report by Peter Guise (Hayes Wholesale)

The field trip kicked off on Friday, 16 November 2007 with a visit to the Invercargill Breweries. This is a father/son business with the main market of the product in local restaurants although an off-licence is held. A feature of the tour of the factory showed the bottle capping process to be manually done. Some sampling of beers was a must with samples of the stout, a beer called “The Wasp” and a cider. These beers were brilliant and most people seemed to get their $5.00 worth.

After vigorous sampling, we moved onto the Speights Alehouse for something to eat and some more of the liquid stuff. Peter Diack seemed to be relaxed both in this environment and while enjoying the sampling taken on board earlier.

Saturday was a great Southland sunny day where all assembled at Diacks Nurseries, Tweed Street (with or without a slight headache from the night before). Peter and Wendy Diack greeted the guests who came from overseas (Aucklanders) and from around the South Island. Also included were some students from Germany and Brazil.

After leaving Diacks Nurseries, car loads then went out to Leithfield Nursery at Wyndham Leithfield is a 12million tulip bulb export nursery production. An in-depth tour of the process took place whereby the Nursery demonstrated a new marketing system which they are trialling.

Maple Glen was the next stop near Wyndham. This large garden is owned by Bob and Muriel Davison which sprawls down through a gully with ponds, water features, large mature trees, specialist plants found not often elsewhere and solely run by the family. Maple Glen is a beautiful garden which would rival many large city parks and is a credit to the hard work put into it. A visit to this garden is a must if you are visiting Southland. Bring your lunch because it may take you all day to have a good look around.

Heading out the back way towards the south coast, lunch was at the Fortrose Café and sandwiches, savouries, coffee and tea were set out for all to enjoy. Fortrose is on the Southern Scenic Route heading through the scenic Catlins area. A stroll along the beach to work the lunch was taken by most.

After this short stop, Curio Bay was our next visit. We took in the sights including the Fossil Forest which is exposed during low tide. This forest stretches for approximately 20 kms from Curio Bay through to Slope Point. Some new but incomplete boardwalks meant that some of the fossils visiting the Forest got slightly lost and had difficulty finding the route back out.

Back into the vehicles and we started on our journey back towards Invercargill with a stop-over and visit to the Waikawa Museum. Handily situated next to the Museum was a local “Fishie” who sold cooked fresh Blue Cod. Those from “overseas” sampled the delights and were forced to admit that fresh Southern Blue Cod is definitely better than Northern Snapper. Some extra time on way back meant that a slightly thirsty person could refresh themselves with a cold one at the Tokanui Tavern.

This slight deviation to the plan did not upset the agenda too much and after suitably hydrating ourselves, we took off to visit the Waituna Lagoon and its recently constructed Wetlands Boardwalk at a cost of around $750,000. Peter Diack and Barry Hayes gave their views on this area both from the conservationist's point and in respect of local fishing appeal. The lagoon is occasionally open to the sea and is an important habitat for birds, native fish and trout. Vegetation in the surrounding wetlands shows some plants which would normally grow in a subalpine area along with native orchids, insectivorous sundews and bladderworts.

As we were leaving there, driver Barry Hayes spotted a fire in the Waituna area off the Mataura and some four-wheel driving then, took place so we could get a closer look. Unfortunately some of Trina's plants purchased earlier in the day and not available “overseas” got the ride of their life but being from good Southland stock, showed strength and endurance.

Time moving on, it was decided to head on back with the rest of the party and make haste to Evandale Plant Production. Peter Brass greeted us all with wonderful nibbles and liquid refreshments (yet again to slake the thirst from all that driving) supplied and provided by Peter's wife, Sharon. Peter gave us all a run down on the Production which produces around 15 million seedlings per annum grown for local and South Island businesses. Peter also gave us a sneak view of the latest technology in transplanting plants, demonstrated by Peter and Karl (the Nursery Manager).

The tour concluded for the day and most of the party then went to The Cabbage Tree Restaurant at Sandy Point (a local restaurant situated on one of Invercargill's City Reserves). Unfortunately I was unable to attend but I believe the meal was excellent and enjoyed by all.

Sunday dawned and members met at Diacks Nurseries, Lorneville branch, hosted by Peter Diack for a tour of their Lorneville Nursery and an in-depth talk by Graham Milligan on seed collecting processes in Australia and New Zealand.

Hayes Wholesale Nurseries at Makarewa were next on the Agenda with Barry and Lisa Hayes our hosts. A stroll through the glasshouses proved that Hayes Wholesale Nurseries is the largest grower of geraniums and fuchsias in New Zealand. Hugh Thomas gave a demonstration on how the Biopot Ellegard machine worked.

Then members were given a treat of barbecued Southern Wild Fare which included Paua, Whitebait, Marinated Wild Venison, Venison Sausages, Wild Duck Sausages, Wild Pork Bacon supplied by the Keen Southern Man (2). Also cooked on the barbeque was fresh rainbow trout caught on Lake Te Anau on Friday prior to the start of the Field Trip & hooked up by those poaching “overseas” Northern Islanders. Smoked trout (presented on crackers) was also on offer and this is a specialty of the host who catches and smokes them himself.

The Field Trip was very well organised by Peter and Wendy Diack and my appreciation goes to them for the time and effort put into making this weekend such a success.