About Liz Waters
After a career which started in the newsrooms of the New Zealand Herald and Northern Advocate, Liz Waters and former husband David Waters built the 42-foot ketch Pendragon in Whangarei. They then spent four years sailing her round the world, crossing the Indian Ocean and rounding the Cape of Good Hope.
The trip involved four trans-Atlantic crossings, and shore time in such far flung places as St Helena and Bahia in Brazil as well as the West Indies, Bermuda and the Azores and, on the return voyage from Britain, the Panama Canal, the Galápagos Islands and French Polynesia.
They completed the circumnavigation in 1977, restored a derelict sailing scow and, after the birth of the first of their three daughters, bought shares in Waiheke’s newspaper.
Waiheke in the feisty 1980s was their next adventure.
Liz took over sole ownership in 1994 and since then Gulf News has continued its tradition of in-depth, professional reporting on local issues, picking up its fair share of awards along the way.
Liz sees a strong local newspaper that gives in-depth coverage of the issues that affect it’s community as a key factor in helping a region maintain its identity and the engagement of the whole community in its own decision making.
Staying true to the paper’s long heritage of being driven by journalistic endeavour rather than commercial imperative is something she holds dear.
“We have a job to do. That is what we owe people and that is what we offer advertisers – a newspaper that is a must read in the community because it canvases all those issues that are important to people who live here.”
As with any newspaper, she says, “ you’re only as good as last week’s issue”.
Liz’s love of sailing continues with the 32-foot classic Woollacott boat that she bought as a derelict hull and restored eight years ago.