DAVE DOBBYN'S 'THIS TOWN' # Look how long it's taken you # to arrive in this town. # From the dawn into the dark, # I will hold you deep in my heart. # Look how long it's taken you to arrive in this town. # Captions by John Ling. Edited by Desney Shaw. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2013 I came to live here because when I was 17, seventh form, we had a school ski trip to... Turoa. I fell in love with the place. I actually really loved what the lift operators did, and I thought, 'Yes, I would like to do that for just a season.' And, what, 16 years later, I'm still here. My job involves making snow ` pretty much topping up the natural snow. When I started in 2005, I pretty much taught myself. We call our snow machines snow guns, and we have 52 of them. I have 16 in my team, and half of them work nights, half of them work days. SLOW REFLECTIVE MUSIC Making snow at night is definitely the best time to make snow. Obviously that's when you're going to have your colder temps, but I enjoy it as well because everyone's gone, and it's just you and your crew up here, and if it's nice and cold and the wind's playing the game, um, which means not swirling, um, going in one direction, then, yeah, it makes for a good night. Most of our guns, wide open, pump out at around 300 litres per minute. Depending on the night and how cold it is, we can easily pump 6, 7 million litres in a night. What I do love about my job is that, with snowmaking, there's always new technologies and that. So I'm always learning. There's definitely the science to it, but there's an art to it as well. The Cats are awesome machines. Big, red beasts they are. (CHUCKLES) They're pretty cool. Easy is my partner, and he is the grooming supervisor. and I think Easy has done 12. I was actually his boss, but we didn't become partners until the end of the season. So I wasn't one of those bosses. (CHUCKLES) Takes advantage. (LAUGHS) SERENE MUSIC My name for the last 30-odd years has been Rabbit. Most people wouldn't know my real name, but they'll certainly know where Rabbit lives or what Rabbit's up to in Ohakune. Ohakune's been my, uh, home for the last 23 years, but originally, I came from Wanganui. I came here first for the forestry. I used to drive for McCarthy Log Transport. Hence I had access to trucks and the logs to build a log house. There's plenty of rumours what was going on up here. We heard stories that it was going to be Ohakune's first brothel, massage parlour. (CHUCKLES) There's 80 logs in this house, and it's one of NZ's nicer log homes, I think. Uh, when I built it, it was actually maybe the ch-cheapest way to build a house, and I just couldn't understand why even Ohakune or most of NZ wasn't made of log homes. They look nice and, yeah, just all natural, earthly, uh, materials. SLOW SLAVIC MUSIC I wanted my house to be as Russian as possible, with many Russian features. Happiness for me is hopping on a plane, knowing I'm going to Russia. Even happier when that plane actually touches down on Russian soil. I feel when I went there that I'd actually come home to where I should have been. But, uh, in the meantime, I make the best of it in Ohakune. I've done eight trips over there to, uh, various parts. I've tried to visit all the hero cities of the Soviet Union. I've been to some interesting places. Uh, Izhevsk, where they make the AK-47. When I visited Votkinsk, uh, at the time, I was the only NZer ever to visit Tchaikovsky's birthplace. so they allowed me to put on all his uniforms, sit at his piano, play his balalaika, do whatever I liked, because here` here's this crazy Kiwi with a funny haircut turning up in the middle of wintertime. I only go to Russia in the wintertime, mainly because it looks better in the wintertime with all the snow, the sleighs, the horses all done up with their roses and bells, and everything's frozen, and lights everywhere. When I was in Russia, I used to visit a lot of the bookshops, and that's where I started seeing the nice fairy-tale books, and I actually brought quite a few back on each trip, and that's what gave me the idea to do a Snow Queen Wearable Arts Show. I based the show on Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen, and people can make their own interpretations of how they see their snow queen. We've had some stunning creations created by our local designers and, um, I think they're proud and, yeah, the fact that they actually, you know, can win a prize is even better. (CHUCKLES) This year's our third year, and it's getting bigger and better. You know, there's a lot of way to go to get it, well, you know, global. (CHUCKLES) So, at the moment, we're happy with Ohakune. (CHUCKLES) PEOPLE CHEER, TECHNO MUSIC PLAYS Ohakune becomes the North Island's winter playground. Over the years, it's been a real party town. I've noticed it over the last 20 years ` how it's got bigger and better and, uh, more people coming down. It's just good for the town. It's good for business and, uh, yeah, good for me, and good for everyone else, I hope. PEOPLE CHEER, TECHNO MUSIC PLAYS I always joke around town that, um, if I sell my house, I'm off to Russia, and it's to Russia with love, not from Russia with love. (CHUCKLES) SLOW REFLECTIVE MUSIC How did we meet? How did we meet? School holidays. We were about 18. She was a railway girl. So a bit of new blood on the scenes, and I... I latched on. Don't say it like that. Don't say it like that. Oh. Don't say it like that. Oh. BOTH CHUCKLE And we've been together ever since. And we've been together ever since. (CHUCKLES) We've been married 52 years, and I was 24 when I married him. We've been married 52 years, and I was 24 when I married him. And she's still selling tickets. It's just a lifestyle. We're just used to it now. We just work, come home and, uh, enj` we enjoy it. Oh, might as well pick up the rubbish now. We haven't swept yet, so we've got to do that. My father, Harry Thompson, he went, from 1924, buying into the cinemas and that and, uh, built up quite a business with the three cinemas. There was the Raetihi Royal, the Ohakune Kings and, uh, the Plaza at Ohakune Junction. I was born into it. We lived straight opposite the Ohakune Junction, and as a child, I was taken every night to have` get the job of collecting tickets on the door, and possibly, when I was 4 or 5, I can recall my parents taking reserves for Gone with the Wind. And that was back in the '40s. So, um,... uh, bu` uh, business was big then ` big crowds. My dad passed away suddenly in 1947. So, uh, that left Mum on her own, but she was determined to keep the businesses going. So, uh, she carried on. And, um, because I was so interested in it as well that, uh, it encouraged her to keep` keep working. And so we kept the, uh, cinemas going right through. My mother kept going until, uh, she was 90, doing the films. Then we, uh, as a family took over. We've been four generations now. My grandchildren now come and help us. Most of the films that've been shot in the area, we've had a premiere or we've had a fundraising night. A lot of films were made in the area. SULTRY MUSIC Skin Deep was one of the first films done in the area, and it caused quite a stir, especially in Raetihi, where it was mostly filmed. It's the story of a women coming to town and starting up a massage parlour. What about all that talk about extras and... sextras? Whatever they call it. Oh yes. That's what I was looking at there. That was the Skin Deep, uh... There was a bit of an anti-feeling against the story of Skin Deep i-in Raetihi, and, uh, I had trouble selling fit` uh, tickets for the, uh, premiere. Unfortunately, the Whanganui press blew that up a bit. I don't think it was as bad as it was made out to be. But, um, the highlight ` th-the lady appeared topless in it, um, and th-that was probably as bad as it got. (CHUCKLES) (CHUCKLES) Uh, and... (SNIGGERS) uh, I remember one of our daughters, she went out, and she would help in the sweet shop at, uh... out there at Raetihi and, uh, she wasn't allowed in to see it, and the` the main actress, who went topless, she would duck out whenever there was, uh` that sho` piece was on. It's more, really, today as a hobby because there's not the money in it. Once TV hit us, it went down and down and, uh, we struggled. We did. We really struggled to keep open, and, um, we would go out often, and, uh, we'd have more staff than we would audience. And, uh, we did that for a-a great number of years, and today, the skiing industry or the tourist industry in the area has boosted the cinema an-and kept us going. But, uh, we're getting to the stage now where we've probably had enough. FOLKSY MUSIC PLAYS, CHILD CHUCKLES FILM PROJECTOR WHIRS We belong to an organisation called the Film Buffs, and they, uh, can see the beauty of a film. They like to hear the projector running. They like to handle the film. But progress is changing all that, and, uh, it's so easy now to get the disc and throw it on the TV and... and watch it. Well, I think Les has had enough. She's` She's quite ready to hang up her... ...torch. ...torch. ...torch, yeah. SERENE MUSIC The post generally arrives any time after 6 o'clock in the morning. You can have anything from a thousand letters to 1500 letters a day sometimes, particularly around the beginning of the month, when accounts and bills start coming out. This is the actual sequence of where you go around town. Yeah. So you just grab them out, and they're all... as you go around. So you pull them off the letter clip, and away you go. I was born in Raetihi. I can remember gravel roads, no footpaths and the odd Raleigh Twenty bicycle. It's probably my life that's kept me here. Work's always found me. I've never had to go out looking for work. I don't know what it's like to be bored. I'm always busy. Everybody can't believe how busy I always am. Set your sides and your handles up how you want them to go. I also do a couple of days a week, through terms two, three and four at the school, teaching woodwork and technology. I've been deputy chief at Raetihi Fire Brigade for over 10 years now, but my main job is keeping both towns ` Raetihi and Ohakune ` free of litter and emptying the bins. The very very busiest season is the ski season. That's, like, every day out there, cleaning up. You know, it's full on. You know, th-the population of, especially Ohakune, would be, like, five times what it would normally be. If I can clean it early, it's a fresh start for everyone the next day. They can see the place spick and span. I'm also seen out there to be picking up litter. You know, someone's got to do it. Right down to anything small like lolly papers and cigarette buds. Try and get as much of it off the ground as I can. You don't throw anything away that's of use. Our uncle had a term. He used to say, 'Waste not, want not.' So anything of any use, even though you can't use it tomorrow or the next day, you still hang on to it. The house is... it's out of Wellington. It was in a storage yard, and yeah, eventually, it got here, and it's of the Victorian era. It's got good strong bones. There's, um, no rot or borer anywhere in it, because it's all built out of heart native timber. It's going to be a huge job, no doubt about that, and even bigger in the sense I only get a short amount of time to work on it. But, um, every bit of effort I put into it will be getting it back to its absolute former glory. OK, the purpose of tonight's exercise is we're going to put the patient in the Stokes basket and set up haulage, haul them up just as if we were hauling them up a cliff, and then lower them back down to the ground again. Lower away. It has been a very long day, but most days are long days. Small towns, small populations, and there's still a lot happening. so a lot of people have to do various things to keep everything ticking along. It's a lovely place, our little village. Like most little villages, uh, difficult times have hit everybody, and we're one of those villages. Every shop used to be open. There wasn't one shop up town closed. There was, uh, vegetable fruit shops. Oh, you know, you name it. Clothing shops, dry-cleaners, two butchers, a TAB. We had a few banks and, um, yeah, well, they shut all those down. I'm Duncan Metekingi, and I live in Duncan Street in Raetihi. It was Duncan Street before I decided to buy a house in Duncan Street. I thought, 'Oh, yeah, that's me. It's meant to be.' (CHUCKLES) We got, uh, 31 grandchildren and three greats. Just` Just a normal family. So I was a midwife to my granddaughter. She was born on the back seat of my car. So we decided that we'd call our mokopuna Katarina, uh, for car ` you know, born in a car. I'd be lost without them. If I haven't got a grandson with me or a granddaughter, something's the matter. Raetihi is an old town, has lots of old heritage buildings. It's got a very wide street. It sort of shocks visitors when they come to town and see all the empty shops, but they're always quite delighted when they come in here. This is the Barbed Wire Gallery, and it opened three and a half years ago. The gallery has local artists and artists that are connected to local artists. The local kids started dropping in after school into the gallery not long after I first opened and really enjoyed looking around at the art. There's not a lot for children in the town, and there's probably not a lot of money from a lot of parents to get their children to things. I met her when she first opened the shop, and then I just popped in for a little look, and then I started going there more often. We've been friends for a couple of years, actually. Totalled at two, three years. When she was first painting her shop, I asked what's her name and then I met her. Touch-up coat, is it? Touch-up coat, is it? Yep. Touch-up coat, is it? Yep. It'll be amazing when it's finished. Hezekaya made me meet her, and she introduced me into, um, art too. How's it going, guys? Whoa, some nice colours in here. When the children first came into the gallery, it was a little bit chaotic. They would touch things and poke things and pick them up, and I felt like I was saying all the time, 'Put that down. Be careful.' They played games like run around the gallery and hide when I went to shut the door so I couldn't find them. So I sort of decided that I needed to involve them in the gallery so it was, you know, fun for them and so they understood what went on. She did tell me that, 'Do you do art? Or do you draw stuff?' And I said that, 'Oh, I do a little.' You going to do your bridge to nowhere soon? You going to do your bridge to nowhere soon? Nope. I never thought, uh, I'd have any artists in the family. Uh, she spoils them. They come home with paper and all that there, and I'm going, 'Oh, you know, boy, that costs money.' But, 'No, no. Leonie said.' Oh, well, all right. You want to use them first? > Sometimes we have customers in here, and there's art paper flying, and someone's having a fight. (CHUCKLES) It's totally chaos, and I think a few people raise their eyebrows and think I'm a bit crazy. But, yeah, for the kids, I think it's` it's worth it. Good stuff, you guys. > Uh, then she got me into it. She started to, like, 'Oh, Hezekaya, there's a art awards coming up. 'Shouldn't you go and enter?' And then, 'Oh, I suppose. Hopefully I win.' And then, a couple of weeks later, I won. The Waimarino Art Awards is an art exhibition and competition that's been running in the town. I think it's 10 years now, and it attracts artists from all over the place. It's great prize money. I did SpongeBob SquarePants. Then I forgot the holes. (TUTS) I-It looks so amazing, but... cos I coloured the whole thing in. Just excited the whole time, waiting for the art awards, thinking, 'Maybe she'll win.' And it seemed such a big sum of money to her ` $50 to win. She was just dreaming about it. < MAN: Katarina Metekingi, SpongeBob SquarePants. < MAN: Katarina Metekingi, SpongeBob SquarePants. APPLAUSE I was so, so nervous, and... (INHALES) I couldn't be bothered going up on a stage to get my... (CHUCKLES) my certificate. (CHUCKLES) So I just went up and did it. < MAN: Oh, this was my personal favourite. Town Girl by Allanah Joe. Sorry to see, it's already sold. When the two girls' names were called, it was just so exciting. It was so neat to see them have some success with their work. With Allanah's, we knew it was really good when she did it. It just about brought tears to her eyes and my eyes cos she knew it was good. Katarina, yeah, she hasn't done a lot of art before she did her one and, um, just came out of the box, and she's won. His sister beat him this year, and his lip dropped about that, but, uh, he reckons he'll pick it up next year. Yeah, and his cousin, she also got a $50 prize in her art. Yeah, which is quite mean. Yeah. Leonie, she's always nice to me and all of us. She spoils us. She buys us lunch ` fish and chips. She gets me to... to walk down to the Chinaman's. Could I have six scoops of chips, please? Leonie! I'm back! Hezekaya's had a big challenge with not winning the art awards this year, so he's had to face the fact that his younger sister has won and his cousin. But I think he'll come through it. He's already planning the next art exhibition. So I'm sure he'll do well. This one's a liar. This one's a liar. Shut up. Next time, I'm not going to enter the art awards. OK, but if you lose one time, don't you try harder the next time? Nah. Nah. You're the same as me, so let's try again next year. Both of us. < Different judges see things differently, so... I don't want these two to enter. I don't want these two to enter. < Oh... I am. I am. No! I am. No! Hezekaya doesn't like competition. I do so, but not against these people. They're going to win again. Can you hold this to your face? I really enjoy seeing the kids enjoying their art. I think it's cool seeing them doing things that's making them feel really proud, and I like seeing them grow with learning art and, yeah, just hanging out somewhere different. Hopefully it's made some impact on their lives. It's got to be a hell of a bonus for them as well. A lot of other kids just walk the streets, do nothing, throw stones at passing-by vehicles. But, um, it's good to have mine, uh, hopefully on the right track. I'm not saying they don't throw stones at cars, you know. (CHUCKLES) But, uh, yeah, or snow. You know, a snowball gets chucked at you as you drive past. SLOW EASY-GOING MUSIC Waiouru's been used as a training area since approximately 1913, uh, when the Territorial Forces would come here to shoot their artillery, and as I understand it, that was along the lines of what is now State Highway 1, the Desert Road. Uh, in those days, of course, the highway didn't exist. So it was a great wilderness where they shot. The whole of the NZ Army, uh, uses the facility for regular training, and as the commandant, I'm responsible for the domestic running of Waiouru Camp, uh, and the training area. Uh, we've got 63,000 hectares here that fall in` into my responsibility. When regular-force training is not occurring, we allow other organisations within the military to come and train. The Cadet Forces, uh, are not truly within the Army but are supported by us. This week, cadets from the middle and central parts of the North Island are brought here, um, for a military experience. Testing, testing. In the cadets, they call me Sgt Williams. When I started cadets, I was 12 years old, um, turning 13, and I was attending high school. SLOW PERCUSIVE MUSIC At the unit, I am Cadet Te Wano. I did the Air Force Challenge back in 2012, and that was the fir` very first time I had seen cadets because we were at the, um, Air Force base, Ohakea, and so I thought it was cool, and I wanted to get into it because I want to join the Defence Forces. It will be a early wake-up. Say, 5.30 or 6. Depends on how grumpy your platoon sergeant is in the morning. OK, boys. Make sure that you have everything stored away in your daypacks ready for the day. < Hurry up. Get out there, Jay. As you were. As soon as you get up, you will be yelled at, and you'll get changed and then barrack inspections and then breakfast. Yeah, you get a mean feed. Yeah. You get a choice of spaghetti, baked beans, eggs, bacon, sausages and... mashed potatoes, I think. Yeah. Then drill. Left, then right. Go! Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! There's about 130 of us here, and there's only one person from my area that I know of ` that is myself ` um, that's here. I don't think most people would be into it, to be honest. All my friends think I'm a bit... you know, 'This is boys stuff. Girls don't do this. 'Why would you want to run around outside with guns and do press-ups and, you know, crawl through stuff?' But my friends are understanding. They know that I like 'boy things'. Fire! Fire! GUNFIRE ECHOES You'd either go shooting on a range to, uh, Ratel, which is radios, and you put in a lunch somewhere in there and then carry on to your next activity. Yeah, it's a pretty full-on day. Good navigation is based on location awareness. We did navigation today, and a lot of the girls had no idea what to do. But, uh, it was good. We pulled through. Learned heaps of stuff. When I first joined this unit, I was, like, quiet. You couldn't even... talk` if you talked to me, I would just walk away. You come up to me now and try talk to me, uh, I'm confident as. Like, see, that's what I got out of this. I've got confidence, got teamwork, self-discipline. Yeah, it's just a long list. Probably be here all day if I carry on. So, does everyone know what they have to work on, ladies? So, does everyone know what they have to work on, ladies? ALL: Yes, Sergeant! Motivation because the only person that's going to make you do it is yourself, even if the platoon sergeant or officer is yelling at you. Um, definitely respect. That is a big one. Honesty, loyalty and just, you know, toughen up. Stand at ease! In the future, which is in one more year,... (CHUCKLES) I will join the Air Force as a aircraft technician. What I'm hoping to do is join the NZ Defence Force ` in the Army. I don't know which trade I want yet, but I'm just looking at a future in the Army. Going to war for NZ? Um, that's not why you would join the Army and not just to go to war, but that's part of the job that yo-you've signed into, and you've taken an oath to, so it's basically part of your job, uh, I guess. GENTLE MUSIC SLOW REFLECTIVE MUSIC Me and Dad started Waiouru Motors in 1983. He was an apprentice at Waiouru Motors in his heyday, so that's why we called it that name. We're lucky enough to be able use that name again. I think everybody does the same sort of mechanic-ing, whether it's a country or city garage. Us country garage people are just a little bit more honest than those city fellas. (CHUCKLES) I do a good day's work and then, uh, might have a couple of beers at the garage first. Lock up and, um, have a couple of more beers in the Dog Box. I made the Dog Box because I was always in the dog box. So I thought I'd make a, uh, a good one and, uh, here we are, 30 years later. It's good. (CHUCKLES) Don't mind going to the Dog Box now. Don't mind being in the Dog Box. Just full of beautiful rugby stuff. Maybe I'm a bit of a collector freak. I mean, I used to collect matches and stamps ` all that sort of stuff ` and once I got a few rugby items, I just carried on. Couldn't stop. Still haven't stopped. But, uh, yeah, it's good. I love it. Some people collect obvious stuff, like just jerseys or maybe balls and bits and pieces, but I'm greedy; I'll go for everything. That's signed` That's signed Buck. That's a... a picture I, uh, stole off the wall at the Pounamu. Here's a good little ball. But, uh, one of my kids found that in a kindy-garten cupboard. It's the '82 Maoris team that went to Wales, > and one of the kids must have brought it for show-and-tell and never took it home. There's a couple of other bits. The Nelson Mandela, Francois Pienaar picture. Nelson Mandela actually signed it. Uh, took the guy three years to ge-get his signature. He was president then. Because security, he couldn't get near him. So, yeah, that's a pretty cool picture. Most of the stuff has been given to me. People have come in when we've had parties and things. They'd come in and seen what's in here and gone, 'Oh shit. I've got something at home.' So they go home and come back and give it to me. Jimmy Tweed, he's a good old mate from the old days. He's always been a good mate. Damn good mate. One of my best mates, to be quite honest. How did we meet? (CHUCKLES) Probably in a pub somewhere, mate. Thirty... three, two years ago. Jim's bar is cool. Bit different to mine. I-I'm full of rugby, but he's, uh, got a cool pen collection. Who else has got 30,000 freaking pens? Who else has got 30,000 freaking pens? Uh, it's about 90 all up, I reckon. 90 what? 90 what? Thousand. Have you? It's the biggest pen collection in NZ, and I will bloody vouch for you cos I haven't seen that many anywhere else. 90,000? Yeah. There's about 60,000 hanging up. Is there? Bugger me. There you go. It's definitely the biggest collection in NZ. It's Waiouru. You got to make your own fun. You got to do your own thing. I can come out here, have a beer and just sit here for a couple of hours myself. I've got no problem with that. Sounds sick, eh? But, um, yeah, I can. So, yeah, I love it. I love it. SLOW EASY-GOING MUSIC People like it here. They like the peace and the quiet, and there's no hustle and bustle, and it's a nice, sort of, community spirit still. We needed more space, and so we kept looking and looking, an-and just nothing was affordable in Auckland o-or even outlying areas as well, and we came across this building and it was, like, 'OK, that's interesting.' I've been here in the past. I-I did a little bit of extra work on Lord of the Rings. So I really enjoyed that and, yeah, the scenery and stuff was amazing. So we thought, 'Oh, we'd come down and see what's it like.' And when we got here, we were blown away by it. We were, like, 'Wow.' Amazing we could even think about living in a building like this. Lots of work, but, yeah, we've never been afraid of hard work. So, yeah, we just got on with it. I see something and always try to look on the bright side, always look at the possibilities of what you can do, cos in life, we kind of get bogged down with everything's too hard, and it can't be done, and you just don't tackle it. But I think, yeah, one of my best traits is just, yeah, getting stuck in and giving things a go, and even if it doesn't work out, at least you know you gave it a go. JARRING MUSIC I got to 40 years old, and the midlife crisis kicked in, basically, and I thought, 'I want to do something that I-I've always wanted to do 'and never sort of dared to do it before.' And I'd always had the idea that I wanted to start a dinosaur park. But, without any money, I thought, 'This is impossible.' But, again, I didn't want to give up on the idea because I thought, 'You know, I'm gonna be old 'an-and look back and go, "Why didn't I try?"' And so I thought, 'Well, the little money I've got, I'll basically just do what I can.' So I've been buying dinosaur heads from all over the world and painting them up, and just whatever the cheapest way to, kind of, get them into NZ was, I'd do it. There's the one guy in Mexico, who's been sending me bits, drip-feeding for the past year for just one dinosaur. So I've come to this point now where I've got, you know, quite a few dinosaurs, and it's just slowly coming together bit by bit. You know, every few weeks, a bit more, bit more, bit more. Uh, I'd really like to get some, you know, full-size dinosaurs as well. There's nothing better than kids just enjoying dinosaurs. Uh, you see their eyes light up for the first time they see a T-rex head, and you can kind of see the wonder in their eyes that these are monsters, but th-they're, kind of, real monsters, you know? They actually existed and were walking around the planet. They were walking down the main road before it was a road, you know. And so there's something amazing and kind of magical about that, I always think. I love playing around with 3-D computer graphics, as well as compositing images together, and so when it came to The Dinosaur House, I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if I do a coming-soon promo, 'where I could put dinosaurs in the main street of Raetihi?' And I put together a little promo on my, um, laptop computer and put it online, and, um, yeah, I'm quite` I'm quite happy with the way it turned out in the end. I suppose you could say it has turned into a bit of an obsession. Uh, probably, yeah. I probably could admit that. (CHUCKLES) I probably do drive everyone a bit mad. SERENE MUSIC I was born in Raetihi, uh, not that long ago and was brought up on the Parapara Highway, which is where we are now. Went away for while ` seen a bit of this and a bit of that ` and always wanted to come home. I've always been into my art. Right from primary school, I entered a competition and won the competition, and the first prize was $40, which in those days was a hell of a lot of money ` more than Dad used to make in a week. Ever since then, I was always drawing, painting. It was a good release. I've painted a variety of mediums but, uh, prefer to paint on saw blades, old saw blades, and feathers from the birds around here, and of course, canvases can become quite costly, so in more recent times, I prefer the medium of feathers. I go out and harvest some turkeys and peacocks. Um, they make` you know, they're good for eating, uh, good for dog tucker, and good for art. It's a cheap form of canvas for me. The portraits I do aren't like the old masters. Th-They're my take on how I want it to look. I don't like being told, 'You can't do this and you can't do that.' So art gives me that opportunity to express myself how I want to, not how other people want me to be. Tom epitomises people from this area ` you know, born on the land, live on the land, do everything on the land. He's your go-to man when` especially with horses. The valley down here where I am was right on the banks of the Mangawhero River, and this is where my father was brought up, his father, his father, and his father as far as I can remember, so it goes back hundreds of years ` hundreds. We are one of the oldest original people in this area and still live on our ancestral lands. This is the Waara family cemetery, and this is our great-great-great-grandmother, and this is my father's grandfather, and this is my mum and dad. When my mother died, my father brought us up. There were nine of us. He brought us up. My father always had horses, always broke in horses. So, yeah, we were riding when we were little wee kids. We've just grown up with them. People come down to this area to trek. You know, we've got some really steep country around here, and that's what they come for. They come for the thrill that Tommy and the trekking can provide for them. You know, there's nothing like a Waara trek. There's a... a bridge at` just at the bottom here. Take the right-hand side and just go single-file again over it. The horse trekking we do is me and the kids. We go out there and ride these blocks, and I think there's about 110,000ha just on this Maori land out around here, and we do it as a family, and it's just growing, growing, growing all the time. We take seven-day treks out of, you know, over 200 people ` seven-day rides. Native American culture is, um, something I've always been interested in. I think I'm closer to the Native American than I am to the Maori side of it. Um, I don't know why, but I just feel real` real close to them and, um, it just seems to be me. Mellonsfolly Ranch ` that's our local cowboy town. Everyone calls it the cowboy town, so that's what we call it. That's our cowboy town. That's what it is ` it's a cowboy town. The sheriff. Well... (CHUCKLES) Yeah, well, he's the sheriff. GUNSHOTS You go in there, and what he says, you do. Stop there, Chief. State your name and your business. Stop there, Chief. State your name and your business. Me great-great... I'm Sheriff Pete. I'm Sheriff Pete. I'm Calamity Jane, and I live at Mellonsfolly Ranch, home of the Old West Town and, uh, we've been here for the last five months and, uh, having a lot of fun. A lot of these actual buildings have accommodation in behind them. So what you see at the front would be, like, a proper western town and in the back i-is the bedrooms and the lovely en suites. There's a working canon which is used regularly. BANG! Then you go into the, um, hotel, which a lot of the men like, especially once you tell them the upstairs is actually a brothel. They seem to get quite excited. Then we come on to the saloon ` that's our restaurant as well ` and we have the sheriff's office, where he holds all his armoury. Every one of these rooms has got a real neat, uh, ambience, and it is something quite special. The play-acting that people get into, once they get into character, the lengths they'll go to is just extraordinary, and it's just hilarious to watch. GUNSHOTS SERENE FLUTE MUSIC A great time to have a sweat lodge is after the horse trek. A sweat lodge, it's Native American. Um, it's a sacred place. It is really healing, a sweat lodge, and it's mostly the women that'll do it. You know, the men are, 'Ah, don't need that.' But they don't know` they don't know what they are missing out on. PULSATING TRIBAL MUSIC The warmth in the lodge, it represents the womb, and it's` it's like being back in the womb. You go back in there, and it's where you release all unwanted, used-up energies. It's a spiritual place. So you're not only cleansing the outside. You're cleansing the inside of your body too. You can just release everything. TRIBAL MUSIC CONTINUES It's strange how all this Native American Indian stuff is sort of just coming back on me, and it's really cool. I enjoy it. TRIBAL MUSIC CONTINUES SERENE MUSIC I always thought that I would live by the sea, and here I am, in the centre of the North Island. But, on a good day, the views are just amazing. Incredible. I was born in Hamilton. I was born in Hamilton. I'm from Czech Republic. We have been living in the bus for around three years. We built it as a home. Our home. We didn't build this one for` for a motorhome or for travelling but for living in it. When I was a teenager, Bruno Lawrence and Blerta did a tour in a bus. The whole community of musicians, etc, travelled around in a bus. That's probably where the seed was planted. It can get extremely cold, and in summer, it can get too hot, and we'll get over 30 degrees. I said to her, 'Why don't you have a boyfriend?' And the answer just floored me. She said, 'Nobody wants me, 'and they don't know what they're missing.' (CHUCKLES) Sometimes I wonder how we do it. If you take the whole bus, it's 8m long and 2.5m wide. You ask most people to live in that area, and th-they couldn't. We have got used to reading where each other is going. There are a couple of, um, pass-around points in the bus, and we just nip into one of those if` if one of us is going somewhere else. Basically been a piano player all my life ` teaching it, selling it, playing it. And, presently, I'm playing at the Chateau Tongariro and have been there six years. OLD-FASHIONED MOMENTOUS MUSIC Chateau Tongariro is again opened for business as a holiday hotel. Visitors from all over the North Island are heading back to their favourite winter resort. A well-timed fall of snow has made the roads tricky for driving, but it's just what the skiers ordered. The building was originally started in 1927 ` so 85 years old, 86 years old. My relationship with the building, when I first started, I-I looked at it as a beast, an-and I was almost like a beast master, and I had no control over` over the girl, but, um, as the years have gone on, we've become quite attached to each other. The main challenges for the building is probably keeping the heating going at a constant temperature and the hot water. Here's our boiler room ` uh, main boiler room, > and it supplies all the heating and hot water for the hotel. Um, 8000 gallons, which is 60,000 litres. If it's a really cold day, if it drops below, um, minus-1, something like that, everything's working overtime. OLD-FASHIONED JAUNTY MUSIC It's a good old lady. It's a lovely building. Has a lot of character. It's like a good old car, you know. You have to talk to it nicely an-and stroke it an-and tell her that you understand her. So, and then she works really well. But it does come along sometimes and gives you surprises, but that's good. Every day is different. Every day is different. I think the main criteria for a maintenance person is to be able to think outside the square, deal with each challenge as it comes along. Every day, you walk around the corner, and someone will have a problem for you. Love the area. Totally just love the area. I wouldn't say I was a religious person, but it's definitely got an aura about it. I'm very fortunate here. We have a little nine-hole golf course that needs my, um, care, I think. Well, I believe it does and, um, I'd be on it as often as I can. The prevailing winds, uh, they're tricky around here. You don't know how windy it is until after you've hit the ball, so it's a lovely, interesting course. (PLAYS UPBEAT TUNE) There has been a suggestion, uh, late-at-night romantic affairs on top of the pool table, possibly, or even under it. I think under here. (SIGHS) Kerry and Brian. Ooh, there's a Dave. Well, we won't read that. But, uh, yeah, no, history. History in the making. If the building could talk, there would be a lot of stories coming out from here, you know. Ian the piano player is a very good friend of mine. 'Salt of the earth', you'd probably describe Ian. Great musician too. He's just a lovely musician. Dave's very humorous. Lots of fun. Uh, we play darts together once a week. Lovely man. Good Kiwi bloke. When people ask, I say to them that I have the best job in NZ. It's just a fascinating experience, and one I enjoy very much. On the... double! The hardest thing about this is you can't, um, 'I don't like this. I want to go home.' That's not going to get you home any faster. I love it here, and I've made the best friends here. So I wouldn't change it. The kids, the parents, the grandmothers come back, the grandfathers, and they just have a ball and... If you're an outdoors man or woman, hey, this is the place to be.