How Well Do We Know People In Our Community ?

By Lyle Griffiths

Marc Tuffield an old time Wairarapa College boy,  left school to work as a shepherd at Eparaima, Glenburn and Waimoana, which enabled him to continue his passion for hunting in his spare time.

A change of scene saw him working for the Forestry Service checking on the huts in the Tararuas.  Reaching Angle Nob one evening it was dark and the winds were beginning to pick up, culminating in a full-time blast. He was in the hut hunkering down when a ferocious blast picked up the hut, and turned it face down. “The door was jammed shut. Getting out was quite a challenge. My only route of escape was to kick my way through a perspex window. All that remained of the hut was the floorboards. Unsurprisingly it no longer exists.” 

Then came a stint of working in Alberta, Canada, driving heavy machinery, digging trenches and laying pipes and cables, before returning home to New Zealand. 

Stopping off at National Park he saw the guides taking groups of tourists rafting down the Tongariro River. So he had a chat with the owner and for the next year worked as a white water river guide.  

Marc had already purchased his own 2,000-hectare farming block at Paraka in Wanganui before leaving for Canada. It was a beef and sheep grazing farm, very hilly and steep. 1,000 acres has since been split off for the QE2 Trust. Marc religiously traps for cats, stoats, weasels, ferrets and possums. He monitors 300 traps each fortnight. Brown kiwi are now fully at home and the long-tailed bats are thriving. The bird song is beautiful.

Always seeking new horizons Marc next adventure took him to Ireland. Marc had trained with Lifestyle Improvement Corporation (LIC) completing the Artificial Insemination course. New Zealand and Ireland worked cooperatively to enhance production. In Ireland there was a greater need for technicians on a seasonal basis. 

“Farming in Ireland is a completely different experience”’ says Marc. “The farms have tended to be small. There may be 12 or even just one cow.  Subsidies have enabled farmers to continue their traditional way of life, although that is changing now.”

There were some bizarre experiences. One morning I received a call from the company to service a cow. I arrived down a small country lane and could see no one. I knocked at the door of the farmhouse and asked the woman if this was the right name and address. Yes it was the right name and address. “But No”, she said, “my husband didn’t call.  I replied that LIC had received a call with that name and number that morning. “Well” she replied, “that is impossible my husband has been dead for a year”.  Ireland is a country of mystery after all!!!. 

So although my wife Karin and I move between Ireland and New Zealand six monthly, when we are in New Zealand we come to Martinborough every weekend. We love the town. We have a permanent home here, and another which we are renovating as a rental. 

The Wairarapa always calls people back. 

Photo caption Marc and Karin enjoy a great Martinborough wine outside their stone cottage in Ireland.