Around the world and back again
Dick Hubbard has served as Mayor of Auckland, circumnavigated the world two up on a motorcycle up with his wife Diana and founded Hubbard Foods with social responsibility at its heart. His memoir, Life’s a Bowl of Cereal, blends humour, candour and reflects on his life, and he’ll be talking all about it at this year’s Queenstown Writers Festival.
Dick writes with warmth, humour and honesty about leadership, values and the importance of making a positive difference. Now based in Queenstown with his wife Diana, he continues to champion philanthropy, sustainability and community wellbeing.
“It’s about all ages and stages,” Hubbard says of his book. “I’ll be 80 later this year and I figured if I didn’t do it relatively soon, it probably wouldn’t get done and I wanted to achieve a couple of things.”
One was to impart a sense for his love of adventure, which is woven throughout the novel and a very important aspect of his life Something he’s had since he was young, he really wanted to impart that curiosity on readers – go out, take risks and extend yourself, and the feeling that comes from a good adventure. The other thing that was important was capturing the Hubbard Foods story, which was established in 1988.
“We took the company down a fairly unique path. I think with our advocacy for companies and sustainability, and social responsibility, we were one of the earlier voices in that area.”
Hubbard sold the business around five years ago, with only one quick break in the middle where he served as Mayor of Auckland between 2004 – 2007. This was a chapter in his life that he described as an interesting contrast between the business world and political world.
“The ground rules are very different in both worlds, and I came in as a political novice because I hadn’t had any involvement in central government or local government politics before then but it was quite a stimulating experience. I think we achieved a lot in Auckland.”
Another part of his life that’s explored in the book is his world travels and motorcycle adventures. He and wife Diana are the oldest couple to circumnavigate the world, two up on a motorcycle by both the polar and equatorial routes. They’ve been to about 85 countries and done around 400,000 kms over the last 10 – 12 years. Diana was hesitant to get on a bike at first, but she warmed up to the idea.
“My wife was never going to get on the back of a motorbike – it was too dangerous, too uncomfortable. I persuaded her to ride on the back of a motorbike from Picton to Blenheim and if she didn’t particularly enjoy that, it was only 20km or so, she could hop on an airplane at Blenheim and fly down to Queenstown while I brought the motorbike down. She hopped on the back and she’s never hopped off.”
He’ll be interviewed by journalist Amanda Robertshaw, who has won both national and international awards for her work as a journalist and film maker. She has extensive experience on daily networks and regional news programmes, and does an amazing job at helping individuals to tell their story. While Hubbard isn’t sure what direction the conversation will take, he hopes to entertain the audience.
“It’s not just a case of taking the serious side of things. I’ve tried to keep the book itself reasonably light and recount some of the humorous anecdotes, situations and paradoxes that have come our way over the years because I very strongly believe that a core sense of humour is very important in what you do and how you go about it. Sometimes you just have to look at the lighter side of life and the almost-ridiculous situations that you get yourself in.”
Dick Hubbard will be in conversation with Amanda Robertshawe at Te Atamira on Friday, 6 November at 2.30pm. You can grab tickets and find more information at qtwritersfestival.nz/
