She fell for the man first, then the land. In 1994, Kiri Elworthy was at Victoria University of Wellington completing a postgraduate diploma in museum studies when a tall, handsome stranger gatecrashed a 21st party she was at.
Yes, it sounds like a romantic cliché, she admits with a laugh, but after their eyes met across the room, she instantly fell “head over heels” with the aspiring young farmer. (“You don’t plan these things!”)
It was a “sliding doors” moment that saw Kiri’s