Townie in the Country

By June Garden

June Garden trained as a teacher and after her family left home, she moved to Auckland where she met Arthur.  They purchased a ten-acre property in Hawke's bay, took early retirement and began their exciting new lifestyle.  They had embarked on a Third Age career for which their main qualifications were an abundance of energy and a boundless optimism.  It was a radical departure from the city life they had enjoyed. This is a humorous account of their experiences in the rural environment. 

The reader follows their wayward journey through the joys, trials and tribulations of    this new life.  J

• Language: English
• Publisher: June Garden
• Release date: Oct 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386225034

June Garden

June Garden lived for many years in Christchurch where she worked in the education field as a Speech Therapist. However, when she was transferred from Christchurch to Auckland, and met partner Arthur Birks, she never imagined they would leave city life behind, take early retirement and begin their Third Age Careers in the hill country of Hawkes Bay. Few of their former life experiences provided any help in this new occupation.  Life in the country provided a steep learning curve as well as many humorous adventures. Needless to say, they have never regretted exchanging their busy city life for one of constant change, where seasons rather than years mark the passing of time.  

Book preview

Chapter One

Dream Time to Reality

Look at that price, Arthur said. It’s so cheap!  We could easily afford that.

On this rushed, but magical weekend, we had stopped for a quick lunch with friends and were chatting while it was being prepared. Someone mentioned the cheapness of house and land prices compared to those in Auckland. Curiosity got the better of us and we looked among the For-Sale notices in the local paper. There it was—our Dream House! The one we had often talked about but never really looked for or thought we’d find. And, as our friends had said, it was so-o-o cheap down here in Hawke’s Bay, unlike those city prices we were used to.

Huh! We were hooked before we even went to see it. The local land agent must have thought it was his lucky day. Our house was the first one we saw. It had one entrance covered by a pretty little veranda. Jasmine, in full bloom, wound its way up the outside posts filling the air with fragrant perfume. We went through the door and stood in the large family kitchen. Yes, it felt like home. 

The lounge was at the other end of the house and looked out, through a frame of wisteria, to an enclosed garden and soft green lawn. There were five bedrooms, but we barely glanced at those, except to make a mental note that there was plenty of room for the relatives to stay. The tiny room at the end of the hall was the study and Arthur and I both fell in love with that.  We wandered across the paddocks and down into the gully. We stood in the sunshine surrounded by trees and soft green grass,

Ooh yes, this is for us, Arthur smiled. Imagine sitting out here—a glass of wine, watching the setting sun. 

I didn’t remind him that this paddock faced east. I too, was caught up in the magic of

the moment, so I chose to agree with him instead. We walked around the sheds, which Arthur admired, but I personally felt no bond with them. We went back into the garden and yes, ooh yes, this was it, this was the one.

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The agent, to his credit, went through his paces and took us to see a few more local beauties, but we just couldn’t see past our nose or should I say, house. Never mind the land agent playing his part and selling the house. We were sold! We were happy to sign on that dotted line and to look forward to an exciting retirement, just as soon as we could arrange it.

Back to the city life we went, leaving our dream house tucked up with some kindly tenants for a short while. We needed to tie up all the loose ends; namely, our jobs, our house, our present lifestyle and (most necessary!), check that we had enough savings put by to keep us going once we were happily ensconced in our country retreat. Ignorance cheekily suggested that the cost of living would be much cheaper in the country, and in our naiveté, we believed him! 

These south-bound townies had yet to become aware of fencing and livestock costs, the local tradesman’s travel costs, extra furniture, special tools for this new venture and small-town prices. There was to be another, as yet uncounted cost...the never-ending parade of our townie relatives and friends who had to come and see what we were up to and what kind of disaster we had bought into.

It took two years, much longer than either of us had anticipated, to finally close the doors on our city life with its many and varied attractions. Not that there were many such charms tempting us now that we had our dream, our ‘Mulberry Cottage’.

Yes, that is what we named our new home. It was one of the first things we did. It might have only one door, the front one, an overgrown driveway, and a few gardens. There were no mulberry trees in sight either, but that did not concern us. We would plant those later, we had at least, given our home a name. There were so many plans and schemes, hours of discussions resulting in drafts and redrafts, and endless shopping expeditions. However, we now had our dream house and this gave a real focus to our lives.

We needed many new things for this exciting venture.  The cottage had five bedrooms, four of which were doubles, a lounge, a study, a family room and that very large kitchen so, of course, that meant more furniture, drapes, bedding; new and different tools would also need to be purchased to assist us in work we were now taking on.

After all, you wouldn’t be found dead in the country without a chain saw, an electric hedge-cutter and some fence strainers, would you? Added to that, we needed suitable clothes, different footwear, a quad bike, a ride-on mower, a mulcher, as well as my perks: a dishwasher and a large freezer. You can see why the local DIY shop owners must have clapped their hands when they saw us coming.

Rural education also became part of this acquisitive phase. There was so much for us to learn in such a short time. Landscape gardening courses and Field Days to be attended, libraries needed frequent visits and the Internet became a marvellous source of information. Not always accurate, but worth searching for whatever tips we considered useful for our future life. When considering ‘our dream’, we accumulated many items which seemed so important in the gathering, only to be discarded in more realistic times. Friends and relations were also forthcoming with all manner of advice, some good and some destined for the dustbin rather than the diary.

The two years passed very quickly and at last the moving van towered over our little townhouse while waiting for its load. It looked like some huge hungry beast sitting there and, although it appeared to have an insatiable appetite, it still proved difficult to find room for the last few items. There is always more to pack than you imagined, and when the time came this was certainly the case for us.

Packing case after packing case went through the doors and still there seemed to be more things to pack, gently push or frantically ram into boxes. Just when we thought we had finished, we turned to see my pot plants waiting patiently in the shade. Humans are such acquisitive creatures but I must be the worst when it comes to pot plants!  The year before, I had cut down in this department or so I thought, but after loading over fifty of these weighty little beasts into the van, I vowed,

No more pot plants, Arthur. Don’t let me buy any more!

As if I could stop you, was the gruff reply. You collect plants like some people collect stamps!

I really have tried to stay true to my word, but occasionally I get tempted. 

Our arrival at Mulberry Cottage was as exhilarating as it was exhausting. The house and its environs still held that first promise of an exciting retirement. Our grand adventure into country life had begun at last. We felt as if we were on holiday for the first few weeks. All this time at our disposal, so many hours to fill, and no sense of urgency with any of the tasks...or so we thought.

In Auckland, it had taken us three weeks to pack everything. Frantic times, because we were both still working in full-time jobs and we had done most of the packing at night. However, it took us more than three months to get things sorted in the cottage...and now we weren’t working!!! Something had definitely gone astray in the time and motion department. What had once taken a day...now