to well before content management solutions were
common. Over this time ElectroPost has focused on user needs and continually
enhancing the solution without compromising these needs.
Intergen is the first EPiServer partner in the southern hemisphere. A number
of our staff have completed product training and we are about to launch a new
version of our own website using EPiServer as the content management engine.
In addition we are working on several opportunities in the New Zealand market.
If you would like any additional information on EPiServer
or would like to organise a demonstration to see just why
we are so excited by it, then please contact Wayne Forgesson.
Wayne.forgesson@intergen.co.nz
>> INTERGENITE:
Imelda
What do you do?
I am setting up the customer support
network and structure for the ever-
growing number of Intergen customers.
I am working within the Technical
Services team assisting with Domain
registration queries and managing the
Technical Services helpdesk.
How do you make a difference?
Ensuring customer’s queries and
concerns are listened to, investigated,
answered and actioned is really
important in maintaining customer
satisfaction. Keeping up good
ommunication with customers can
potentially produce more work for
Intergen with future enhancement jobs
or new technology upgrades.
A bit about yourself?
After obtaining my Information
Technology degree I started full time
work at the Electoral Enrolment Centre
where I was responsible for managing
enrolment contractors (people on the
street obtaining enrolments). Because
of my study I also ended up being the
internal application support person for
the organisation.
Wanting to get more into the IT industry,
I applied for this job at Intergen and
started work in August 2004.
Outside of work I enjoy socialising with
friends, going to the gym, participating
in sports like indoor netball /soccer and
any other outdoor activities.
< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E E I G H T >>>4 >> N E W P R O D U C T

5. >> N E W P R O D U C T >>5< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E E I G H T >
A d d i t i o n a l p r o d u c t s o f i n t e r e s t
In addition to our current content management solution offerings; Microsoft Content Management Server and EPiServer, Intergen also supplies
and implements Mondosoft’s enterprise search and behaviour analytics solution.
Ideal for organisations who want to know what their website visitors are looking for, Mondosoft works with both Microsoft Content Management
Server and EPiServer based solutions. More information can be found at www.mondosoft.com
E P i S e r v e r
EPiServer is a database-driven platform comprising all the core
functionality necessary for managing content and publishing websites.
Since its inception, EPiServer functionality has been driven by the
day-today needs of web publishers and authors. As importantly, it
caters to the needs of technical staff in regard to security, performance
and expandability. EPiServer is a web publishing tool for simple and
swift handling of information on Intranets, Extranets and public
websites all from the same environment.
Simple – working with EPiServer can be compared to a simple form
of word processing. This simple approach means employees can focus
on the content and structure of the website not how they will make
updates. EPiServer also includes bi-directional seamless integration with
Microsoft Sharepoint, enabling content and documents to be shared.
Use Office as your editor – In EPiServer, authors can create and
modify content directly from MS Word, Excel or PowerPoint. Texts
and pictures can be edited in Office and published on the web via
EPiServer. The graphical profile of the web site can be obtained,
because EPiServer takes away unnecessary formatting from the Office
documents. After publishing the information, the author can update
and modify it from Office or in EPiServer.
Dependable – EPiServer is the most widely adopted web publishing
tool in Scandinavia, with over 1150 sites using EPiServer.
Personal – EPiServer is designed to allow different roles for different
people and includes support for different types of workflow.
Secure – EPiServer uses the same authorisation model as Microsoft
Windows. This means that different access rights can be set-up
depending on who the user is and that a public website can also
function as a company’s Intranet or Extranet solution.
Technology – EPiServer is 100% based on Microsoft’s proven .NET
framework. Key technological features include caching, Open
Development Architecture (ODA), load balancing, synchronisation
and scalability.
EPiServer is a web content management platform that can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of customers during installation or that
delivers standard content management functions “out of the box”. A number of templates and functions are included with EPiServer including:
>> Normal information page
>> Multi lingual page (that can
be customised for Maori)
>> News listing
>> Forms
>> Voting
>> Calendar
>> Newsgroups
>> Flash Viewer
>> Forums
>> Sitemap
>> Alphabetical contents
>> Recently changes
>> Document and file listing
>> Subscription
>> Searching
>> Mobile handsets
>> Slide show
>> Profile search
>> Portal function
>> Exchange integration
>> RSS Source
>> The authority of the
Swedish railway
>> The Swedish Integration Board
>> The Swedish Consumer Agency
>> The Prison and Probation
Administration
>> National Food Administration
>> National Board of Forestry
>> Swedish Maritime
Administration
>> Swedish Nuclear Fuel and
Waste Management Co
>> The District Court of Stockholm
>> Swedish Institute
>> Swedish Road Administration
>> University of Örebro
>> The County Administrative
Board of Stockholm
>> Swedish Export Credit
Corporation
>> Swedish Institute
- www.sweden.se
>> Ministry for Foreign Affairs
>> County Goverment of Dalarna
>> County Goverment of
Stockholm
>> County Goverment of Uppsala
>> Swedish Museum of Natural
History
>> Statistics Sweden
Functions not included can be built or may already be available from EPiServer’s international partner community.
EPiServer is utilised by a number of leading Europeans companies including:
EPiServer is also extensively used within the public sector at organisations such as:
[ L O G O S T O G O H E R E ]

6. >> INTERGENITE:
Tony Yee
What do you do?
I’m a Quality Assurance Analyst in the
Professional Services team. My role is
to establish the degree of quality of
applications and websites to ensure our
clients’ business and software requirements
have been met.
How do you make a difference?
Part of my role involves testing the
applications to minimise any risk in a
product, we have developed. This enables
me to improve any areas of weakness
associated to a product providing our
customers with confidence in their
relationship with Intergen. Some people
may argue that developers should be
responsible for the quality of their
applications. This can be summed up with
the quote: “The significant problems we
face cannot be solved by the same level of
thinkingthatcreatedthem”–AlbertEinstein.
What do you love about your job?
There is an excellent work culture at Intergen
that I’ve never experienced in previous work
environments. The enthusiastic staff, career
development and very entertaining Friday
afternoon meetings are only a few reasons
why Intergen was a finalist in the 20 best
places to work.
A bit about yourself?
I graduated from broadcasting school with
aspirations to become a radio announcer
(I didn’t have the face for TV). I left radio
and fell into a job as a test analyst in one
of New Zealand’s leading banks. When
I’m not testing applications I like to
practice the guitar, do a little boxing, paint
and cook culinary delights – my biggest
challenge is trying convincing my friends
I can cook something other than fried rice.
< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E E I G H T >>>6 >> I N T E R G E N P E O P L E
Frag… Camper... Owned...
Just some common word used in normal conversations?
Yes, but these are also well recognised by the large
number of Intergen staff who are keen computer gamers.
A large number of our team enjoy computer gaming on either PCs or specialist
consoles like the X-Box. That’s no surprise given the number of technically-focused
staff at Intergen. What is interesting however is the number of years that some
have been playing games – over 20 years for our more diehard gamers.
Also of interest is the large number of staff who say computer games were the
inspiration for their chosen careers. Spend some time on the gamers e-mail
subscription list at Intergen and you’ll get a sense of the interest and passion
that this geekiest of geek topics invokes. It isn’t just the debate about the latest
games but also numerous comments about the hardware required to run the games.
Obsession or commitment?
Both and neither. Like most hobbies and recreational activities everyone does
it for different reasons. In some cases it is the stress relief of mindlessly shooting
anything that moves, while for others it is the challenge of beating others in fast
paced online activities with a blur of the fingers over the keyboard.
Yes, there are some signs of obsession like the following from JD: “I brought a
second copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon because I lent my copy to a girl in high
school and couldn’t handle not playing it for a couple of weeks.”
One thing they all agree is that it’s entertainment.
We are starting a whole new generation of Intergenite gamers with the Intergen
XBox becoming a popular attraction for children during the weekend visits to work.
Glossary – for the non-gamers
Frag : term to describe you killing another player – e.g. I fragged his ass!
Camper : term to describe someone who hides in dark/hard to get to places
to try and gets cheap surprise kills (or sniper kills)
Owned : When you got fragged and there wasn’t going to be any other result.
(similar to “you got schooled”)
Hax : General wahhhh used when you can’t believe someone can be better
than you – basically trying to implicate that the person is cheating
or using some kind of game hack (because you just got owned)!!
What is it about gaming?
By far the most common response from the group is the stress relief, relaxation
and interactivity that gaming offers through escapism. Comments included:
“There is nothing like “blowing away” your workmates and friends
in the latest FPS” (first person shooter).
Other reasons included the challenge of playing against other human players
and the social aspects of competing against other gamers.
Recommendations
By far the most contentious question
is what games the gamers recommend.
While all acknowledge that gaming is
fun, and when pressed they will play
almost any game, they all have their
favorites. First however, you need to
cross the threshold of debate around
PC games versus console based games.
Beyond this comes the first person
shooter vs real time strategy. A topic
and question that requires extensive
time to debate and to which there
really won’t be a definitive answer.
However the following are games that
were suggested as “must trys”:
R e a l t i m e s t r a t e g y :
Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour
Age of Mythology: The Titans
Civilisation series the latest being Civ 3
F i r s t P e r s o n s h o o t e r :
Unreal Tournament 2004
Aliens vs Predators 2
Doom 3
Halo (Xbox)
Role playing
Thief 3

7. >> B U S I N E S S S O L U T I O N S < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E S E V E N > >>7
You’re going to Sydney!
That’s how a love affair began. A trip to Microsoft
Australia to attend a briefing on a new technology
called Information Bridge Framework (IBF).
Microsoft technical briefings are like a box of chocolates; you never know what
you’re going to get. In this case, I went to Australia with little idea about what
I was going to see. There was some mention of MSOffice 2003 XML support
which is one of my favourite technologies so I was already interested to see
where the Microsoft Office team were taking this feature.
Boy was I impressed.
The first Information Bridge Framework demonstration had barely started and
I was sitting on the edge of my seat. I stayed like this for the rest of the briefing.
Charles Maxson, the project lead for IBF, welcomed my questions. There were
lots of them. When I left Sydney there was one thought buzzing around my head:
Everyone is going to want this!
W h a t i s M i c r o s o f t I n f o r m a t i o n
B r i d g e F r a m e w o r k ?
IBF is a collection of tools and guidelines for leveraging Web services and bringing
corporate data directly to desktop-based emails, spreadsheets, and documents.
Solutions based on IBF allow information workers to access business critical data
in familiar desktop applications. This gives them immediate visibility into corporate
information, across disparate data sources, and provides for faster response time
and decision making. Requests to IT and other specialised groups for specific
data are eliminated; because all the necessary data is accessible via the task
pane in Word, Excel, or Outlook. This also eliminates the need to manually collect
and publish this content.
H o w d o e s i t w o r k ?
When an IBF-enabled office document is
opened on the users’ desktop, context
sensitive business information and available
actions pertaining to that information are
displayed in the Office task pane. Business
Objects can be recognised with the
deployment of Smart Tags so that incoming
emails, documents and spreadsheets can
transparently provide additional information
about the person, organisation, account, etc
from any or all of the line-of-business systems
that store this information.
B e n e f i t s o f I B F i n c l u d e :
>> Improved decision making process as information workers now have
access to all data necessary to analyse and address business issues
>> Line-of-business applications are easier to use as the Office application
becomes a single source for data and business logic
>> Reduced cost associated with information worker research and data
integration – users don’t need to request and aggregate information
from multiple sources, the application does it
>> New and temporary staff need only be trained in the use of Office.
The application provides a standard interface to multiple systems.
The information that is displayed has been retrieved from the line-of-business applications with the deployment of
XML web services that expose this information. These web services can also expose methods to act on the information.
Actions are made available within the familiar Microsoft Office environment without the need to open multiple
applications to facilitate changes in disparate line of business systems.
In a nutshell, the IBF can provides the information worker with the information they need, when they need it, and
the ability to act on that information from within the familiar Microsoft Office desktop environment.
IBF is an exciting addition to the Microsoft Office 2003 suite and I am looking forward to demonstrating this awesome
technology for you.
A word document
containing a
reference to a
client organisation
is received.
The smart tag is
clicked and the
organisation
details are
displayed in the
task pane.

8. >> I N T E R G E N N E W S < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E E I G H T >
F i n d o u t m o r e a b o u t I n t e r g e n :
Auckland: 09 966 3070
Wellington: 04 472 2021
Christchurch: 03 964 0017
info@intergen.co.nz
www.intergen.co.nz
Clockwise: Ready Steady Go! Robert Ingledew at one with his
horse! Wine Tour – AJ and David Brown discussing the finer
qualities of wine tasting! Derek Watson stuck in the river!
The Flying Elvis’s! (JJ & Partner, AJ & Partner in foreground)
Horse riders – Paddy Payne and Family, Nick Urry, Robert
Ingledew, Daryl Gill and Partner;
Intergen Weekend Away
On the 18 – 19 September the annual Intergen Weekend
away was held. Previous destinations have included
Taupo, Napier and Turangi, but this year, the Wairarapa
was destination of choice.
With everyone settled into Masterton base camp, Saturday marked the beginning
of the weekend proper. Two groups were formed – those taking part in a horse trek
and the remainder boarding the ‘magic’ bus bound for the Martinborough vineyards.
The horse trek was enjoyed by all who attended with most notable blunder going to
Robert Ingledew, who found dismounting his horse at speed a rather painful experience!
Likewise, the tour of the vineyards presented an excellent opportunity for some of
the Intergen wine connoisseurs to practice their skills – or lack there-of in some cases!
A final stop at the Martinborough Brewery was a highlight, especially with the unexpected
arrival of a bus load of Elvis look alikes in full regalia!
Quad biking was the order of the day for Sunday. Some rain over the previous few days
had made for a challenging course with many numerous Intergenites succumbing to
the various mud and river hazards, offer but all making it through unscathed!
Roll-on weekend away 2005!
Mark Trotter markt@intergen.co.nz
Wild On>> W A I R A R A PA