Classic NZ ‘back country’ stories raise $25,000 charity

Tales from the Back Country
By Katherine Tozer

6 November 2011

Classic NZ ‘back country’ stories raise $25,000 charity

Cambridge author Katherine Tozer has spent three years compiling a series of books detailing the intimate nature of ‘working dogs’ and their owners in back country New Zealand – and she’s done it all for charity.

Her series of three books, Tales from the Back Country¸are being offered to charities throughout New Zealand for their use as a fundraising mechanism. The first book in the series raised $25,000 for Hospice, SPCA, the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal, apieceofnz and numerous schools and community groups.

Katherine is looking to partner with additional charities that need an innovative fundraising tool.

Katherine says she and her husband, Peter, make no money from the books and are reimbursed only the printing cost with all profits - $15 of each $25 copy - donated to a range of charities. “It has been great fun exploring and meeting such interesting people and writing their stories. It is so rewarding to do something you love and know it is going to benefit others - not everyone has that opportunity.”

Tales from the Back Country is a compilation of working dog and other stories as told to Katherine Tozer by the men and women who have carved out a living in New Zealand’s remote, but beautiful and rugged landscape.

Katherine is a Waikato scientist and author with a passion for the wide open spaces and mountain ranges – “New Zealand has breath-taking beauty and a wealth of back country stories just waiting to be told!”

Katherine spends her spare time with her GP husband Peter, exploring the varied and beautiful back country in the North and South Islands, photographing, interviewing, researching and compiling material for Tales from the Back Country.

After completing the first book in 2010, Katherine was eager to embark on a second and third book. The second and third books in the Tales from the Back Country series, completed in October 2011, have 100 pages, are packed with photos of stunning scenery and have a range of stories from 24 different people throughout New Zealand.

“The books have happy and sad stories, from people like John Perriam, owner of the deceased Shrek the sheep, who speaks of the challenges of being a high country author, or Chrissie Fernyhough who has written about the death of one of her favourite working dogs.”

“Another great story is of Laurie Prouting from Mesopotamia in Canterbury who humourously describes climbing Mt Cook and flying a helicopter in Antarctica when his fuel reserves ran low. The white ice-breaker on which he was to land had moved to an unknown location in the sea of white pack-ice – it was akin to having to find a polar bear in a snow storm!

Tales from the Back Country has been printed in New Zealand by Hamilton-based PrintHouse. Katherine says that working with PrintHouse has been amazing. “They really got behind this project and are an example of a commercial kiwi company who is willing to go out of their way to help others.”

Katherine’s next two books in the series are available from early November for fundraising. Charities wanting information should email Katherine and Peter at talesfromthebackcountry@gmail.com. Books can be purchased through Hospice Waikato, Waikato SPCA and www.apieceofnz.co.nz for $25.

Sample pages of all three books can also be viewed at www.apieceofnz.co.nz. There is also a Youtube clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1DOT5OoApQ.

Excerpts from Tales from the Back Country

Chrissie Fernyhough, of Canterbury, writes about the death of one of her favourite working dogs:

“Working dogs worth their salt should always get a burial. Well, that’s our policy on Castle Hill, anyway. We take them back to the site of their last muster. So on Saturday last we waited until four in the afternoon. The sun still shone over the Craigieburn Mountains casting shadows over the rocks and beyond. It was ever so still, truly, not a breath of wind. The sky was blue and uncluttered - no clouds, nor vapour trails.

Castle Hill was named for the large limestone boulders that look like the turrets of castles as they crown the hill tops. In the lee of these rocks is a large, thousand acre paddock we call the Rocks Block. This was where Zac’s mother Midge had been buried. We chose a spot to the right and east of Midge. There were a myriad of stones and the soil was harsh and frozen. John had to use the long crowbar to ease the stones; a shovel took them away, together with the topsoil.

Zac looked so peaceful in his last resting place. His front paws were crossed, the sign of an intelligent working dog, his tail tucked between his back legs. His eyes seemed almost alert - open and piercing. We gave him a Tux or two to help him on his way. We covered him gently, tucking the soil around the sides so no ice could chill his soul. His collar we tied to the fence above.”

Laurie Prouting from Mesopotamia in Canterbury, with his dry humour, describes climbing Mt Cook and flying a helicopter in Antartica when his fuel reserves ran low. The white ice-breaker on which he was to land had moved to an unknown location in the sea of white pack-ice – it was akin to having to find a polar bear in a snow storm!

“On one occasion we were about 800 miles from land. The boat was painted white and we were in thousands of miles of white pack-ice. Before going on a sortie I’d always line the helicopter up with the boat to see what the magnetic compass read; this was so I could use the compass if the GPS failed. I also had radio contact with the boat. This particular time I’d come back to my position, where I had left the boat, with not much gas left in the tank but the boat was not there. It was akin to a sparrow coming back to its nest, ready to land on its branch to find that someone had cut the tree down. I’m not going to panic, I thought to myself. I did a small orbit but I still couldn’t see the boat.”

ENDS

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