In the last few years, Tom O'Brien's Southland farmland has become home to a hand-built bike and hiking track and an organic market garden.
He tells Country Life about the Welcome Rock Roaring Lion trail.
Tom on top of Welcome Rock Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
Hand-digging a route along one of New Zealand's longest gold-mining water races proved tough going from the word go, Tom says.
Just as it would have been for the gold miners who took three years to dig the water race,
"On the first day, I looked up and I'd only dug about 20 metres and I put my head in my hands and said 'what am I doing?'"
Tom quickly realised then that building the trail was way more than a one-person job, and he put a call out for help.
It was answered by some hardy WWOOFer volunteers who'd stay until they could dig no more.
"Sometimes we'd have to take 30 or 40 centimetres of snow off before we could start digging and conversely in summer we'd have 30 plus degrees and no shade."
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
The sweat and blood were worth it, though. A few years later, the historical trail was finished and opened.
Now there are three renovated huts that accommodate overnight travellers along the way.
Part of the trail overlooks the Welcome Rock Gardens that sit in a paddock on the valley floor.
This is an organic market garden and the brainchild of green-fingered American Brendan Lopez.
While travelling around New Zealand on his bike, Brendan got stuck on Tom's farm during the first Covid lockdown.
Brendan Lopez Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
During that time, Brendan did some research and found that there was a gap in the market for locally grown spray-free and organic vegetables.
"So I decided to step in and fill that gap and Tom and Katie were kind enough to give me this little bit of land."
In just three years, Brendan has created a highly productive all-year-round food-growing business.
The farm's veggies and salad greens are so popular he's struggling to keep up with demand.
"I'm providing mainly for restaurants and retail in the Queenstown area, a bit in Southland and I do one market in Queenstown on Saturdays."
Brendan hopes to run workshops on how to develop a no-till, bio-intensive market garden later this year.
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
