It's taken almost a quarter of a century, but Greytown shearer Neil Perry is finally making his way back to the Golden Shears, via Norway and as a national champion competing in the world championships.
Home for two months and working for Masterton contractor Paddy Mason, Perry qualified for thechampionships by winning the Norwegian national title and reckons even if he doesn't get past the heats, he will at least get one positive result.
"It's warmer," he said yesterday as he prepared for his heat in the open championship at the Pahiatua Shears, the last of six competitions he's shorn in preparation for his return to shearing's greatest stage.
He'd also shorn at Dannevirke, Marton and Te Puke, before kicking off the weekend triple-header at Taumarunui and Apiti.
He failed to make the quarter-finals yesterday, and the 47-year-old joked: "I'm getting too old for this game. But, hello, I went and won the Norwegian champs, and suddenly I'm off to the world champs."
Reckoning the best he learned was from father Doug, now 79 and still in Greytown, the last time he sheared at the Golden Shears was in the late 1980s, before an affair of the heart led him to Scandinavia.
He's lived in Norway ever since, making occasional trips back to Wairarapa, but keeping in enough shape to win a range of Norwegian titles, and represent Norway in the 1998 World Championships in Ireland and again in South Africa in 2000.
He also sheared for the woolhandlers in their events at the 2008 championships in Bjerkreim.
