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The Muster- Tom O'Brien: Yorkshire Tea and Steam Trains · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokonui.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Tom O'Brien is based up in Garston in upper northern
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Southland and catches up once again.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Tommy Tupper, how are you?
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: I'm very well, mate, very well.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: It sounds as though you had a pretty busy weekend.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: You went away doing a few trails.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I had a great weekend, Andy. Went up to
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Dunedin to near Waikati, Blueskin Bay, just north of Dunedin,
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: about 20 minutes north of Dunedin, and I had the...
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Finish at Ark Brewery, which is basically you've got to
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: try and bag or get to the summit of as
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: many peaks, sort of hilltop peaks as you can within
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: eight hours. So, yeah, beautiful weather, stunning trails, good people.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: It was about 40 people. One of my daughters with
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: me and her friend and a couple of other friends,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: and we were cruising. We were just, you know, we
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: weren't out to break any records. We were just out
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: for a nice walk, a nice hike out, and we
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: did I think we did about 32 or 33 kilometres
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: for the day, which is respectable. Yeah, and then came
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: back yesterday.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Good to have some decent weather too, though, Tom.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Oh, well, mate, I'm drinking a nice cup of Yorkshire tea,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: black strong tea, out in the sunshine, and I've just
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: lathered up on some Factor 50 Earth Sunblock, lad. So
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: I hope and all it's the last pitch here, I
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: tell you. No, it's good, mate. It's good. It's good
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: to see the sun. And I'm sure that many of
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: our farmers in particular are very, very happy to see
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: the sun come out and dry things out a little
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: bit and just give a bit of boost to the
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: grass growth, right?
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Was that Yorkshire or Scottish, that wannabe translation before?
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Oh, hang on, lad, it's bloody, it's from Yorkshire. Come on, lad,
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: I'm not from down there. If I was from Bristol, though,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: if I was from Bristol, I'd be like, how would
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: I do that? I'd say, we're just going out to
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: pick up a couple of, what we do is at
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: the end of our holiday, we go out to the
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: paddock and then we bale some eggs. And then we
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: come back in and we drink a few pints of cider.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: And then after a few pints of cider, we try
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: and lift it. We have a competition to see how
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: many cars we can lift up with one hand like that. So, yeah.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: But anyway, I digress.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Lucky I didn't ask you to do an Essex lady.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: We won't go there, Tom.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: What goes on in Essex stays in Essex, right?
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Chelmsford represent.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: The Kingston Flyer, last time we spoke to you, you
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: were going on your training ride. All went off without
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: a hitch, I take it?
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, it was grand, mate. It was absolutely grand. You know,
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: we're getting some amazing feedback about the flyer. The presentation
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: of the train is exceptional. It is literally shimmering and
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: shining in the northern south in sort of Kingston sunshine.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Great patronage. We had a good charter trip on the Tuesday,
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: and that was basically our first test, if you like,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: of the season. When I was away in Dunedin, I
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: got a report back saying that they had two runs
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: on Sunday. Everything went very, very smoothly and well, and
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: once again, the feedback's been great. So very happy with
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: the way things are going.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: So when does the season kick off proper then?
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Oh, this weekend, mate. She's all go.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: She's all go.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Yep, yep. So we've got to get you up in
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: that engine and we've got to get you, you know,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: pulling a few levers and, you know, pretending that you
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: know what you're doing and all that sort of stuff.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: And I won't tell anyone. But, yeah, like as long
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: as you keep us on the straight and narrow and,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: you know, don't go AWOL, I think we'll be sweet, mate.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: How hard is it to brake something like that when
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: you're steering it?
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: To brake it? Yeah.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: I don't know. You push the wrong button and something
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: combusts in your face.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean, like, there are some safety valves
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: which prevent, you know, sort of steam trains for dummies 101.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: There are some safety mechanisms in there. But in saying that, yeah,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: I guess it's a bit like, you know, last week when,
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: you know, they had that terrorist in the cockpit of
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: that aircraft and, you know, decided he wanted to smash
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: a few things inside the cockpit because he just didn't
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: like the way of the world. And luckily that, I
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: think it was an Iranian guy just, got him in
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: a headlock, pulled him out of the cockpit, and they
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: overwhelmed him. I heard a funny story. I don't know
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: if it's true or not, but he hit him in
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: a headlock, and then he calmed him off to a
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: couple of other passengers while he went and grabbed the yoke,
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: which is like the steering wheel of the 747, and
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: then he just pulled it back out to bring the
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: nose up because they'd gone into a nosedive.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: Someone must have interviewed him and said, how did you
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: know to do that? And I think I don't know,
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: something like, oh, yeah, I'll watch Snakes on a Plane
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: or something like that, you know. Just another airline movie where,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: you know, where the shit hits the fan, you know. Oh,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: you just pull this lever here, you'll be sweet.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Nothing will ever come close to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's cameo in Airplane, Tom.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Oh, wasn't he great? I mean, fantastic basketball, the first and,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: you know, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I think I might have had a,
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: I think I might have had like a, like a
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: collector card of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or like a poster or
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: something in my wall at high school. He was one
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: of those guys anyway. But, yeah, yeah, so things are good.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Firstly, great correlation, a hijacking of a plane to steering
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: the Kingston Flyer, but there's a book that's come out
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: recently talking about walks aimed at the rural community.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: Correct, Andy. So, yeah, my good friend Gary Patterson's He's
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: just published a book called Wanda, New Zealand's Private Walks.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: And we all know how quickly the 23 great rides,
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: large commercial operators, entities, you know, some big, big commercial
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: players have basically kind of almost monopolised that space. And
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: fair dues, you know, because they are great for New
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Zealand's tourism industry and really showcase what we have. But
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: there are 26... predominantly farms and farmers throughout New Zealand
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: who have opened up their properties for the public, for
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: the locals and international travellers and anyone who wants to.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: And they range from anywhere from sort of two- to
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: three-hour walks through two- to three-day walks. And it's a
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: beautiful book. It's beautiful photos and really well set out.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: But it really highlights the... I guess the people of
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: the land and what they do and why they do
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: it and how they do it. We all know that
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: New Zealand farmers are incredibly proud of their properties and
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: they take so much pride in their properties. And when
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: they do that and they share that with other people,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: other visitors from around the world, it really validates it.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: And when they get the feedback that they do, they
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: can go, oh, well, You know, here is truly off
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: the beaten tracks in New Zealand where I can stay
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: in the farm homestead or I can stay in the
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: shearer's quarters that have been done up or I can
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: stay in the huts. You know, it caters for every budget.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: But it really is truly a unique slice of New
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Zealand paradise. And I'm really excited for Gary. He's only
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: published 2,000 copies, but they're all gone. So people wanted
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: to get... I bought five of them because I want
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: to give them for gifts. around Christmas time but I'm
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: going to keep one of these books, a beautiful book
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: he's done so much work and really advocated for the
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: farming community and diversifying in that space Good.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: On you Tom, you keep being you, we'll catch up again.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Nice one Andy, catch you soon.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: land can.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Be a laughing matter.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: livestock farmer.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Did you know that deer can jump higher than the
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: average house? For two reasons.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Number one, because of their strong hind legs. And number two,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: the fact that the average house can't jump.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Beep, beep, I'm getting tuned.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: And that is us done and dusted. The podcast will
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: be going up shortly, thanks to iHeartRadio. I'm Andy Muir.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: The muster is proudly brought to you by Peter's Genetics.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Enjoy the rest of the afternoon. See you tomorrow, 1 o'clock.