Naseby

We shifted to Ranfurly, the biggest town of the Maniototo, when I was about five years old. Mum and Dad taught at the area school where my father became principal. Since that time, many people have left the area. The railway network and irrigation companies shut down and a lot of sheep farms were sold off or became big dairy farms.

After school, I moved to the West Coast and worked in tourism until the early 2000s, when I returned to the Maniototo and met and married my husband, Chris. We ran a sheep, beef and deer farm in Kyeburn, but farming became challenging after Chris suffered some health issues and it was time for a lifestyle change. So, we talked to the kids, Jack, now 19, and Mia, now 22, about moving into town. Farming life is amazing and there’s nothing we regret about our time on the land, but there are sacrifices. For me, the farm could be isolating. We decided to keep the deer farm and move to Naseby in 2023 to have more time to do what we wanted to do – which now includes following Jack to curling competitions around the world.

Naseby is the curling capital of New Zealand and is synonymous with the old crampit style of curling. Settled in 1863, curling was introduced in the 1870s by Scottish goldminers. They brought the old game with them, and the first curling match in New Zealand was played in Naseby. In 1886, the New Zealand Curling Association was established and the Baxter Cup is still contested to this day in Naseby. My father was a curler and my mum was a figure skater. I had dreams of becoming a figure skater, too, so that was my childhood winter sport, while my brother played ice hockey. We spent a lot of time in Naseby on the outdoor rink, but I didn’t get involved with curling until my son showed interest in the sport when he was at primary school. My husband and I now play both indoor and outdoor curling.

Naseby is immensely proud of its curling. It only has a population of 120, but we’ve got such a unique international facility in the Maniototo Adventure Park – the only international facility of its kind in Australasia – which wouldn’t be here without the can-do attitude and generosity of the local community. The hours of volunteer labour, the financial contributions – that’s what made this place successful. We have an artificially assisted outdoor ice rink, which is where all the old crampit curling happens, and we have the indoor rink for what we call hack curling. We also have the only winter luge in the southern hemisphere. It’s so rewarding being part of the charitable trust that operates the Maniototo Adventure Park. It’s something I’m immensely proud of and I love working here.

We’re fortunate that some of the top New Zealand representatives live locally and give their time to the rink to foster kids’ enthusiasm for the game. We’ve had Olympic representation once and youth Olympic representation several times in the last twenty years. What I enjoy most about curling is the camaraderie between teams. The “Spirit of Curling” – essentially playing honestly and honouring traditions and your opponents – is recognised at every level, and New Zealand players have been awarded that honour at world events several times.

With indoor or hack curling, you push the stone but in outdoor or crampit curling you physically throw it down the ice. Outdoor curling was traditionally more of a gentleman’s game although there area number of really competitive women who play now, and anyone can play indoor curling. We have five-year-olds and ninety-year-olds who curl, so it’s a really inclusive sport.

During winter, when there aren’t as many visitors, we host national and international competitions, ice and curling camps for kids from the region, and have a speciality luge instructor as well as figure skating and ice hockey coaches. In the evenings, the outdoor rink hums with local curlers and it’s quite a sight on a cold dark night as the sound of the stones hitting each other echoes through the township.

The rink is open year round, so in the summer months Naseby comes alive in a different way when people riding the Central Otago Rail Trail come to town to give curling a try. It’s an exciting, fast-paced place with all the mountain bikers and families who come for summer holidays, but Naseby, for me, is still that quiet, sleepy town with no cars on the street. I know it happens in other country towns, but being able to walk into the local pub, especially in winter when the fire’s roaring, and knowing the publican and just about everyone else in there is really special. It’s what I love about living in a small community.