CULTURE SHOCK: It's a farmer's life for me

NOW IT’S NOTHING FOR THE FORMER TOWNIE TO WHIP UP A FEED FOR 20 HUNGRY SHEARERS

- Nicola Russell

Some people move to a new house, others renovate – but when Philippa and Joe Cameron had their first child, they left their self-described “city slicker” life behind and moved to a 40,000-hectare high country farm in a town with fewer than 200 people.

There, with Joe’s father Hugh, they run 30,000 merino sheep and 500 cattle and feed a team of farm-workers who battle the elements every day.

Four years on and Philippa, a 39-year-old former teacher, is firmly ensconced in her new career as the station cook at Otematata, which includes starting her day at 5 am to make smoko for the farmworkers. She’s also a dedicated mum to Evelyn, four, and Flora, five.

Joe, 36, was no stranger to farming. He’s the fifth generation of Camerons to run the farm, but when he and Philippa met through mutual friends at an Otago pub in 2009, he was reveling in his career as a Jetstar pilot.

In fact, he used his aviation skills to woo his future wife. Just a few weeks after they met, he tracked Philippa down at her friend’s farm in St Bathans to take her on a romantic adventure.

“I got a call from Joe, who said, ‘Is there an airstrip where you are?’” she recalls. “He picked me up behind the pub in a wee Cessna and flew me to Dunedin Airport for a sandwich for our first date... It did impress me,” she says with a laugh.