June 13, 2023 • 37 mins
Today we speak to Sian Noble-Campbell, who hails from the UK but is now based in the Waikato.
Sian is a co-founder of the Matahuru Valley Walk, a beautiful walk situated in farmland, with stunning views, several stands of native bush including a kauri grove and of course the Matahuru Stream.
As well as the Matahuru Valley Walk, Sian helps run Midlife Downunder, a Facebook page that celebrated the ups and downs of midlife years.
We talk to Sian about how she began the Matahuru Valley Walk (which started with one of our very own episodes), her RWNZ Activator experience, and how her life has changed since being an empty-nester.
You take a look at the Matahuru Valley Walk here: https://www.matahuruvalleywalk.co.nz/
And you can listen to the episode here: https://linktr.ee/ruralwomennz
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to the Black Heels and Tractor Wheels podcast, where
we are sharing stories from a range of women from
around New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
For nearly a century, Rural Women New Zealand has been
dedicated to strengthening and supporting women and children to become
empowered members of their communities.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We hope that by hearing these stories from inspiring women
all around the country, you'll feel inspired yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We're your hosts, Emma Higgins and Claire Williamson and would
love for you to join and subscribe to our podcast
so you don't miss our rural stories. Well, Sean, thank
you so much for joining me this evening in amongst
a rather chaotic week for you. So really appreciate you
making the time to have a catch up with us.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
So, as you might be aware, we like to sort
of ask our listen, our interviewees to cast their mind
back just a few years to their childhood and how
they grew up.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And so I'm really interested to ask you, because I
know that you didn't grow up in New Zealand, what
was your childhood like? Where was it? And tell us
a few stories about your experiences growing up in the UK.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Grew up right on the English Welsh border in a
very small village. It was a really rural upbringing. We
weren't actually farmers, but we had you know, what we'd
call a New Zealand a little lifestyle block, and we
had a few sheep, and I had the pony, and
when I got sick of the pony, it became a
(01:34):
tennis court, and I had chucks, and there were you know,
we grew lots and lots of food, lots of fruit
trees and a massive bidgiegarden, big bowls of raspberries, you know,
throughout the summer. So we were really lucky growing up.
And we had lots of friends who were farmers, so
I spent a lot of my holidays on farm. But
(01:58):
I never ever envisaged moving on to a farm, or
marrying a farmer or any of that. I never envisaged
that as a child growing up. But looking back where
we lived, you know, it was pretty idyllic, beautiful countryside
and like those patchwork pictures of the of the landscape
with all the different colors of you know, there was
(02:19):
some cropping and sheep and cattle and dairy and it
all happens in Herefordshire, which which was where I was
brought up. Yeah, it was. It was really lovely. And
my mum's family were farmers in Wales, so there was
always that tie going back to her family farm, and
you know, she was always telling us about what her
mother did, bottling fruit and milking the housecow and all
(02:41):
that sort of thing. Yeah, so yeah, you can look
back now and I think, gee, I was pretty lucky,
really yeah, So I'm really glad that my own kids
sort of got to experience the same lifestyle, probably on
an even better Really.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, speaking of your kids, I feel like we've skipped
a waste step here and I think I'm not sure
if I've heard the story actually about how you're and
Andrew met So tell us a little bit about how
this idyllic childhood in Herefordshire and England and on the
Wales border kind of got you to out here at all,
(03:17):
with the fantastic Andrew and your beautiful children.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I went to university very briefly. It didn't wasn't a
good fit for me, and at the time my parents
had just decided to buy the Village Pub. And anyone
that's been overs the UK knows that the Village Pub
is really the hub of the community and that's where
all the fun is to be had. So I sort
of was able to leave university with the proviso that
(03:44):
I was going to manage the pub. So I did
that and I learned how to cook. And we used
to have lots of farmers because we actually bought the
village pub where I grew up, so we knew everyone.
And one of the farmers used to have Kiwis over
to help with the lambing beat, so they would come
over and lambing it over there, obviously is very intensive,
(04:06):
and you know they're all fazed inside, and you know
they're really pampered. And so Andrew came over and did
that for a couple of years, and then he'd carry
on for the sharing season and he'd share up in Scotland,
and then he'd go away again and then you wouldn't
see him for sort of nine months. So it did
(04:28):
take him a little while to you know, get going
with the dates. But the second year when he came back,
he's always been a bit slow on the outtake on
that department, but he he came back the following you
and did the same thing. And that coincided with when
we sold the pub and he was heading off to
Scotland and I didn't have any plans, so I took
(04:52):
off up there too and got a job in a
hotel up there for the summer, and we sort of
never did after that. We just he was sharing more then,
so he was following the springs. So from Scotland he
headed to Australia and then he'd spend most of the
spring there, zip back over to New Zealand for sort
(05:13):
of Christmas in the main share in December, and then
head to America, and that sounded quite exotic to me.
I thought it sounds a bit of fun. So we
did that until we had children. Yeah, James was born
in two thousand and two and Emma very soon after
in two thousand and three, so that sort of made
(05:37):
things a little bit difficult to travel. So Andrew is
still sharing at that stage, and that's when we ended
up on the West Coast. So we started a sheer
farm with Andrew's brother in a little settlement called Curtihrry
on the west coast of the North Island. Sheer farming
and sheep and beef obviously is quite a novel. It's
(05:57):
still unusual now, but it was really usual then. And
that was a great start, but we realized it wasn't
going to be quite big enough for the both of us,
hope that you know, for his brother and us to
sort of progress as we wanted to. So then we
approached the needies that you know, were opposite you, and
(06:18):
we ended up able to share farm that farm for
five years, and that's how the children ended up being
brought up having the farm life. Andrew's always carried on sharing,
but then they were sharing their own sheep. We shore
all our own shape and saved a lot of money
by doing all that, and other farms in the district
with other ex sheras because there seemed to be quite
(06:40):
a few extraers out there, and so they all used
to help each other out. And yeah, it was, it
was great. Loved every minute of it. On the coast,
it was.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It was. I still remember when you moved in next door,
and I got a couple of lovely little babysitting charges
in a fantastic cock who lived next door, who I
could ask for cooking tips, and yeah, and some wonderful
friends as well. So I think I think we were
very much the lucky ones with all these skilled people
(07:09):
moving into the district. So I am just really interested
just for a second to pack up on this sheer
farming thing and don't have to go into a heap
of detail. But I know that there are a lot
of younger couples out there who do want to potentially
take that path that you have in terms of getting
into farm ownership, which we'll talk about in a second.
(07:32):
But how did that work for you and what did
it do to help you into that next step that
you took from there?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Yeah, So the farm that we the second farm that
was opposite you that we share farms alone, that was
about a thousand and eight because of Hell Country, And
we approached the farmer because we knew he'd been looking
for a manager and he'd been unsuccessful and then he
thought he was going to sell and it just wasn't
right time, and so I think, well, we definitely we
(08:02):
approached him and said, look, you know, we've already done
a shear farm agreement and it's worked really well. It
seems to be the way we do it is that
we bought all the stock Andrew got paid a manager's wage,
a low manager's wage to be honest, but away a
manager's wage to actually do the farming, you formed a
(08:23):
partnership with the farmer, so it was all one entity.
We owned the stock, he owned the land. All the
costs were paid for by the partnership and then at
the end of the year you basically split the profits.
But he got his his share. He was sort of
(08:45):
paid monthly like as a least. You know, he got
it in advance really, so if there was any extra
in the year, then obviously he got another payment. But
he had an amount that he was guaranteed to get.
If it was a bad year, still got it. We
just got a lot less.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
It was.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
It was a really hard It was hard. It wasn't
the greatest few years for farming at that time, so
that was probably about I think two thousand and eight
was in there then. So there was some some rough times,
but you know, it was where we wanted to be.
We were able to bring the kids up. We wanted
to bring them up. We managed to when we bought
(09:25):
our stock. We brought them. At the time, the stock
were quite low priced. And then after the five years
when we only did it for five years, and at
the end of the five years it was on a high,
so up till then actually on paper. It wasn't a
great deal at all, but because of that lucky break,
(09:47):
we were able. Then Andrew had decided that he didn't
want to continue on that particular farm, and in the
meantime he'd learned how to pregnancy test sheep and cattle.
That was the next step. He was offered a business
up in north Way Kado. So when we sold all that,
we actually bought our first property and had our first powable,
(10:11):
our first own powable, and he was I think nearly forty.
So we moved up to Pukikawa and that was a
small lifestyle block. It was eighteen acres, and then we
ended up buying the neighbors the following year, and that
land up in the north Way Kado is well, it's
vegetable gardening land, you know, it's beautiful soils. And we
(10:35):
stayed there looking after the lifestyle bloc. I also trained
to become a primary school teacher online, so Andrew had
his business scanning and then he went back sharing in
main Share and I was teaching full time. So we
did that for a few years, and we were honestly
(10:58):
thinking that would probably be for us, because you know,
every time we looked at buying farms. They just got
further out of our reach for various reasons. You know,
banks would change there the way they were lending. We
got through several times when we were almost there and
then things would change. It was quite demoralizing, really, but
(11:19):
we'd never totally given up. And I always remember just
before COVID, I mean, we were all fairly happy. We'd
also got a sharing contract in business by this stage,
so we were really busy and with teenagers and horses
and motorbikes, and you know, we were sort of always
doing something. Pre COVID. I kept seeing Andrew. You'd be
(11:39):
on the iPad and he'd be on trade me looking
at farms, and he just kept looking, and I said,
this is ridiculous. You've either got to go that next
step and go through and have a look, go actually
go and visit some of these farms, and actually go
through the process of seeing if we can do it.
It's it was hard to watch just keep looking and
(12:01):
looking looking, but we felt like we weren't going to
ever be able to achieve that. Well, then COVID came,
and this is probably our biggest stroke of luck, is
that after the first lot of COVID when all the
Aucklanders realized that, you know, being stuck in a little
box with their children for weeks on end was not
(12:22):
a great It was not a great fun. So the
lifestyle block market just went bananas. And so then we
narrowed a couple of farms down that we thought we
might be able to have a look at and went
to see both of those, and the one that we
bought it just ticked all of our boxes. I mean,
(12:45):
Andrew had always wanted a stony bottomed creek, and he
wanted some native bush. He wanted some flats and medium
and some steep. He just wanted something that he could
put his stamp on, but something that was easy to run,
because he was always knew that we weren't going to
be able to afford a big enough farm for him
not to have to go scanning. When we drove around
(13:07):
the farm, it was chucking it down with rain. It
was a horrible day, and you know, we went round
on the motorbike and I just kept mentally going tick yep,
it's got that tick. And then when we went into
the woolshed and it was this awesome woolshed that hadn't
been used for ten years, but it was just perfect.
(13:29):
I thought, oh, look, we've just got to just give
it our all and try and get in, and with
the rising prices of the lifestyle blocks, we were able
to do that, and you know, we just felt the
luckiest people on earth.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Actually, that's a really amazing through and I hope that
there are other people out there who feel the sense
of achievement that that must have taken for you guys
to stick with that for so long. And I know
because I watched you at the start. I watched you
the entire time that you've been striving towards this skull,
(14:04):
and I have to say I feel emotional about the
fact that you've finally got there, which is incredible. So
I'm really stoked that you shared that story with us,
because I think there are a lot of people out
there who have different pathways perhaps but sort of want
the same goal. So that idea of having your businesses
on the side, you being able to work off farm
(14:25):
as well, building that up and then yep, a couple
of strokes of luck. But I'm sure that everybody gets
those in some way or another. So let's talk a
little bit about now the beautiful business that's been born
from this land, alongside some of your neighbors. The Matahudoo
Valley Walk, which I believe has only now been running
(14:47):
for about six or eight months. So tell us a
little bit about the beginning of the walk and the
business and what it does.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Started off by actually it came from listening to one
of the episodes of Black Heels and Tracked Wheels when
you had Kirie Elsworthy on from the Torah Coastal Walk,
and I was driving along listening to that, and I
just thought, oh gosh, all of those walkers must want
(15:18):
somewhere else to go. I know, I mean, I've known
so many people that have done the walk. I still
haven't got to do it, so it's on my backet list.
But I listened to the podcast and I just I
just was so inspired by the story. I had also
just been on a guided walk on the able Tasman,
so I'd had the comfy beds and the nice food
(15:39):
and someone carrying your pack, and I've got to admit
that was amazing. So I was thinking about all these
things we could do, primarily because I thought Andrew, you know,
he can't share forever. He probably wants to well I'm
not sure if he can, and so I wondered about
(15:59):
how the farm could diversify to allow him to be
able to not do that, and various ways we could
do it. And I looked at you know, putting a
glamping hat on the farm, but that's a massive investment.
You know, we're not in the position to do that yet.
So I was thinking about that. But then when we
heard that podcast, I just went, oh, wow, this might
(16:22):
be it. This coincided with a beef and lamb catchment
workshop we had doing farm planning when I had chance
to chat with Mary, our next door neighbor, and she said, oh,
I got an idea for you, and she'd had the
similar she'd thought about a walk. So that started us
(16:42):
off and once I got her positive sort of feedback,
I thought, we need some accommodation. And you know, that's
the only thing that's really missing from here. Kirsten further
up the road, had they just bought their neighboring farm,
which this beautiful old farm cottage on it that they
(17:02):
had restored and got going on the airbnb market. So
she just started that. So I sidled along to her
and said, hey, you know, how would you feel about
being a walk accommodation and their farm is quite different
to us. It's further up the valley and it's a
(17:23):
lot more sheep country, and it's beauty. It's at the
top of the valley and it's got some stunning views
and you can look right over to the Firth of
Thames and up to the Corimandel from there. And I said,
how do you would you feel about trying to create
a walk on your farm too, and she was very
positive too. So in a matter of weeks we'd applied
(17:44):
to go on the Activator program and got the thumbs
up for that, which we were really so stoked to
get on because although we had these great ideas, we
had no business experience with tourism, you know, we had
a lot of questions. So being able to get that
feedback for some really you know, knowledgeable people was unbelievable.
(18:07):
And we were also put in contact with Kerrie who
had I had a lengthy telephone call with her and
I asked every question under son and she so freely
gave her information. It was it was just incredible. So yeah,
a very busy winter last year, creating a two walks
and setting up a website, Luckily, Kirsten is very onto
(18:29):
it with technology, so she saved us there. I took
on the marketing and the social media, and Mary had
this great ability to keep us all on and even
keel and she she is a fantastic administrator, so she
was able to do all the emails. And she's also
(18:50):
incredibly creative and she's painted all us signs and done
all that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
It was.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
It was full on, but it was lots of fun.
Mary and Kirstin and we're all at different phases of
our lives. Mary's newly retired. I was sort of just
empty nesting. My children had moved out from home and
I was still trying to find my purpose now that
you know, they didn't really need me that much. And
Kirsten's got two young children so her life is really busy. Yeah,
(19:18):
we just came together and we said, do you think
we could be open for this season? And oh gosh,
we thought we were pushing it a bit, but we
just had to give it it all and hopefully that
you know, with limited advertising and marketing experience, we would
get some bookings. And I've got to admit, the champagne
(19:38):
corks flew when we did get that first booking. It's
been a funny old season for a first season. With
the weather that we've had up here in the way Kidow,
we've you know, we've been dealt a few blows and
luckily we had to put a few details on after
the cyclone, but we were able to rebook all the
people that had to miss out because we had Oh,
(20:01):
Mary and Wayne have had I think forty slips on
their place, so we've had to, yeah, do a few
detours and you know, think on our feet, but overwhelmingly
positive comments from everyone that's come and the bookings are
looking really good for the start of next season. We've
still got gaps, so anyone wants to get a group together,
(20:23):
there's still plenty of space there. But it's looking really
positive and a great way to diversify. It has cost
minimal amounts to actually it's time that's taken. The cost
of setting up the walk hasn't cost us too much,
and we've got the beautiful accommodation. I've got my experience
as a cook for all those years, so you know,
(20:45):
we've all had great skills that we've been able to
draw on, and yeah, we're really excited for the future.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I just love the story in There are so many
things that I'm picking up here on gems of how
to actually gets something like this off the ground. So
I'm actually just so over the moon that.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
This was a rural woman inspired beginning and then we
were able to help you with that second stage through
Activator and some connections, and you've actually been able to
go out and actually create something incredibly epic because of
such a great skill set that you've got across all
three of you.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I'm really interested in how you've set this up from
a financially if that's okay to share, not specifics, but
just around how that works for each of you, what
you do from a practical perspective, that kind of thing.
It would be really good to understand that for more collaborations.
I think you guys are the collaboration King and Queen.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Initially, we weren't quite sure how to set it up,
to be honest, because we had Kirsten with her already.
Her business with the Airbnb was already sorted, and we
were trying to work out how we could actually do
it all. So we created a separate entity, so the
Matahry Valley Walkers a company we're all third we're directors
(22:08):
a third each in that company. So how we've worked
it so far, and I mean it may change in
the future, but at the moment, how we work it
is when we have a booking, we take it in
turns to be the guides and the cooks. So, for example,
(22:31):
I might have six people for the two night experience
because we do a one night er and a two nighter,
So I'm cooking for two days breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning tea,
afternoon tea. We've got our set menus. I have to
greet the walkers, I have to give them a safety inspection,
(22:54):
give them all the health and safety inductions, and then
I'm pretty much full on cooking for them for those
two days. So how we work it is that we've
worked out what it costs us for food for each person,
and we've also worked out what we thought our time
was worth and then divided it per person. So at
the end of that weekend, I'll build the farm walk
(23:19):
with an invoice saying, you know, six people for two
days at X amount, and so I get paid for
my work straight away, and then Mary might do you
know another book in the following weekend, or during the
week or whatever. That's how we've started it. And then
obviously at the end of the year when we've done
(23:40):
our accounts, we've actually been paid for our work. So
anything that's left in the kitty is our profit. And
we've tried to and of course Kirsten gets paid separately
for her Airbnb, and we said that we wanted to
be We didn't want any bargains. We wanted her to
charge us exactly what she would charge if she was
doing it for anyone else. So so far, so good,
(24:01):
it's working quite well. You don't underestimate. I mean, I'm
an experienced cook and I've you know, I've cooked for shearers,
I've cooked in hotels and restaurants, I've catered for weddings
and cooking at this level with the we've sort of
put the expectation on ourselves that the food has got
to be amazing and you know, it's got to be
(24:25):
consistent quality every time. So we've really worked hard to
make sure our menus are you know, top notch, and
all our ingredients are local. We've got a fabulous local butcher.
We want to use local, seasonal ingredients and so it
takes time. You know it takes time to do all that,
and so yeah, it's it's it's really exciting. We're all
(24:51):
enjoying it, and financially, we're being paid feeling for what
we do. It's got to be sustainable if we if
we weren't going to make any money, and what's the point,
you know, I think we've worked that sustainable. As far
as we get paid for what we do, we don't
have to wait, and that keeps everyone happy. More shoes, manbags,
(25:13):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Well black here, I love this. It's just so cool
to hear of a collaboration that's working so well that
everybody is being paid fairly for their time, but you're
also able to achieve more as a collective, which is
just fantastic. I want to pack up on something else
that you said earlier about finding your purpose outside of
(25:38):
being a mum to Emma and James, and what that
next phase of your life looks like. And I know
that you've spent a little bit of time supporting others
in this space as well, and I wondered if you
could share a little bit about what that journey's been
like for you, what things have helped you, what things
you found challenging, what things other people have asked for
(26:00):
advice on, and a little bit more about that topic.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Your purpose as a woman if you're a mum is
your kids for so much of your life. You know,
they come first, They always will to some respects, but
your midlife years, your forties into your fifties, you know,
when they're leaving and doing that, starting their own lives.
That coincides with perimenopause and menopause for most women. You know,
(26:28):
it's all going to happen to us. So for me,
when the children were young, I was able to stay
on the farm. I was an at home mum. I
never missed anything, you know, I did my parent place
into duties and even when I trained to be a teacher,
because I was a teacher at my kids' school, I
still was able to go to everything. So I felt
really involved in their life and you know, spend a
(26:50):
lot of time getting them to what they wanted to do.
Emma did a lot of show jumping and James did
a lot of motocross, and you know, we were able
to support them with that. So when they left, James
as a shepherd on a big station and Emma's done
at Uni and Lincoln I and we just moved to
the farm. This all coincided at the same time. So
(27:11):
I gave myself eighteen months to find my feet. I
learned how even though I'd been living on a farm
in the early days when the kids were a little
I didn't actually do a hell of a lot of
farming per se. You know, I'd help in the yards.
I'd you know, drench some lambs and cooked for the
shearers and that sort of thing, but I didn't do
(27:33):
any mustering. I didn't think i'd be able to do that.
So I decided that, you know, this dream, even though
it was Andrew's dream, it had become my dream too.
So I thought, well, I really need to learn how
to do all that stuff. So I Andrew got a dog,
luckily that was willing to listen to me, and I
(27:53):
took that on as that was going to be my
face because I was going to learn to be a farmer.
And so those were a lot of new skills to learn.
But I also felt that my purpose as a mum,
it just felt like I was in limbo a little bit,
and so learning how to be a farmer, thinking about
(28:14):
this new idea and new possibilities with the walk that
sort of kept the creative juices flowing in my brain.
The challenges were always there, and I was also learning
about the intricacies of farming that had sort of just
gone straight over the head. Really that then, combined with menopause,
there was a lot going on a huge part of
(28:37):
your life. It also coincides with aging parents and might
be some health issues in there, and you know, there's
so much going on that and I also realized, like
many others, that there is so much that we just
didn't talk about, we don't know about. There seems to
be a movement in the UK that really hadn't happened
(28:58):
in New Zealand. A few years ago and a friend
of mine, Lisa Manning, we decided to start a Facebook
group up to support other women and it's called Midlife
down Under because in the UK we always called Australia
and New Zealand down Under, and because we were both
from the UK, we thought that was an apt title,
and we also did some podcast interviews ourselves. Unfortunately, the
(29:24):
podcast is sort of a bit of a hiatus at
the moment because I had no idea how long how
much time that book to keep up, and our skills
as producers weren't that great. But the Facebook group has
been unreal. It has been people have come up to
me and said, you know, this has really helped me
(29:47):
because nothing's off limit. It's a private Facebook group. We're
all women, we all have the same issues, you know.
And through that and through interviewed Nikky Bizont, who wrote
a book about menopause, I thought, I'm going to give
this HRT ago because my biggest symptom. I didn't think
(30:07):
I had major symptoms, but the worst symptom I had
was for no apparent reason, I would wake up at
two o'clock in the morning or three o'clock in the morning.
Never had before, but suddenly I ended up waking up
in the morning after being awake for an hour in
the middle of the night. I was exhausted and I
(30:29):
just felt like my brain wasn't working properly. I had
low energy. Well, yeah, I just thought, this sleep, it's
just it's like having a newborn again. And then I
read that HRT can really help with that, and the
benefits of HRT to me far right way any of
the risks that they used to say that there were.
(30:50):
So I got on board with that and talked to
my friends about it and encouraged them to look into
it themselves. Luckily, my sleepless nights a thing of the past.
And I also think that the conversation that has been
started around menopause and New Zealand is catching up with
the UK. And obviously there's a lot of people to
(31:13):
thank for that, but you know, we feel that our
little Facebook group has definitely helped and grown and will
probably continue to grow, even if it's just for the
funny brain fog moments. You know, I found a packet
of past from my freezer the other day, and you know,
you put a little faced up about that, and you know,
it just keeping it real for everyone, because you know,
(31:35):
fifty percent of the population are going to go through this,
so it's worth talking about.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
And you know what, it's just so comforting to know
that you're not alone. I think, even if some if
people know that there are other people going through it,
there's nothing like having that verified by a story or something.
We go, oh, that's me as well, it's not just me,
And that's a really important pat of building a community.
(32:01):
What you've done an incredible job of sort of speaking
of community and achievement in business and helping others. I
am just so interested to know what the next twelve
months holds for you.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
Shan.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
You're such an absolute shining light of excitement and giving
things a go, and I'm so I'm proud that I've
known you for a long time. So tell me a
little bit about what the next twelve months holds for you.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
Well, it's going to be a really interesting twelve months
because my best friend Paula and I have been saving
for nearly ten years for a big oe. So we
are heading off to Europe for a month and together.
That's happening in September. So that has been it's been
(32:57):
put off since COVID, so it's been, you know, a
long time coming. But you know, we put our money
away every week and have saved for it and we
just count what. I just cannot wait to show her
the Luire Valley and Tuscany and then we're finishing off
with a nice little cruise on Croatian Islands. So so
(33:23):
let's really look at something. That's what That's what I'm
focusing on at the moment. But I also went back
full time teaching this year and so luckily my employer
that was a condition of me taking the job was look,
I'm sorry, I've planned this for a long time. I'm
going and so I've started teaching you seven and eight again.
(33:43):
That was another little lich that was there. I just
missed having a class. It has meant that, you know,
the weekends while the walk season were open, was you know,
pretty chaotic because when I took the job, we actually
hadn't got huge amounts of bookings, but as soon as
I got the job, there was a rush. So it
(34:05):
has been all hands on deck there, which has been challenging.
And so that is going to have an impact on
two and four. You know, I'm going to be really
busy and the walks looking really busy. So that's the
beauty of having three partners in the business. You know,
we're working together and making it work for us so
that it's sustainable because you know, a lot of small
(34:28):
businesses don't manage to last that long. So the walks
looking really exciting. We've got lots of groups of ladies,
generally ladies. I'd say eighty to ninety percent of walkers
are women, and the bigger groups are starting to come
because it's just great to be able to turn up
(34:51):
somewhere and know that you don't have to cook anything
and you can just spend time connecting with your friends
or family with that, you know, having to think too
much about anything else. You know, have a lovely walk
and catch up with everyone. So that's going to be
keeping us up the valley really busy. But also we're
(35:13):
looking at ways that we can give back. A couple
of years ago, I had a chance to raise some
money for the Will to Live charity for farming mental health,
and they need more help. They've run out of money.
It's been such a popular cause. I feel that somehow
we need to give back to them and keep giving back.
(35:34):
So it's something that we need to keep doing because
people keep needing their help and I know that they
Elie is you know that in a really tough time
at the moment. So I'm really hoping that some of
these big companies are going to see that they need
help and that it was working and it was you know,
doing exactly what they wanted to do to help people
(35:56):
get to those visits to counselors in a time manner.
But yeah, so some sort of fundraising is in the pipeline,
not quite sure what, but I'll be working on it.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
I love it. We have covered so much tonight. I
so appreciate your time, and you know, I do just
want to recognize you for being a real example of
what a rural woman does and is and can be.
There's just so many different women out there, and the
(36:31):
fact that you're out there supporting women who are going
through some tough health stuff, but also being able to
get people out there and active, feed them well, give
them an amazing experience, look after their kids during the week,
and raise money for farmers as well. It's really epic.
So I just want to say a huge thank you
(36:52):
for all that you do, for just getting in there
and doing it, and also for supporting rural women New
Zealand as well, because we've been able to help and
assist and be a small part of what you've achieved.
So that's pretty damn cool.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Thank you so much and thanks to rural women. We
couldn't have done it with eight them, right.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
So if you have enjoyed this chat and the others
that we've held with fantastic roal women, then please support
us by joining the sold.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Just see to our website Ruralwomanzed dot zed or check
out the show notes. Sign up and be part of
shaping future generations for women in rural New Zealand.
Welcome to the Black Heels and Tractor Wheels podcast, where
we are sharing stories from a range of women from
around New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
For nearly a century, Rural Women New Zealand has been
dedicated to strengthening and supporting women and children to become
empowered members of their communities.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We hope that by hearing these stories from inspiring women
all around the country, you'll feel inspired yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We're your hosts, Emma Higgins and Claire Williamson and would
love for you to join and subscribe to our podcast
so you don't miss our rural stories. Well, Sean, thank
you so much for joining me this evening in amongst
a rather chaotic week for you. So really appreciate you
making the time to have a catch up with us.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
So, as you might be aware, we like to sort
of ask our listen, our interviewees to cast their mind
back just a few years to their childhood and how
they grew up.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And so I'm really interested to ask you, because I
know that you didn't grow up in New Zealand, what
was your childhood like? Where was it? And tell us
a few stories about your experiences growing up in the UK.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Grew up right on the English Welsh border in a
very small village. It was a really rural upbringing. We
weren't actually farmers, but we had you know, what we'd
call a New Zealand a little lifestyle block, and we
had a few sheep, and I had the pony, and
when I got sick of the pony, it became a
(01:34):
tennis court, and I had chucks, and there were you know,
we grew lots and lots of food, lots of fruit
trees and a massive bidgiegarden, big bowls of raspberries, you know,
throughout the summer. So we were really lucky growing up.
And we had lots of friends who were farmers, so
I spent a lot of my holidays on farm. But
(01:58):
I never ever envisaged moving on to a farm, or
marrying a farmer or any of that. I never envisaged
that as a child growing up. But looking back where
we lived, you know, it was pretty idyllic, beautiful countryside
and like those patchwork pictures of the of the landscape
with all the different colors of you know, there was
(02:19):
some cropping and sheep and cattle and dairy and it
all happens in Herefordshire, which which was where I was
brought up. Yeah, it was. It was really lovely. And
my mum's family were farmers in Wales, so there was
always that tie going back to her family farm, and
you know, she was always telling us about what her
mother did, bottling fruit and milking the housecow and all
(02:41):
that sort of thing. Yeah, so yeah, you can look
back now and I think, gee, I was pretty lucky,
really yeah, So I'm really glad that my own kids
sort of got to experience the same lifestyle, probably on
an even better Really.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, speaking of your kids, I feel like we've skipped
a waste step here and I think I'm not sure
if I've heard the story actually about how you're and
Andrew met So tell us a little bit about how
this idyllic childhood in Herefordshire and England and on the
Wales border kind of got you to out here at all,
(03:17):
with the fantastic Andrew and your beautiful children.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I went to university very briefly. It didn't wasn't a
good fit for me, and at the time my parents
had just decided to buy the Village Pub. And anyone
that's been overs the UK knows that the Village Pub
is really the hub of the community and that's where
all the fun is to be had. So I sort
of was able to leave university with the proviso that
(03:44):
I was going to manage the pub. So I did
that and I learned how to cook. And we used
to have lots of farmers because we actually bought the
village pub where I grew up, so we knew everyone.
And one of the farmers used to have Kiwis over
to help with the lambing beat, so they would come
over and lambing it over there, obviously is very intensive,
(04:06):
and you know they're all fazed inside, and you know
they're really pampered. And so Andrew came over and did
that for a couple of years, and then he'd carry
on for the sharing season and he'd share up in Scotland,
and then he'd go away again and then you wouldn't
see him for sort of nine months. So it did
(04:28):
take him a little while to you know, get going
with the dates. But the second year when he came back,
he's always been a bit slow on the outtake on
that department, but he he came back the following you
and did the same thing. And that coincided with when
we sold the pub and he was heading off to
Scotland and I didn't have any plans, so I took
(04:52):
off up there too and got a job in a
hotel up there for the summer, and we sort of
never did after that. We just he was sharing more then,
so he was following the springs. So from Scotland he
headed to Australia and then he'd spend most of the
spring there, zip back over to New Zealand for sort
(05:13):
of Christmas in the main share in December, and then
head to America, and that sounded quite exotic to me.
I thought it sounds a bit of fun. So we
did that until we had children. Yeah, James was born
in two thousand and two and Emma very soon after
in two thousand and three, so that sort of made
(05:37):
things a little bit difficult to travel. So Andrew is
still sharing at that stage, and that's when we ended
up on the West Coast. So we started a sheer
farm with Andrew's brother in a little settlement called Curtihrry
on the west coast of the North Island. Sheer farming
and sheep and beef obviously is quite a novel. It's
(05:57):
still unusual now, but it was really usual then. And
that was a great start, but we realized it wasn't
going to be quite big enough for the both of us,
hope that you know, for his brother and us to
sort of progress as we wanted to. So then we
approached the needies that you know, were opposite you, and
(06:18):
we ended up able to share farm that farm for
five years, and that's how the children ended up being
brought up having the farm life. Andrew's always carried on sharing,
but then they were sharing their own sheep. We shore
all our own shape and saved a lot of money
by doing all that, and other farms in the district
with other ex sheras because there seemed to be quite
(06:40):
a few extraers out there, and so they all used
to help each other out. And yeah, it was, it
was great. Loved every minute of it. On the coast,
it was.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It was. I still remember when you moved in next door,
and I got a couple of lovely little babysitting charges
in a fantastic cock who lived next door, who I
could ask for cooking tips, and yeah, and some wonderful
friends as well. So I think I think we were
very much the lucky ones with all these skilled people
(07:09):
moving into the district. So I am just really interested
just for a second to pack up on this sheer
farming thing and don't have to go into a heap
of detail. But I know that there are a lot
of younger couples out there who do want to potentially
take that path that you have in terms of getting
into farm ownership, which we'll talk about in a second.
(07:32):
But how did that work for you and what did
it do to help you into that next step that
you took from there?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Yeah, So the farm that we the second farm that
was opposite you that we share farms alone, that was
about a thousand and eight because of Hell Country, And
we approached the farmer because we knew he'd been looking
for a manager and he'd been unsuccessful and then he
thought he was going to sell and it just wasn't
right time, and so I think, well, we definitely we
(08:02):
approached him and said, look, you know, we've already done
a shear farm agreement and it's worked really well. It
seems to be the way we do it is that
we bought all the stock Andrew got paid a manager's wage,
a low manager's wage to be honest, but away a
manager's wage to actually do the farming, you formed a
(08:23):
partnership with the farmer, so it was all one entity.
We owned the stock, he owned the land. All the
costs were paid for by the partnership and then at
the end of the year you basically split the profits.
But he got his his share. He was sort of
(08:45):
paid monthly like as a least. You know, he got
it in advance really, so if there was any extra
in the year, then obviously he got another payment. But
he had an amount that he was guaranteed to get.
If it was a bad year, still got it. We
just got a lot less.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
It was.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
It was a really hard It was hard. It wasn't
the greatest few years for farming at that time, so
that was probably about I think two thousand and eight
was in there then. So there was some some rough times,
but you know, it was where we wanted to be.
We were able to bring the kids up. We wanted
to bring them up. We managed to when we bought
(09:25):
our stock. We brought them. At the time, the stock
were quite low priced. And then after the five years
when we only did it for five years, and at
the end of the five years it was on a high,
so up till then actually on paper. It wasn't a
great deal at all, but because of that lucky break,
(09:47):
we were able. Then Andrew had decided that he didn't
want to continue on that particular farm, and in the
meantime he'd learned how to pregnancy test sheep and cattle.
That was the next step. He was offered a business
up in north Way Kado. So when we sold all that,
we actually bought our first property and had our first powable,
(10:11):
our first own powable, and he was I think nearly forty.
So we moved up to Pukikawa and that was a
small lifestyle block. It was eighteen acres, and then we
ended up buying the neighbors the following year, and that
land up in the north Way Kado is well, it's
vegetable gardening land, you know, it's beautiful soils. And we
(10:35):
stayed there looking after the lifestyle bloc. I also trained
to become a primary school teacher online, so Andrew had
his business scanning and then he went back sharing in
main Share and I was teaching full time. So we
did that for a few years, and we were honestly
(10:58):
thinking that would probably be for us, because you know,
every time we looked at buying farms. They just got
further out of our reach for various reasons. You know,
banks would change there the way they were lending. We
got through several times when we were almost there and
then things would change. It was quite demoralizing, really, but
(11:19):
we'd never totally given up. And I always remember just
before COVID, I mean, we were all fairly happy. We'd
also got a sharing contract in business by this stage,
so we were really busy and with teenagers and horses
and motorbikes, and you know, we were sort of always
doing something. Pre COVID. I kept seeing Andrew. You'd be
(11:39):
on the iPad and he'd be on trade me looking
at farms, and he just kept looking, and I said,
this is ridiculous. You've either got to go that next
step and go through and have a look, go actually
go and visit some of these farms, and actually go
through the process of seeing if we can do it.
It's it was hard to watch just keep looking and
(12:01):
looking looking, but we felt like we weren't going to
ever be able to achieve that. Well, then COVID came,
and this is probably our biggest stroke of luck, is
that after the first lot of COVID when all the
Aucklanders realized that, you know, being stuck in a little
box with their children for weeks on end was not
(12:22):
a great It was not a great fun. So the
lifestyle block market just went bananas. And so then we
narrowed a couple of farms down that we thought we
might be able to have a look at and went
to see both of those, and the one that we
bought it just ticked all of our boxes. I mean,
(12:45):
Andrew had always wanted a stony bottomed creek, and he
wanted some native bush. He wanted some flats and medium
and some steep. He just wanted something that he could
put his stamp on, but something that was easy to run,
because he was always knew that we weren't going to
be able to afford a big enough farm for him
not to have to go scanning. When we drove around
(13:07):
the farm, it was chucking it down with rain. It
was a horrible day, and you know, we went round
on the motorbike and I just kept mentally going tick yep,
it's got that tick. And then when we went into
the woolshed and it was this awesome woolshed that hadn't
been used for ten years, but it was just perfect.
(13:29):
I thought, oh, look, we've just got to just give
it our all and try and get in, and with
the rising prices of the lifestyle blocks, we were able
to do that, and you know, we just felt the
luckiest people on earth.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Actually, that's a really amazing through and I hope that
there are other people out there who feel the sense
of achievement that that must have taken for you guys
to stick with that for so long. And I know
because I watched you at the start. I watched you
the entire time that you've been striving towards this skull,
(14:04):
and I have to say I feel emotional about the
fact that you've finally got there, which is incredible. So
I'm really stoked that you shared that story with us,
because I think there are a lot of people out
there who have different pathways perhaps but sort of want
the same goal. So that idea of having your businesses
on the side, you being able to work off farm
(14:25):
as well, building that up and then yep, a couple
of strokes of luck. But I'm sure that everybody gets
those in some way or another. So let's talk a
little bit about now the beautiful business that's been born
from this land, alongside some of your neighbors. The Matahudoo
Valley Walk, which I believe has only now been running
(14:47):
for about six or eight months. So tell us a
little bit about the beginning of the walk and the
business and what it does.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Started off by actually it came from listening to one
of the episodes of Black Heels and Tracked Wheels when
you had Kirie Elsworthy on from the Torah Coastal Walk,
and I was driving along listening to that, and I
just thought, oh gosh, all of those walkers must want
(15:18):
somewhere else to go. I know, I mean, I've known
so many people that have done the walk. I still
haven't got to do it, so it's on my backet list.
But I listened to the podcast and I just I
just was so inspired by the story. I had also
just been on a guided walk on the able Tasman,
so I'd had the comfy beds and the nice food
(15:39):
and someone carrying your pack, and I've got to admit
that was amazing. So I was thinking about all these
things we could do, primarily because I thought Andrew, you know,
he can't share forever. He probably wants to well I'm
not sure if he can, and so I wondered about
(15:59):
how the farm could diversify to allow him to be
able to not do that, and various ways we could
do it. And I looked at you know, putting a
glamping hat on the farm, but that's a massive investment.
You know, we're not in the position to do that yet.
So I was thinking about that. But then when we
heard that podcast, I just went, oh, wow, this might
(16:22):
be it. This coincided with a beef and lamb catchment
workshop we had doing farm planning when I had chance
to chat with Mary, our next door neighbor, and she said, oh,
I got an idea for you, and she'd had the
similar she'd thought about a walk. So that started us
(16:42):
off and once I got her positive sort of feedback,
I thought, we need some accommodation. And you know, that's
the only thing that's really missing from here. Kirsten further
up the road, had they just bought their neighboring farm,
which this beautiful old farm cottage on it that they
(17:02):
had restored and got going on the airbnb market. So
she just started that. So I sidled along to her
and said, hey, you know, how would you feel about
being a walk accommodation and their farm is quite different
to us. It's further up the valley and it's a
(17:23):
lot more sheep country, and it's beauty. It's at the
top of the valley and it's got some stunning views
and you can look right over to the Firth of
Thames and up to the Corimandel from there. And I said,
how do you would you feel about trying to create
a walk on your farm too, and she was very
positive too. So in a matter of weeks we'd applied
(17:44):
to go on the Activator program and got the thumbs
up for that, which we were really so stoked to
get on because although we had these great ideas, we
had no business experience with tourism, you know, we had
a lot of questions. So being able to get that
feedback for some really you know, knowledgeable people was unbelievable.
(18:07):
And we were also put in contact with Kerrie who
had I had a lengthy telephone call with her and
I asked every question under son and she so freely
gave her information. It was it was just incredible. So yeah,
a very busy winter last year, creating a two walks
and setting up a website, Luckily, Kirsten is very onto
(18:29):
it with technology, so she saved us there. I took
on the marketing and the social media, and Mary had
this great ability to keep us all on and even
keel and she she is a fantastic administrator, so she
was able to do all the emails. And she's also
(18:50):
incredibly creative and she's painted all us signs and done
all that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
It was.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
It was full on, but it was lots of fun.
Mary and Kirstin and we're all at different phases of
our lives. Mary's newly retired. I was sort of just
empty nesting. My children had moved out from home and
I was still trying to find my purpose now that
you know, they didn't really need me that much. And
Kirsten's got two young children so her life is really busy. Yeah,
(19:18):
we just came together and we said, do you think
we could be open for this season? And oh gosh,
we thought we were pushing it a bit, but we
just had to give it it all and hopefully that
you know, with limited advertising and marketing experience, we would
get some bookings. And I've got to admit, the champagne
(19:38):
corks flew when we did get that first booking. It's
been a funny old season for a first season. With
the weather that we've had up here in the way Kidow,
we've you know, we've been dealt a few blows and
luckily we had to put a few details on after
the cyclone, but we were able to rebook all the
people that had to miss out because we had Oh,
(20:01):
Mary and Wayne have had I think forty slips on
their place, so we've had to, yeah, do a few
detours and you know, think on our feet, but overwhelmingly
positive comments from everyone that's come and the bookings are
looking really good for the start of next season. We've
still got gaps, so anyone wants to get a group together,
(20:23):
there's still plenty of space there. But it's looking really
positive and a great way to diversify. It has cost
minimal amounts to actually it's time that's taken. The cost
of setting up the walk hasn't cost us too much,
and we've got the beautiful accommodation. I've got my experience
as a cook for all those years, so you know,
(20:45):
we've all had great skills that we've been able to
draw on, and yeah, we're really excited for the future.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I just love the story in There are so many
things that I'm picking up here on gems of how
to actually gets something like this off the ground. So
I'm actually just so over the moon that.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
This was a rural woman inspired beginning and then we
were able to help you with that second stage through
Activator and some connections, and you've actually been able to
go out and actually create something incredibly epic because of
such a great skill set that you've got across all
three of you.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I'm really interested in how you've set this up from
a financially if that's okay to share, not specifics, but
just around how that works for each of you, what
you do from a practical perspective, that kind of thing.
It would be really good to understand that for more collaborations.
I think you guys are the collaboration King and Queen.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Initially, we weren't quite sure how to set it up,
to be honest, because we had Kirsten with her already.
Her business with the Airbnb was already sorted, and we
were trying to work out how we could actually do
it all. So we created a separate entity, so the
Matahry Valley Walkers a company we're all third we're directors
(22:08):
a third each in that company. So how we've worked
it so far, and I mean it may change in
the future, but at the moment, how we work it
is when we have a booking, we take it in
turns to be the guides and the cooks. So, for example,
(22:31):
I might have six people for the two night experience
because we do a one night er and a two nighter,
So I'm cooking for two days breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning tea,
afternoon tea. We've got our set menus. I have to
greet the walkers, I have to give them a safety inspection,
(22:54):
give them all the health and safety inductions, and then
I'm pretty much full on cooking for them for those
two days. So how we work it is that we've
worked out what it costs us for food for each person,
and we've also worked out what we thought our time
was worth and then divided it per person. So at
the end of that weekend, I'll build the farm walk
(23:19):
with an invoice saying, you know, six people for two
days at X amount, and so I get paid for
my work straight away, and then Mary might do you
know another book in the following weekend, or during the
week or whatever. That's how we've started it. And then
obviously at the end of the year when we've done
(23:40):
our accounts, we've actually been paid for our work. So
anything that's left in the kitty is our profit. And
we've tried to and of course Kirsten gets paid separately
for her Airbnb, and we said that we wanted to
be We didn't want any bargains. We wanted her to
charge us exactly what she would charge if she was
doing it for anyone else. So so far, so good,
(24:01):
it's working quite well. You don't underestimate. I mean, I'm
an experienced cook and I've you know, I've cooked for shearers,
I've cooked in hotels and restaurants, I've catered for weddings
and cooking at this level with the we've sort of
put the expectation on ourselves that the food has got
to be amazing and you know, it's got to be
(24:25):
consistent quality every time. So we've really worked hard to
make sure our menus are you know, top notch, and
all our ingredients are local. We've got a fabulous local butcher.
We want to use local, seasonal ingredients and so it
takes time. You know it takes time to do all that,
and so yeah, it's it's it's really exciting. We're all
(24:51):
enjoying it, and financially, we're being paid feeling for what
we do. It's got to be sustainable if we if
we weren't going to make any money, and what's the point,
you know, I think we've worked that sustainable. As far
as we get paid for what we do, we don't
have to wait, and that keeps everyone happy. More shoes, manbags,
(25:13):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Well black here, I love this. It's just so cool
to hear of a collaboration that's working so well that
everybody is being paid fairly for their time, but you're
also able to achieve more as a collective, which is
just fantastic. I want to pack up on something else
that you said earlier about finding your purpose outside of
(25:38):
being a mum to Emma and James, and what that
next phase of your life looks like. And I know
that you've spent a little bit of time supporting others
in this space as well, and I wondered if you
could share a little bit about what that journey's been
like for you, what things have helped you, what things
you found challenging, what things other people have asked for
(26:00):
advice on, and a little bit more about that topic.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Your purpose as a woman if you're a mum is
your kids for so much of your life. You know,
they come first, They always will to some respects, but
your midlife years, your forties into your fifties, you know,
when they're leaving and doing that, starting their own lives.
That coincides with perimenopause and menopause for most women. You know,
(26:28):
it's all going to happen to us. So for me,
when the children were young, I was able to stay
on the farm. I was an at home mum. I
never missed anything, you know, I did my parent place
into duties and even when I trained to be a teacher,
because I was a teacher at my kids' school, I
still was able to go to everything. So I felt
really involved in their life and you know, spend a
(26:50):
lot of time getting them to what they wanted to do.
Emma did a lot of show jumping and James did
a lot of motocross, and you know, we were able
to support them with that. So when they left, James
as a shepherd on a big station and Emma's done
at Uni and Lincoln I and we just moved to
the farm. This all coincided at the same time. So
(27:11):
I gave myself eighteen months to find my feet. I
learned how even though I'd been living on a farm
in the early days when the kids were a little
I didn't actually do a hell of a lot of
farming per se. You know, I'd help in the yards.
I'd you know, drench some lambs and cooked for the
shearers and that sort of thing, but I didn't do
(27:33):
any mustering. I didn't think i'd be able to do that.
So I decided that, you know, this dream, even though
it was Andrew's dream, it had become my dream too.
So I thought, well, I really need to learn how
to do all that stuff. So I Andrew got a dog,
luckily that was willing to listen to me, and I
(27:53):
took that on as that was going to be my
face because I was going to learn to be a farmer.
And so those were a lot of new skills to learn.
But I also felt that my purpose as a mum,
it just felt like I was in limbo a little bit,
and so learning how to be a farmer, thinking about
(28:14):
this new idea and new possibilities with the walk that
sort of kept the creative juices flowing in my brain.
The challenges were always there, and I was also learning
about the intricacies of farming that had sort of just
gone straight over the head. Really that then, combined with menopause,
there was a lot going on a huge part of
(28:37):
your life. It also coincides with aging parents and might
be some health issues in there, and you know, there's
so much going on that and I also realized, like
many others, that there is so much that we just
didn't talk about, we don't know about. There seems to
be a movement in the UK that really hadn't happened
(28:58):
in New Zealand. A few years ago and a friend
of mine, Lisa Manning, we decided to start a Facebook
group up to support other women and it's called Midlife
down Under because in the UK we always called Australia
and New Zealand down Under, and because we were both
from the UK, we thought that was an apt title,
and we also did some podcast interviews ourselves. Unfortunately, the
(29:24):
podcast is sort of a bit of a hiatus at
the moment because I had no idea how long how
much time that book to keep up, and our skills
as producers weren't that great. But the Facebook group has
been unreal. It has been people have come up to
me and said, you know, this has really helped me
(29:47):
because nothing's off limit. It's a private Facebook group. We're
all women, we all have the same issues, you know.
And through that and through interviewed Nikky Bizont, who wrote
a book about menopause, I thought, I'm going to give
this HRT ago because my biggest symptom. I didn't think
(30:07):
I had major symptoms, but the worst symptom I had
was for no apparent reason, I would wake up at
two o'clock in the morning or three o'clock in the morning.
Never had before, but suddenly I ended up waking up
in the morning after being awake for an hour in
the middle of the night. I was exhausted and I
(30:29):
just felt like my brain wasn't working properly. I had
low energy. Well, yeah, I just thought, this sleep, it's
just it's like having a newborn again. And then I
read that HRT can really help with that, and the
benefits of HRT to me far right way any of
the risks that they used to say that there were.
(30:50):
So I got on board with that and talked to
my friends about it and encouraged them to look into
it themselves. Luckily, my sleepless nights a thing of the past.
And I also think that the conversation that has been
started around menopause and New Zealand is catching up with
the UK. And obviously there's a lot of people to
(31:13):
thank for that, but you know, we feel that our
little Facebook group has definitely helped and grown and will
probably continue to grow, even if it's just for the
funny brain fog moments. You know, I found a packet
of past from my freezer the other day, and you know,
you put a little faced up about that, and you know,
it just keeping it real for everyone, because you know,
(31:35):
fifty percent of the population are going to go through this,
so it's worth talking about.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
And you know what, it's just so comforting to know
that you're not alone. I think, even if some if
people know that there are other people going through it,
there's nothing like having that verified by a story or something.
We go, oh, that's me as well, it's not just me,
And that's a really important pat of building a community.
(32:01):
What you've done an incredible job of sort of speaking
of community and achievement in business and helping others. I
am just so interested to know what the next twelve
months holds for you.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
Shan.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
You're such an absolute shining light of excitement and giving
things a go, and I'm so I'm proud that I've
known you for a long time. So tell me a
little bit about what the next twelve months holds for you.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
Well, it's going to be a really interesting twelve months
because my best friend Paula and I have been saving
for nearly ten years for a big oe. So we
are heading off to Europe for a month and together.
That's happening in September. So that has been it's been
(32:57):
put off since COVID, so it's been, you know, a
long time coming. But you know, we put our money
away every week and have saved for it and we
just count what. I just cannot wait to show her
the Luire Valley and Tuscany and then we're finishing off
with a nice little cruise on Croatian Islands. So so
(33:23):
let's really look at something. That's what That's what I'm
focusing on at the moment. But I also went back
full time teaching this year and so luckily my employer
that was a condition of me taking the job was look,
I'm sorry, I've planned this for a long time. I'm
going and so I've started teaching you seven and eight again.
(33:43):
That was another little lich that was there. I just
missed having a class. It has meant that, you know,
the weekends while the walk season were open, was you know,
pretty chaotic because when I took the job, we actually
hadn't got huge amounts of bookings, but as soon as
I got the job, there was a rush. So it
(34:05):
has been all hands on deck there, which has been challenging.
And so that is going to have an impact on
two and four. You know, I'm going to be really
busy and the walks looking really busy. So that's the
beauty of having three partners in the business. You know,
we're working together and making it work for us so
that it's sustainable because you know, a lot of small
(34:28):
businesses don't manage to last that long. So the walks
looking really exciting. We've got lots of groups of ladies,
generally ladies. I'd say eighty to ninety percent of walkers
are women, and the bigger groups are starting to come
because it's just great to be able to turn up
(34:51):
somewhere and know that you don't have to cook anything
and you can just spend time connecting with your friends
or family with that, you know, having to think too
much about anything else. You know, have a lovely walk
and catch up with everyone. So that's going to be
keeping us up the valley really busy. But also we're
(35:13):
looking at ways that we can give back. A couple
of years ago, I had a chance to raise some
money for the Will to Live charity for farming mental health,
and they need more help. They've run out of money.
It's been such a popular cause. I feel that somehow
we need to give back to them and keep giving back.
(35:34):
So it's something that we need to keep doing because
people keep needing their help and I know that they
Elie is you know that in a really tough time
at the moment. So I'm really hoping that some of
these big companies are going to see that they need
help and that it was working and it was you know,
doing exactly what they wanted to do to help people
(35:56):
get to those visits to counselors in a time manner.
But yeah, so some sort of fundraising is in the pipeline,
not quite sure what, but I'll be working on it.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
I love it. We have covered so much tonight. I
so appreciate your time, and you know, I do just
want to recognize you for being a real example of
what a rural woman does and is and can be.
There's just so many different women out there, and the
(36:31):
fact that you're out there supporting women who are going
through some tough health stuff, but also being able to
get people out there and active, feed them well, give
them an amazing experience, look after their kids during the week,
and raise money for farmers as well. It's really epic.
So I just want to say a huge thank you
(36:52):
for all that you do, for just getting in there
and doing it, and also for supporting rural women New
Zealand as well, because we've been able to help and
assist and be a small part of what you've achieved.
So that's pretty damn cool.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Thank you so much and thanks to rural women. We
couldn't have done it with eight them, right.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
So if you have enjoyed this chat and the others
that we've held with fantastic roal women, then please support
us by joining the sold.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Just see to our website Ruralwomanzed dot zed or check
out the show notes. Sign up and be part of
shaping future generations for women in rural New Zealand.
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