Federated Farmers Southland meat and fibre chairwoman Bernadette Hunt at home on the farm. Photo / supplied.
Back when she was 16, Bernadette Hunt could never have predicted the career path that she has followed.
From the bright lights of Auckland, Sydney and London and the intensity of chasing national rowing selection to living on a farm at Chatton, near Gore, it had all been "fly by the seat of pants stuff".
Yet Mrs Hunt (40), who farms with her husband, Alistair, and is Federated Farmers Southland's new meat and fibre chairwoman, would not have had it any other way.
Passionate about both the rural sector and the region, the North Island import cannot now imagine ever leaving Southland.
Hailing from a rural background, her father was originally a sheep farmer but he and her mother went dairy farming after they were married.
She was brought up on a dairy farm at Dannevirke until she was about 8, when the family moved to a kiwifruit orchard at Katikati.
Her exposure to livestock continued - her father always ran a few sheep and cattle on the property - and there was still contact with other dairy farmers, including the neighbouring dairy farm, which used to lend them a calf.
After leaving secondary school, Mrs Hunt headed to Auckland, where she did a business computing course and worked at TVNZ.
Moving to the city was a big culture shock but the change of scenery and lifestyle was exciting.
"At the time, I absolutely loved it," she recalled.
Keen to try somewhere else, she moved to Sydney, where she worked for an IT company and also got involved in rowing before deciding it was time to do her OE.
As well as travelling, she also spent a year in London working for a telecommunications company. Her return to New Zealand came a little earlier than planned; she was in Croatia when the September 11, 2001 terrorism attacks occurred, and she decided to return that month.
With a desire to pursue rowing more seriously, Mrs Hunt settled in Cambridge with the aim of achieving national selection. She never achieved that but she gave it "a good shot" and competed at the national championships.
Life revolved around rowing. She would be on Lake Karapiro at 5.30am before work, sometimes headed to the gym in her lunch-break, and was often on the water again in the afternoon.
Eventually, when stress fractures in her ribs failed to heal, Mrs Hunt gave away the sport and decided to train as a teacher, something she had considered when she left school. It was also a career that would allow her to live rurally.
While doing her training at Waikato University, she got a live-in position on a dairy farm, where she did some farm jobs and relief and weekend milking.
That was perfect, as it helped pay her way through her studies and also got her back into the world of farming. She also got involved with Young Farmers.
During that time, Mrs Hunt met Alistair, who was working for a large agricultural contracting business just north of Hamilton.
Between lectures, she would sometimes "go and hang out on the silage chopper" with him and the couple quickly discovered they shared a love of rural life.
Visiting some friends who were farming at Nightcaps, Mrs Hunt decided she loved Southland and might teach there when she finished her degree.
Mr Hunt also had Southland on the "radar" and the couple eventually decided to pursue farm ownership there. They bought the farm where they now live in August 2006, and moved south permanently in January 2007.
Mrs Hunt gave up teaching after the arrival of child No2.
However, the dairy sector downturn drove a return to employment, because the couple knew it was going to hit them hard, and she took a job in Clutha-Southland MP Todd Barclay's Gore electorate office.
She had met Mr Barclay through her involvement with Gore Parents Centre and the Gore Kids Hub development. The Hunts became members of Federated Farmers after storms in 2010 that had a "horrible" impact locally.
Federated Farmers and Rural Support Trusts were very active, literally door-knocking every farm in the district to make sure people were coping, and dropping off care packages, she said.
While they were unscathed by the storms, they were very impressed by the organisation's response and thought they needed to be members of an organisation that did "that sort of thing".
Mrs Hunt was also aware the impacts of Environment Southland's proposed Water and Land plan process could be "potentially huge" and decided she would get more involved.
Southland had unique challenges as far as water quality went, although it was an issue across the country.
"We need to make sure what we do is sustainable but we also need to make sure any regulations introduced are going to be beneficial," she said.
She spoke to then Federated Farmers Southland president Russell MacPherson, who suggested putting her name forward for the executive at the annual meeting two years ago.
It was a little daunting and the first couple of meetings were "pretty overwhelming", but it did not take long before she found her feet, and she had been warmly welcomed.
The good thing about the executive was it was a large group of people from throughout Southland and from all types of farming, so she did not have to have experience in everything.
Mrs Hunt was loving the involvement - "I learn so much all the time; those around the table are all great people to have conversations with" - and it had been very valuable personally, for the couple's own farming operation, to be more informed.
She did not want to get involved in an organisation that "literally thumps the table and refuses to acknowledge issues". Rather, Federated Farmers was very proactive and collaborative, she said.
She was heading to its national conference and annual meeting in Wellington from June 20-22.
Down the track, she was definitely interested in progressing further. However, she acknowledged that even putting her hand up for the Southland presidency, in time, would be a massive commitment for her and her family.
With the couple's two children now aged 8 and 4, she acknowledged that life was a "real juggle" but "you just make it work".
She had taken a step back with her voluntary work and, while still involved in Kids Hub, she was a committee member now rather than one of the main drivers.