Life on Lochinver Station Rangitaiki Plans New Zealand

Experiencing the cold mornings led me to telling my workmates about when we lived on Lochinver Station on the Rangitaiki Plains in the North Island of New Zealand back in 1989.

Val and I decided that we would like to try a different lifestyle and give the kids an opportunity to experience rural life. We applied for a job on the Lochinver sheep station which is about 27kms from Taupo.

Now Taupo is a beautiful, picturesque town nestled around Lake Taupo, which is the largest lake in area, in New Zealand. My husband was an avid hunter at the time so I thought it would be great for him to be living close to the areas where he would go away with his mates to live in the bush and hunt deer and goats.

The day we arrived for the interview was picture perfect. The sun was shining brightly and the drone of tractors could be heard as they moved up and down the paddocks mowing down the lucerne.

We were accepted and allocated a house about 2 miles in from the main Taupo - Napier highway. I couldn’t wait to get back to Auckland to start packing for our new adventure, even the kids were excited. Especially Anjasa who was told she would be given a horse to ride and look after.

Val is a carpenter and his job was to maintain the sheds and houses on the station.

Packing up was hilarious, Val’s friends all came around to commisserate with him and in the end the truck driver and I packed our belongings into the truck around them all. Finally the task was completed and the truck set off. We followed later in a laden down jeep and a car towing a boat full of household goods. It’s amazing how much stuff one accumulates over time. Both Val and I are hoarders and we ended up giving heaps of stuff away. Val often talks about all the good stuff he had to leave behind in his factory.

We had to give our darling doberman, Tasha, away, although I am sure she would have loved living on a sheep station. We did take our long haired Alsation, Khan, with us though and he travelled in the jeep with me. That’s an experience I wouldn’t want to repeat in a hurry. He was excited and keep jumping around. This was all in the good old days before everyone had to wear seat belts and be restrained.

On the way down to Taupo the damn car kept overheating and it was a case of continually stopping to put water in the radiator, and then to add insult to injury the axle broke on the trailer. So we had no option but to leave the boat and trailer in the nearest town to be fixed and continue onto our destination