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. # Copyright Able 2015 SERENE PIANO MUSIC BIRDS TWITTER Akaroa Harbour is a beautiful place. It's the remains of an extinct volcano which erupted eight, nine million years ago. The hills around the harbour form the crater rim of that extinct volcano of, uh, spectacular sea cliffs, lots of marine wildlife. It's just an amazing place. I was born in Akaroa. I was born in the hospital up there. I've lived here most of my life. I will always live here. Come on, bud. It's a beautiful part of the world, and, uh, it's a pretty special place to be, that's for sure. SEAGULL SQUAWKS Oh, Murphy, yeah. He's my wee mate. He pretty much comes everywhere with me. I think it stems back from my farming days, and then when I stopped my farming days, I thought, 'I've gotta get myself another little dog.' My wife bought Murphy on Trade Me. He was gonna be my wife's dog, and then Murphy turned up, and I took him over. BOAT ENGINE HUMS I'm a skipper for Akaroa Dolphins. My day-to-day job as a skipper is, uh, taking tourists out on sightseeing cruises, looking at dolphins and wildlife and the scenery in Akaroa Harbour. We're gonna head on down toward the harbour entrance, and we're going to be looking for the Hector dolphin. Banks Peninsula does have a very unique landscape. So we have a lot of volcanic rocks and cliffs, uh, steep gullies, high peaks coming down to the sea. Way back all those millions of years ago, Banks Peninsula was its own little island, and I think that's why it has its own unique, uh, landscape, I guess. Like, there's` there's rock structures here that you won't find anywhere else in the South Island. It really is its own unique little place. INTRIGUING MUSIC OK, team. We're getting into the area now where we could possibly start to see a dolphin or two, so if you see Murphy run down the front of the boat and hang his head over the side, just go and have a look, see what he's up to. He may well be looking at them. He can often hear them before we can actually see them. Look out. Here comes Murphy. He's coming down to see what's happening. Murphy the dolphin dog, he can hear the Hector dolphins. Hector dolphins have a very high-frequency echolocation. It's in the hearing range that we can't hear but dogs can, so he's very good at finding dolphins. (BARKS) He seems to have always been able to do it. I... The first couple of times we took him out on the boat, he was pretty excited about it all. (BARKS) He'll shoot down the stairs, race out to the front of the boat, hang his head over the side, and, uh, he'll start barking at them or in the general direction where he thinks the dolphins are, and, uh, sure enough, there'll be a dolphin pop up. The Hector's dolphins are a beautiful little mammal. They are` They're one of the smallest and rarest oceanic mammals alive in the world today, and we're incredibly fortunate here in NZ that we are the only country in the world that has Hector dolphins. Uh, their population is around about 7000 to 7500, so they are on the critically endangered list, and, uh, the` the beautiful thing about Akaroa Harbour is we have a good, reasonable population of around about a thousand of these little mammals. Oh, the visitors and the passengers on the boat, they absolutely love him. He's, um` He's a likeable little guy ` lifts your own, uh, mood, I guess. So, yeah, they do. They really enjoy him. He is a little bit of a local celebrity, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Murph, Murph, the dolphin dog. LIGHT MUSIC WHIMSICAL PIANO MUSIC BIRD SQUAWKS We are at the Giant's House in Akaroa, up on a sunny hillside in Rue Balguerie overlooking the sea, and you can't get a much better place to live than this ` sheltered. Bonjour. (CHUCKLES) I'm Josie Martin ` painter, sculptor, mixed-media artist and horticulturalist. I've always had a little bit of a, uh, twinkle in my eye, I think. (CHUCKLES) When I first saw this house, I think I came to a party, and the locals kept talking about the Giant's House, and, actually, it happened to be for sale, and when I first saw it, I thought, 'My God. I wouldn't touch this with a bargepole,' but, um` Everywhere you looked, everything needed doing. WINDOW SQUEAKS Everyone said, 'You're mad. You're crazy. You're out of your mind.' (CHUCKLES) But I thought, 'No.' Uh, something said, 'Do it,' so I did. I think at the time, I needed a challenge. My front step, that big, long step, was such an ugly, broken concrete thing. I thought, 'Well, I can't afford tiles. I've got that china. I could try mosaicking,' and that's how it started. So it was a completely open three-dimensional canvas, which was actually very exciting, and I went like a mad woman, really, because once I got the idea, um, you know, it was exciting. BIRDS TWITTER These are big builds. There's a big foundation goes in ` uh, big footing with, uh, all the steel ` and, of course, I need a lot of steel, because, for instance, down an arm, like, there's four or five steel rods, you know, to hold it rigid, and then there's sheets of wire mesh and chicken netting, and it's all concreted in and tied together. This is Adam and Eve in the Valley of the Butterflies,... (CHUCKLES) which took about two years, I suppose, but, you know, we've got a little bit faster as we've gone along. And not only that, we've developed techniques. Now, this is the rainbow staircase, the stairway to heaven. (CHUCKLES) It was quite a mission to do. This is the angel and magician up the jewel staircase, and, um` because I thought everyone needed, uh, a guardian angel in their life and a bit of magic. WHIMSICAL MUSIC Oh, I've had 90-plus-year-olds around my garden. It takes them into another world. Especially after the earthquake, I had a lot of people come, because they said they just want to come to a happy place. I'm doing my passion, but I'm able to transmit a sort of positive energy to other people, and` and then they` that inspires them, and a lot of people at the gate, they say, 'I just want to go home and do something.' It's magical up here looking out over Akaroa. Birds are singing, and you've got space to dream up the next creation. BIRDS CHIRP LIGHT-HEARTED MUSIC My name is Stephen Le Lievre. It means 'the hare' in French; we breed like rabbits. (CHUCKLES) My great-great-grandfather come from France. Francois was a blacksmith and whaler, and he come here in 1820s and '30s just to go whaling, and we've lived here ever since, and I've got the history, so there's no use going anywhere else. I come from a large family. There was 10 ` seven brothers, three sisters. We were brought up as a French family. That's the way I feel, and we had to do everything in a French way. I am the town crier of Akaroa and Banks Peninsula. I like getting dressed up. When I first started, I was getting dressed up twice a year ` Bastille Day and the French Festival ` and I got some bright idea of getting dressed up long weekends. Would they pay me? (CHUCKLES) They laughed and said, 'Righto. We'll pay you $12 an hour. 'Get your uniform. We'll buy it for you,' and I haven't stopped since. LIGHT-HEARTED MUSIC Hey, kid. Have you lost your mum? Eh? PEOPLE CHATTER SOFTLY The Town Criers Guild see me on TV,... Hey, Murphy. You all right, mate? Steve, how are ya, mate? ...and they said, 'Well, if you join the guild, 'you'll get free travel, 'free accommodation, 'free meals,' and I said, 'Right. Send the papers.' So I filled out the papers, sent them back... and passed my badge, and that's how I became a town crier. Well, it's to do with our French ancestry and, uh, the way I feel about it, and I like to tell the history about our French, and I like to tell it the right way, and I don't make up stories, and` and it becomes a` a really professional job. Aha. PEOPLE CHATTER IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE Here's the boat ` the dolphin boat. Oh, we might meet him as he comes in. I usually give them a wave, and they` Yeah. You've gotta want to do it. Some people don't like getting dressed up, but I do. Thank you. PEOPLE CHATTER How are you doing? < WOMAN SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE Thank you. You're very welcome. They're all Indians. Hello. Yeah, you become famous. You don't realise. But you can't let it get ya. You can't let it, um... You can't. Otherwise you ruin it all if you get too famous, if you think you're too famous. Yeah. Yeah, I like it like this ` just take your time, and... and it keeps building. (LAUGHS) INTRIGUING ACCORDION MUSIC Bonjour. Bon journee. Have a good day. Now I'm a town crier, it's just a bloody habit. (CHUCKLES) Bonjour. Bonjour. Hey. (CHUCKLES) This flag I look after. I bring it down in the storms and redo it and then order a new one and put it up, so it's my job to look after it. It's a big job to keep an eye on it. Someone broke one of them and dropped it into the sea,... (CHUCKLES) and then we put this new one here and bolted it down. PEOPLE CHATTER ACCORDION MUSIC CONTINUES It's not every day we come across this. (LAUGHS) No, no. Do you wanna go and stand beside him? Eh? Yes. (LAUGHS) Go and stand there. Are you Aussie? No. No, no, no. Kiwi. No, good Kiwi. I'm a good Kiwi. There's the seats there. This is for the 150 years jubilee. Francois, he` he's` I'm a direct descendant. He's my great-great-grandfather. So that's for the 150. Next year's the 175, which we're gonna do something really... Champagne on the beach. (GRUNTS, CHUCKLES) If you love something, you've gotta work on it. Otherwise nothing will happen. (CHUCKLES) Just live your life, I suppose. Get out and do it. Mm. ACCORDION MUSIC CONTINUES INTRIGUING MUSIC I love Banks Peninsula, the whole area, and Little River, I guess, is the gateway to that peninsula. My name's Valmai Becker. What I do is live a life in a herb garden, spend time with plants and explore them as teachers. INTRIGUING MUSIC CONTINUES So I make salves and creams and tonic vinegars, blend teas, try to encourage people to drink herb tea. Hops, oats, lemon verbena, lemon balm and lavender. GENTLE MUSIC I'm not a country girl. I was born in Hamilton. Whenever I drove around rural NZ, I thought I would not survive, I don't think, living in rural ` like, really rural. It took me probably six months to really settle here. I think it's very important to spend time with the plants and observe them, develop a relationship with them. ETHEREAL MUSIC It should be an equal thing ` like, what you give to the plant as well as what the plant gives to us as humans. It's respect. Plants give us so much. Herbal medicine's got a long tradition ` like, 2000 years. I often think about ` is it still relevant? Well, it certainly is in my life, cos it's important to me. Is some of our modern-lifestyle diseases associated with the fact that people don't spend enough time in nature? If you can know a little bit about plants... You know, like` It's, like, be your own doctor. In London, I was working in the National Theatre, and I read this word 'naturopath', and I thought, 'Mm, that sounds interesting ` 'like, path to nature,' and thought, 'Yeah. That's what I want to be. 'It sounds like an interesting journey or voyage in life.' That was when I was in my 20s ` so 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and I still love it. INTRIGUING MUSIC Every day is a joy, because I am living my passion. I live here because it's people, place, community. I think they're lucky to have me. There wouldn't be many communities in NZ that would say that they've got a medical herbalist that lives there and that she'll pick something from her garden or mix you a tea or make you a cream or give you a tonic. That's special. (CHUCKLES) GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC This land's challenging at times. I just love the hills, living out here near the heads and everything and having the sea right beside you. There's always surprises. Like, I've seen dolphins at work. Nothing's the same; like, there's always something different. SHEEP BLEAT It was a great place to grow up ` had my own beach, have horses, all the animals. Away. (BLOWS WHISTLE) My whole family's been farmers, really. Like, I've just grown up around it, and I just love the outdoors, love animals... (BLOWS WHISTLE) < SHEEP BLEAT ...and working on the land. It sounds better to me than working inside and doing paperwork and office work. I'm about one of three female shepherds, and I have full-time work and sometimes work in the weekends,... Dan. ...so there's always work. It's great. (BLOWS WHISTLE) Stay there. SHEEP BLEAT (BLOWS WHISTLE) Dan, he's a heading dog. Uh, he just eyes the sheep, gets them moving by just having a strong eye on them. And I've got two huntaways, Trev and Tan. (WHISTLES) Trev is` He's got lots of noise. He's big noise, and he's really good in the yards,... DOGS BARK ...and then I've got Tan, who's the mainstay, and he is a great mustering dog. LIGHT-HEARTED MUSIC Oh, I shouldn't say great. He's a good mustering dog. (WHISTLES) I've been doing a bit of drenching, wet-drying the ewes, mustering ` yeah, just getting everything sorted for this tailing. Sheep can be really challenging... (CHUCKLES) at times, can be quite toey. Tan. (WHISTLES) Some breeds are more challenging, I reckon. There's some that like to jump, like, in the yards and everything, and it just makes it a lot harder, and then some, they're just cruisy, sort of thing. SHEEP BLEAT Sweet. LIGHT-HEARTED MUSIC Tan's right is... (WHISTLES TWICE) (BARKS) (WHISTLES AT VARYING PITCHES) I was never good at guitar or anything, so... (CHUCKLES) maybe this can be` count as my instrument, and now... Well, I've got dogs; I have to whistle. But it's banned in the house. You're not allowed to whistle in the house. (CHUCKLES) REFLECTIVE MUSIC I live at Pohatu, Flea Bay. Pohatu means place of stones. Uh, Flea Bay ` Uh... (CHUCKLES) I'm pretty sure it's because a small native flea that lives on the penguins... It's because we've got a large penguin colony here. Francis really just came here to farm in the first place ` had no idea he was going to end up in the middle of a penguin colony,... (CHUCKLES) and neither did I when I first married him. (LAUGHS) I was brought up in Akaroa, and as a kid, I can remember what` all you heard at night was the sound of penguins, um, but they'd started to disappear from round the town. During the '80s, started to find carcasses, feet and flippers and large bones out on the hillside, and obviously that was large predators ` cats and ferrets. Over the years the penguins all disappeared from other bays, and we were finding dead penguins everywhere, so we started the predator control. Just amazing how many ferrets and cats are on these hills that we didn't see. Think we took about 40 or 50 ferrets out and a similar number of cats in the first year we started trapping. All the bait gone out of this one. We've got about, um, oh, 100 to 130 traps protecting the bay now. It is a bit of a battle, but, uh, we're winning it so far. Monitoring the penguins, that gives us a window on the colony. We can see what's going on. That's really important, because, um, we need to know whether the predator control is working. Female- ` ooh ` male pair. Has anybody laid any eggs? Yes. So she'll` Oh, no. She's got two. > Oh, yes, they love the boxes. (CHUCKLES) Basically, they're lazy little birds and would` would far sooner move in on somebody else's hard work than do their own. Yeah, that's my style. (CHUCKLES) Put it together with, um, big wire dogs. (CHUCKLES) Basically I just use firewood out of the shed. (CHUCKLES) Francis is the one who makes the nice boxes. OK, we'll just stash it in` Just in here. in here somewhere. OK. Oh, reasonably flat area. We've got about 300 boxes out around the farm. (CHUCKLES) Think like a penguin. Don't make it too large ` anything that's cool, safe and dark. If you make the box too big, uh, you'll get two pair in it fighting, and none of them will breed. Oh dear. This is what happens when there's a fight. It's a little penguin egg. LIGHT MUSIC A very beat-up male. There's an egg there. That's good. Male on at least one egg. I saw one egg. Um, and, um, there's one egg lost, so we know now that there` there will only be one chick at the very most. I've seen worse. Um, sometimes after a penguin fight, they, um` they look like they've been in a pub brawl. Male ` definitely male ` sitting on the eggs. No fighting. He's been a good boy. (CHUCKLES) Gosh, real characters. I love their personalities ` yeah, their tenaciousness. They're neat little birds. They really are. UPBEAT ACCORDION MUSIC We've had many WWOOFers, but, um, a couple have ended up staying,... (LAUGHS) especially, getting married into the family. There's the one WWOOFer, Renan. Bonjour. He came to help me make a long-drop toilet, uh, ended up meeting my, uh, daughter, and they got married, and, um, they've got a little boy called Louis and another one on the way. I had this young Frenchman, wanted to come... (CHUCKLES) and work for us,... Salut. ...and as soon as I saw him, I thought, 'Oh, here's trouble.' (LAUGHS) I knew Averil would fall for him. (CHUCKLES) They fell in love and got married, and they have a little girl called Nest,... HIGH-PITCHED: Do-do-do! ...and so, yup, there's another Frenchman in the family now. (CHUCKLES) Hang on. (GRUNTS) Yeah. Good. Go straight. One of the first reasons I` I came here was for the penguins, uh, and for the conservation. There was a ranch. That was quite` quite interesting for me. I remember quite clearly the first time I came here. Um, it was a perfect day, and I'm thinking, 'Oh my goodness. I'm in heaven.' (LAUGHS) We can pretty much kayak almost every day. LIGHT-HEARTED MUSIC Penguins, the funny thing about them, it's a really small creature, and they aren't scared of trying to bite you ` about 30cm and just trying to bite, bite, bite. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Some of them used to ambush me. One` One particular box, number 33, the male in there, he` he had it really figured, when I was coming, how to` how he was gonna attack me. If you work with penguins, you get used to being bitten. (CHUCKLES) Two chicks. I think Shireen's passion for the penguins comes from Shireen's passion. I think she just was happy to` to do something for the environment and` and started to get passionate and learn a lot about it as she was going, and now she's kind of an expert. (CHUCKLES) Kevin, he's very much into conservation as well, and he loves the scenery, and, oh gosh, I couldn't ask for anybody better than Kevin. I think he's` he's just great. Um, you know, he can manage everything, and, yeah, wonderful asset. (CHUCKLES) It is a beautiful place to work, and it provides a lovely job for them. They seem to all enjoy it, very much got into it, so, yeah, it couldn't be better. RELAXED GUITAR MUSIC If I met somebody who hadn't been to Okains Bay, the first thing that I would tell them would be to drive down the main road and drive down slowly, because there's so much to look at, from the old church to the school to the museum to the store, the homesteads on the side of the road and then down to the beach. That would be what I would tell them. And obviously stop at the Okains Bay Store for a` for a coffee and a piece of carrot cake. Hi there. Hi. How are ya? Good. What brings you into Okains Bay today? We're camping down the road. Oh, are you? Oh, you're gonna have an awesome time there. Yeah. 'So, I guess, running the store, I am the face of Okains Bay, 'and often in the summer, the Okains Bay Store is the first place that the visitors stop.' Here you go. Enjoy. Have a good day. > ENGINE HUMS The historic Okains Bay Store is actually the longest-running store in NZ. It's been running continuously since 1873, uh, so in this community, it's become very very important. The shops are located right in the, uh, centre of Okains Bay, so we call it the hub. Uh, we have the Okains Bay School right across the road. Actually, the school's really really important to the community and also to the running of the shop, because it creates that vibe and that buzz. Right. Who'd like to start our karakia today? < Holly. So, we've got 18 children from age 5, and the oldest is 13. ALL: ...homai ki a matou. In the past, there were a number of schools on this side of the peninsula in the eastern bays, but a lot of these eastern bays are now holiday-home places, so the people who purchase homes in the area actually don't live here, so a number of them have closed for that reason. GENTLE MUSIC Today we're having our usual Friday technology challenge, where the children create, uh, something out of newspaper, and this week the challenge is to create wearable arts which reflect NZ, so the children will have to design clothing, and they will have to be able to parade the outfits that they've created. GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES Uh, the thing that I really love about living in Okains Bay is that it's quiet, that there's a strong community here, and I think that, you know, that's a real strength of this place ` that people are still remembering how to look after each other. I'm Gillian Thacker. I am the manager for the Okains Bay Maori and Colonial Museum. The challenges of the community are to keep it going, really ` to keep people coming, get more people in so we can live here in this wonderful place. Dad has a couple of rental properties himself, and so to keep people coming and the school going, he would` he would offer those properties rent-free to families that want to come here as long as they had primary-school children. And then with the museum as well, that's` that's the policy that is` is on board ` to have families with primary-school children. They, um` They also are supplied with a free house on-site` to live on-site, so that's part of their` their job here. The museum came about by Murray Thacker, my father. He has a lifetime passion of collecting things. Dad started collecting Maori artefacts as quite a young person. He always wanted to collect things and preserve them and was fascinated in the Maori culture, really ` the way of life. These flutes, etc. So there's a whole set of them, so you can actually learn from it. And you come around... with the combs... and your needles... and then your artwork and what it's made from, and then you're into your, um, chiselling on the` on the face for carving tattoo. The museum just down the road is an incredible place for this community to feel really proud of, and the waka shed, with the two incredible waka. I just can't believe that they're so accessible for people to go and look at and` and explore, and they are right opposite the museum. Dad's a very determined person. If he wants to do something, he will do it, and he will find a way to do it. Dad's always wanted to keep the community alive, keep the children here. You keep the numbers up, the community lives. RELAXED MUSIC The mornings are when I leave Le Bons Bay in my postie van. It has some signs on the front and back saying 'school', so it's, uh, basically a school bus for the first half hour of its day. Hey, Leo. We` We take the children from Le Bons to Akaroa. It's fantastic, the` the meeting of the kids. For a while here I was transporting my own grandchildren over the hill as well. See ya. LAID-BACK GUITAR MUSIC I really enjoy these little guys we have here, right from little 5-year-olds up to` to Ollie, the 17-year-old, and there's always a bit of banter going on. If I was just doing the post run, I would be by myself, yup, pretty much all the time unless someone wanted to come for a ride, so by combining everything into the one vehicle, it just makes so much darn good sense. ENGINE RUMBLES Thank you. See you, Mei-Mei. See ya later, Rob. See ya later. Have a good day. LAWNMOWER BUZZES DISTANTLY, BRAKES SQUEAK The mail run we do, uh, begins in Akaroa. It's actually 120km long, all up, from Akaroa back to Akaroa. We take passengers along for a ride. So it's a` it's a tour of, uh, the eastern bays of Banks Peninsula ` ride with the postie. Jump in. Sure. Thanks. Hey, Darren. You got another one? Two. Two? OK. Good morning. Welcome. We're underway. It's taken a while, but we're getting there. So the thinking behind it is, really, making use of one vehicle. Makes good environmental sense, good economical sense, to combine as many things as you can in my one office, my red Toyota van. So, you get to look down into the Akaroa Harbour on the left-hand side. That's the crater of the extinct volcano. They're blown away. They absolutely love it. They can't believe what they're seeing. I really enjoy that, and I really enjoy meeting all these people. Um, today, for instance, I've had, uh, five passengers from Belgium, Germany, France, England ` uh, what a mix of young people. It's really good, and it's kind of fun to share the peninsula with them. That's what I really enjoy. ENGINE HUMS, BRAKES SQUEAK, HANDBRAKE CLICKS Hey, Robin. How are ya? I'm good. You on your best behaviour? Yeah, absolutely. I'm always on my best behaviour. Is that it? Is there anything else? No. That's it today. Certainly, the roads over here are a bit of a challenge for the stomachs of a lot of people. They're sitting in the back, hanging on. Don't have many safety barriers around the roads. It doesn't faze me at all, it doesn't faze the locals at all, but it seems to really` really spook the- the overseas people, who are well used to safety barriers. I always tell them safety barriers are just for bad drivers, and that seems to relax them a bit. BIRDS TWITTER Righto. Come and have a cup of tea. The message I try and impart to them is, basically, look after where you live. There's some herb teas there. I do try and impart that green message, if you want to call it that. Some places in the world just need to be left alone, and this is one of them. Hey, Joe. How are you doing, buddy? Have you had a good day? Gidday, Eddie. Afternoon, Rob. > Hey, Ollie. How are you going, Leo? Hi. Gidday, Mei-Mei. My idea of happiness ` living in Le Bons Bay. We've got everything we need just right here, so, yup, that makes me happy. It's perfect. GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC BIRD CHIRPS MACHINERY GRINDS My correct name is` is Don Wright, and not a lot of people know me by that name, because of the nickname I got as Sawdust, and people say to me, 'It seems a strange name.' I says, 'Yeah. I don't mind if you call me it.' When I first got into the sawmill, I'd be probably the age of about 12, and, uh, I used to help my dad. He was a good father but a` a very tough man, and, uh, you had to work hard to, uh, earn your keep. I thought` When I took over from him in 1962, I thought, 'Well, three or four years of this will be enough for me, and I'm off.' MACHINERY WHIRRS As far as sawmilling is concerned, I look forward to coming out here every day and enjoy every moment of it. Sometimes I'll` I'll lay in bed when I can't get to sleep, and then I'll design a new table, like that one there with the redwood strips on it, and` and it's great to jump out of bed, have your breakfast and come out here. We're at Barrys Bay at, uh, my old sawmill, and at the moment we're in amongst all my, uh, old, stuffed tractors and chainsaws and logs and` and all sorts of stuff that I-I've collected over the years, and I'm so pleased that I've hung on to all of this stuff. Parts of the mill are` are over 100 years old. A lot of the old pulleys and shafts and things would be over 100 years old. Just chuck us me bowler hat. I purchased this tractor in 1956. My age was about 17 or 18. You're a dear old soul. I love you, and you're a one-owner. There were 36 mills here in the early days, and they were involved in cutting timber for the houses in Akaroa. Before the 36 sawmills arrived, there were all the pit saws used around the hills. In a lot of cases, these` these guys that were pit-sawing up the hills had to walk probably two or three hours to the pit-saw rig. Then they had to get the log out of the bush, get it to the pit-saw rig, saw it up. Cutting timber on Banks Peninsula, it took about 40 years to cut all the trees out, so milling started in approximately 1843 and went through to 1890, and by that time, all the trees were gone, all the timber was gone. UPLIFTING MUSIC Banks Peninsula's been on my doorstep forever, really, in terms of my life. I was very lucky as a kid. My mum and dad were very keen on the outdoors. I've watched it as a child and have grown up with it as part of my life, really. I was growing up as a botanist as well, cos I was fascinated by birdlife and plant life from a very early age, and so it grew on me. I'm Hugh Wilson. I'm the manager of Hinewai Reserve. This is on the south-eastern corner of Banks Peninsula. Hinewai Reserve's 1250ha, so it's a lovely big area of regenerating native forest. (WHISTLES) Isn't it amazing when you` when you`? When I think about my life now, being manager of this fantastic nature reserve` Yeah, I got into terrible trouble as a kid at school` high school. I basically used my maths exercise books as a blank plate to design nature reserves on, but when the master, the teacher, found what I was doing, I got severely punished, so it seems bizarre now. (LAUGHS) GENTLE MUSIC Before any people came here, it was virtually forested from side to side and from top to bottom. About maybe a third of the peninsula was deforested in Maori times, but with European settlement, the rest of the forest was very rapidly cleared away. By` By 1900, you know, there was less than 1% of the original old-growth forest left. I'm a botanist by profession, and, uh, I had spent years looking at Banks Peninsula, really thinking that, um, much of the native biodiversity was lost, but in fact it's not ` just been pushed a bit to the side for a while, and the goal was just to let nature reassert herself. Our trust bought 109ha to start with, and it was a run-down little farmland, basically ` totally uneconomic, infested with gorse. So there was a huge amount to do ` animal control, setting up track systems, controlling gorse. For the first three years the gorse actually did increase, but in the last 15 years it's been steadily decreasing. All that light green was gorse. So we leave gorse and broom alone. A lot of native plants regenerate beautifully under its shade and shelter, and so that's what happened. They grow up through the gorse, and as soon as the gorse is shaded, it's dead. (WHISTLES TUNE) I've always loved drawing. I quite like the idea of drawing plants rather than photographing them. Both ways are good, but, uh, with drawing, I just feel you can bring out all the little details that you need to show for identification and everything. I learn a lot by doing it, for sure. It's also an unbelievably good way of looking closely at plants, cos if you've got to look at them and then draw them, you really have to look at them closely, which is what botanists are supposed to do. A lot of my plant drawings are done in pencil ` both` both black pencil and in coloured pencils. I'm using ink a little bit more now, but, uh, basically it's nice and simple ` nothing as difficult as watercolour or anything like that. Oh, the number of books I've written? It must be about 12 books altogether, I think. It's a, uh, thin-bark totara, maybe 600 years old. ETHEREAL MUSIC What do I like about plants? If there were no plants, there'd be no animals and no people, so we are, um` we are completely and totally dependent on them and always will be, and if we continue to wreck it, we'll wreck ourselves too. It's pretty basic, and it's a good reason for finding them interesting, I think. (WHISTLES TUNE) LAID-BACK GUITAR MUSIC (CONTINUES WHISTLING) I've only owned one car in my life. It was a 1956 Ford Anglia, and then about then I thought, 'Well, look, I just don't like what cars are doing to the world and to people and everything,' and I` I made a fanatical decision just not to own a car again. I love the bike as a means of transport, and I find myself very lucky that I love using a transport system which is so beneficial in all ways ` keeps you fit and healthy, travel is at exactly the right speed, it's not inflicting huge demands on the environment ` so I think it's just got everything going for it, and you can go any distance you like. The last time I came back from Auckland was on a bike. It took me 10 days, but it was a joyous and wonderful journey. I do use public transport, and, of course, I'm getting older. I'm nearly 70. Um, so I won't be able to bike forever, I imagine. At the moment the biking is absolutely no trouble, and every time I go to Akaroa, it involves coming up a 630m hill, which I find absolutely no problem at all. I just absolutely love it. I love going down it as well. (CHUCKLES) (WHISTLES) SEAGULLS SQUAWK I've got more history to live yet. (CHUCKLES) You know, it doesn't stop. It keeps going. It's not just the penguins; it's the place. It's just everything. Everything about this place is quite unique and special. We love it. No, I'm not the ultimate greenie. No. I mean, no one's ultimately green, I don't think. I try and live with as light a footprint as possible. Sit down. Dan. (LAUGHS) (WHISTLES AT VARYING PITCHES) And that just means 'come back'.