Country Life: Family fun at the Waiau A&P Show

The domain is surrounded on three sides by beautiful forest. On the other side, native vegetation leads down to the mighty Wairau River.

Dairy cow exhibitor Merv Livingstone has been to every on of the Waiau A&P Shows held here since he was five - he's 76 now.

"The hole in the bush it's known as. It's always had an atmosphere of being a friendly show, everybody mixes together an enjoys it," he told Country Life.

Several of Livingstone's calves are being shown but he's not exhibiting. He prefers to stand back and let the young ones do the formal showing.

"I always love it when the kids come along and exhibit. This is how you get used to it. That's how I was brought up. Dragged around the shows with my parents," he chuckles.

The lead up to the show is a very busy time for show secretary Isobel Devery. She runs the team which makes the event happen and said it's worth the effort.

"These people put amazing amounts of work into their animals and it's really important to be able to celebrate that."

The sheep and beef farmer has a long history with the show and her parents are proud lifetime members.

"They're actually in the kitchen cooking the food for the lunch for the judges. My sister, she's the course designer for the show and my brother's been the president."

"If you go around the different sections there's lots of family support and it goes back a long time," Devery said.

Horses and riders mingle and compete between the slightly wonky goalposts on the domain's rugby ground.

Judges and stewards watch on and watching them all, from a booth atop the pavilion, is Relda McKay.

Relda is the main announcer and an icon of the show in Tuatapere.

"I'm not sure how long I've been announcing, but probably a long time. I started here in 1949 as a rider."

She nibbles on a scone oozing with cream and jam while checking an announcement list with one eye, and the equestrian arena with the other.

"When we first came here I was sitting on the roof, then we graduated to what was virtually an outer toilet on the top of the roof and now we've graduated to this."'

She waves her hands around the small space furnished with a table, stool and an old microphone.

Time to get back to her microphone she insists.

At the back of the domain are about 20 horse floats where groomed horses munch on hay and grass.

Ten-year-old show jumper Josephine Chatres is painting hoof oil on her Connemara to make the hooves shine.

She likes to pamper 18-year-old Sweet Pea while they wait to compete.

"I was going to have her mane plaited and done up into small balls, but they were kind of coming undone, so I've just let them loose and go all curly," she said while showing Country Life.

Nearby, Chris Bogers is overseeing the popular animal farmyard. Follow the kids and you'll find it in the shade of a huge tōtara tree.

Most of them head striaght into the marquee to cuddle the golden retriever puppies. This needs to be managed though.

"Look, we get children of 16 that just want to hug puppies for hours," she said.

There are also kittens, rabbits, chickens and a few Hokonui Merino pet lambs, that were raised by Bogers' daughter.

"It's just so important for children to connect with animals because, you know, in the end, everything we need to know is contained in nature, and animals have so much to give us.".

For Bogers, who leases a dairy farm, the Waiau A&P Show is all about getting together and supporting the community.

"I think everything's about local now, isn't it? We've got to depend on and look after our local people especially business-wise."

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