The Country 13/06/25: Gabe Ross and Riley Meason talk to Jamie Mackay

The lads from The Weekend Mish, a multimedia platform showcasing their outdoor adventures and promoting sustainability and conservation, talk about their Roadie to Fieldays and how they fared in the tractor pull.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I ran into these guys at the Toyota site. I'm
not sure they're not brand ambassadors, but they're the boys,
the lads from the weekend Mish And you know, social
media is not totally my thing, but I'm told you
guys are huge. You've done a courtesy of Toyota, a
roadie to the Field Days. Tell us about that. I'll
start with with you, Gabe. Let me start that again.

(00:22):
I'll start with you, Gabe Ross.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, thanks for having us on board here, Jamie. We've
come down or come up actually from our hometown in
Hawia and we spent about six days driving a Prado
up to here Field Days in Hamilton. It was absolutely
fantastic and we got involved in plenty of activities.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Now and we're we're going to come to your mate
and just tick Riley Meeson. But you're from a very
well known I guess farming business, entrepreneurial family, the Ross family.
Your mum and dad own Lake Harweia station.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah that's right.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, No, it's a fantastic place to call home. I
absolutely love it down there on Hawia.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
And your brother Finn, I think he is your older brother,
isn't he? He was the startup I think with Eve
McCullum for future farmers.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah they are. Finn's a very ambitious, bright young man.
So he's a fantastic older brother and yeah I learned
a lot from him.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Okay, let's welcome in courtesy of Toyota.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Riley messon. What's your background? Riley, mate?

Speaker 4 (01:19):
My background's a bit of footy and then a bit
of a machine operating a bit of fun. You know
that's all all about.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
So the Weekend miss I did some homework on you guys,
so let me see what it says. The lads from
the Weekend mish a multi media platform showcasing outdoor adventures
and promoting sustainability and conservation. And I guess that's where
Lake harwea station comes in. And then Rowena's footnote was
think hunting and fishing escapades plus survivor skills. To that end,

(01:47):
one of you, or was it both of you won
the TV show Tract.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, now that's right, Jamie, Riley and I both competited
in Tract, which was a reality TV show about three
years ago at the air two years ago, I think Riley,
is that correct? Yeah, we're lucky enough to win it
after eight weeks of running away from the sas guys
and the bush.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
It was good fun.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
How do you monetize because we're all on the media,
it's all about making money or you get the sack
quite literally. How do you how do you monetize your
podcasts and your social channels at the weekend?

Speaker 4 (02:18):
Mish Yes, so it's a bit a bit more tricky
in New Zealand. It's not as easy as states in
other countries. You know, overseas they get paid by views
on Instagram and TikTok, but in New Zealand we don't
have that feature. So we do brand deals, brand partnerships
like with Turda, and we also do get monetized for
our YouTube channel, so that is paid perview, but that's
our main streams of our income. Yeah, brand partnerships.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
And so talk to me about the roadie from Lake
Harwa up to here and what were land cruiser or
a prato.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
We're in a land cruise ofer prato. So we start
started in Harware and we cruise on up the west
coast of Friends Joseph where we tried to little bit
of hunting, very unsuccessful, and then we buzzed on over
to christ shir it's a bit of fine dining. Had
a nice steak which was interesting. And then from there
we shot up to the Molder Sounds. We had a bit
of fishing and diving. Never done anything of their force
and that was absolutely stunning. And then yeah, up to

(03:06):
the North Fold. It was pretty cool. Got to go
through the old Twury headquarters.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Bit of a tour.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
It was pretty special. And then yeah, three around and
we ended up here at Field Days. There was an
absolutely worked road tri at that land because a prito
super comfy.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, And on Wednesday show we had Dame Valerie Adams
and Richie mccaugh and I wandered along to the Toyota
site earlier in the morning and I witnessed Dame Valerie
destroy Richie mccaor on that power Paul thing you've got going.
And I know you two are probably worn out because
you've been competing against each other.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
So who finally won the head to head? I was
actually Valerie Adams. No, no, no, no, no, I'm talking about
you too.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
I know Riley and I well, we lost to Valerie,
and Riley has been losing to me over the last
couple of times.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
I was waiting for a start there, and I.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Just want to get it out there that a pensioner
unnamed beat Wayne Yolow Lang for the President of Federated Farmers.
That was pretty impressive, wasn't it. Yeah, there was impressive, Jamie.

Speaker 4 (04:01):
I think there was actually the pool of the day.
I reckon that was unreal.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
We'll leave it at that.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
I don't know if I want to be associated with
the poll of the day, but hey, well done lads.
Great to have your hair courtesy of Toyota. Enjoy your
trip back. The lads from the Weekend, Miss Gabros and
Riley Mason