We moved from town to the country 4 years ago and we wouldn't move back to town. You've got the peace and quiet of not having neighbours at your back door. Country life is great for the kids, they get to go outside and explore nature as they have a massive backyard. The kids get to have pet lambs, chickens, dogs, they can climb trees, possum trapping to earn pocket money. You aren't constricted by the size of your section as to what you can do. You have wide open spaces at your door. One good thing about living in the country is the schools. Our kids attend a school that goes from year 1 to year 8 and only has 46 kids in 3 classrooms, heaps of 1 on 1 time for the children. It produces great children to move onto college, great young leaders.
The farming community in our area is great. It all stems from the school and playcentre. We moved to the Te Anau basin area just over a year ago and everyone makes us feel so welcome. Our closest family members are a 7 hour drive away, so having the support of the community is great, whether it’s looking after your children while you go to an appointment or simply having a coffee with someone is great. They are like family members to us and us to them. Everyone would do anything to help you out and everyone knows their neighbour.
We have 4 children, 2 at school, 2 at home so between school, P.T.A, playcentre, playgroup, correspondence kindy, rugby practice there isn't a lot of time to help on the farm. The times I have helped the kids have come along and had a ball sitting in a truck while we follow the tractor round the paddock picking up bales from the baler, watching the sheep in the shearing shed, talking to everyone at the annual on-farm bull sale, helping at tailing. When the kids are all at school, I would like to help out more on the farm, other than the morning teas I currently do!!
By Sharleen
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