Gisborne, New Zealand: Living Your Dream

While in Rotorua, Lynn and I decided to “scoot” over to Gisborne to pay a quick visit to the McKenzie family. The mom, Carmelle, is sister of our niece, Meryl Yochim who lives in Gold Canyon, AZ with her family.

“Scooting” over to Gisborne or anywhere in NZ for that matter is not that simple for in NZ the rule of “two kilometers forward, one kilometer sideways” applies to the most scenic routes and the “Waioeke Gorge” is no exception.

While the Gorge road is only some 50 to 60 kms in length, it only covers about 30 kms as the “crow flies”. Lynn loves the switchbacks, particularly when she is seated on the drop side of the road. The only two alternative roads to Gisborne were the Northern coastal route and the Southern mountain route – either of which would have very scenic but would have taken hours longer.

Photo: Parts of the road that do not wander along a cliff face are contained within a green curtain of vegetation.

As we moved out of Waioeke, we entered gently rolling hills – home to many sheep and cattle farms. The countryside slowly wound down to lush fertile flatland enroute to Ormond and Gisborne. Here we found row upon row of grapes, citrus and other field crops interspersed with fields reserved for grazing cattle and sheep. The fields were bordered by trees planted and pruned as windbreaks to protect the grape vines and fruit trees from wind damage.

Along the way, we stopped to watch a farmer corral a swarm of worker bees that had fled the farm with a new Queen. Men will be men in Kingdoms the world over. After he had scooped most of the swarm off the fence post, we were told how a young “Queen” had killed the old “Queen” and taken off with all the worker bees to establish a new hive. With his bees in hand, the young man directed us a short distance back down the road to the McKenzie farm, not far from his own acreage.

Following the road back, we realized it was the very place we had stopped earlier to photograph an orange grove. Facing the road is a beautiful nineteenth century farmhouse surrounded by citrus trees covered with ripening oranges. We had jumped the fence earlier to taste one and wondered if the owner’s had spotted us and called it in!

The setting was truly beautiful with spring flowers coming into bloom, ripening oranges as far as the eye could see and, in the distance, the rolling green hills winding their way to the mountains of the Waioke Gorge. Gray and white clouds mixed with a late afternoon haze completed this idyllic scene.

We were greeted by Carmelle’s husband, Bill, who welcomed us to the family “plantation”. Although Bill did not refer to it as a “plantation”, when Lynn and I first viewed this stately home, we both commented on how fitting that would be. As we waited for the rest of the family to arrive, we chatted with Bill about the family and the story of their relocation from the Northern Alberta community of High Level to New Zealand.

Carmelle was on her daily school run and other activities which makes up a good part of her daily routine. Carmelle found it a great help when their eldest daughter, Erin, got her driver’s licence; however, we learned that extra help will soon be gone as Erin will be leaving to begin nursing training in Napier. Carmelle and Bill will then have to wait for Alison, Rayna and Brent to get their licences so they can help out with the driving and errands.

As the story of the move by this young family to New Zealand from Canada just over four years earlier continues, it is as fascinating as it is inspiring. In 2006, the family was well established in the Northern Alberta community of High Level, the area where Carmelle grew up. After Carmelle graduated, she went to the University of Alberta where she completed her Pharmacological Degree and later opened her own Pharmacy in High Level.

Her husband Bill, on the other hand, was born in New Zealand and had immigrated to Canada over 35 years earlier. In Canada, he had a hankering to fly and not long after earned his commercial pilot’s licence. Over the 30 years leading up to 2006, his flying career took him to British Columbia (float planes in Campbell River), Africa for a period of time flying for an oil company in Nigeria and finally to Edmonton, Alberta, where he was flying a Dash 8 for a Regional Airline. Most recently, he commuted between High Level and Edmonton.

At the time of the move to NZ, the kids ranged in age from 5 to 15. Oh, not to forget an important point – in High Level the family also owned and operated a 1600 acre farm just outside town. I guess many would consider this combination of careers, family, friends and farming within one of the most prosperous Provinces in Canada to be considered a very successful life that left little to want.

However, as Lynn and I have discovered in our travels, many people, at various stages in their lives, develop an “itch” they just cannot scratch and this “itch” drives them to seek out new life adventures. Now, believe me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with staying put as we have also found an equal number of folks who have lived for many generations in the same location and have carved out lives suited to their particular interests. We know that each person, couple or family must determine the path they wish to follow.

In the case of the McKenzie family, the irresistible call of those two tiny Islands in the South Pacific where Bill was born became stronger as Bill grew older. After considerable family discussions, the decision was made to search for opportunities in that distant land – some 13000 kilometers South East from Edmonton, Alberta and a mere 4000 km from the shores of Antarctica.

Following this decision, the family became fully engaged in the search and it was not long before Bill and Carmelle were logged in on a long distance telephone “bidding” process for a Citrus farm near Ormond (about 15 km West of Gisborne). We have since learned that in NZ, the auctioning of businesses, farms and residential properties is a common practice within the real estate world. Carmelle vividly recalls that when they hung up the phone after becoming the successful bidders, they were “both in a state of shock”.

While both understood they still had an opportunity to back away from the deal, in their minds the die was cast and the process of making the move began in earnest. While neither Bill nor Carmelle had experience in operating a citrus farm, they both relished the adventure and it was clear from their past they were more than capable of meeting the challenge of learning a new business.

The McKenzie story reminded Lynn and I of a theatre production and later TV show that became popular in Canada, the “Letters from Winfield Farms” series. I think we could certainly adapt the McKenzie Family experience to an equally successful story perhaps calling it – “Letters from a Citrus Farm in Ormond”. One day, time permitting, perhaps we could collaborate with the McKenzies on just such a story.

Four years later after leaving Canada, the McKenzie family is living a comfortable life and has most aspects of citrus farming business under firm control. They have many plans for future development and the kids are thriving both in school and in the community. We suspect Carmelle still misses the closeness of her family in Canada and the US but they are all totally committed to their new life. Air transport being what it is in this day and age must help and I bet lots of family and friends have (or will) made their way to Ormond (see the AZ Yochim postings on Facebook).

Carmelle told us that she had been thinking of returning to her pharmaceutical profession. However, living in the country with four kids in school and the demands of establishing their new life as citrus farmers has meant those plans had to be put on hold, at least for the short term.

For Bill, although he has had a lot to deal with on the farm he has now taken up a “spare” time avocation as a “trapper”. Now, sit back and think about that for just a minute. This man, an accomplished pilot living in the rugged northlands of Canada – a country that has venerated bush pilots, trappers, loggers and fishermen for well over a century – has moved to a country with no predators and become a “trapper”.

How then did this “little” sideline come about? Well, several decades back someone (some Kiwi’s blame an Aussie – of course!) introduced the Possum to New Zealand. Others believe the Possum may have been introduced to control some other “pest”. Unfortunately, whatever the origin, the Possum had no natural enemies in New Zealand and as a result, over the past several decades, the population has grown exponentially.

The Possum now threatens the very survival of numerous species of plants, animals and birds (through eating the eggs) and is on the NZ “most wanted” list. Most likely nothing further would have happened had not some enterprising New Zealand sheep farmer found that possum fur could be very successfully interwoven with Murino wool and bang, a whole new industry developed. The discovery came just in the nick of time as it revived the flagging wool industry and, at the same time, gave a commercial reason to hunt Possum.

At $105 per kilogram for Possum fur, many have taken on government leased trap lines. Bill, along with many others, has engaged in a profitable sideline that has the potential to assist in saving other native species.

As we chatted iinto the evening, Bill related another interesting fact about the purchase of this particular farm. Some time after moving in, one of Bill’s siblings (I believe it may have been a sister) was over to visit and while there she told Bill and Carmelle that she had visited this very house when she was a little girl. As it turned out, and completely unknown to Bill and Carmelle, Bill’s Grandparents at one time owned and lived on the farm immediately to the south. Is that not just an amazing coincidence?

One final story about the family. We did not have much time with the young people but Brent took some time to show me some of his skateboard tricks that he has been practicing (I suspect he must have been spending some time with one of his cousins). He also introduced me to the pet dog, Donny, and cat, Miley. We did some running around with the dog chasing us and Brent took me out to show me a “fort” he has been building (Fort Ormond I guess) back in the wilds of the south orange grove.

Well this young fellow has certainly been busy and is building himself a whole settlement in the middle of the orchard. He has been staying overnight with friends and Carmelle told us Brent could wile away a whole weekend banging up boards. In our short time together I noted Brent’s vivid imagination and I suspect one day Lynn and I might meet him on the Enchanted Island (see story Part 7 The Enchanted Island).

While we didn’t have a whole lot of time to visit, Lynn and I did get a chance to pick some citrus (oranges, grapefruit and tangerines). We took a bag along to spread the word among others who we would be visiting along the way on our “Buy New Zealand” tour.

It was really neat to meet another family that decided to take on new life challenge and doubly so when that family had already developed a very comfortable life style. I think it is a good lesson for all that we should never accept the status quo as the only path we might follow. Who knows what opportunities will arise once we decide to step outside the safety of our comfort zone.

Ormond, NZ
2009

Lynn and Bill

Harold and Carmelle

Typical Field of Sheep

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