Compared with Finnish rural towns and places Taihape’s townscape is unexpected. The town centre is densely built, shops side by side. It is incredible that in a town of under 2 000 inhabitants there are shops and services for almost all needs. The backbone of Taihape centre is the State Highway 1, the main road of the North Island of New Zealand which passes through the town centre.
Today I was honoured to interview Michael, a farmer and the Professor of Gumboot Throwology.
After that I consulted the organizers of the Gumboot Day’s boot-throwing competition in setting up the throwing sectors.
2 Comments
I wish you good luck for the competition! By the way, Skellerup brings Denmark to my mind. Does it have some connection? Could you find out?
Thank you, gumboot throwing went quite good (in personal series we threw out of the competition; my best was 45,76 m) and in team competition we won the first prize, $40 per thrower.
Then about Skellerup. It really has distant connection to Denmark but somehow it is as Kiwi in NZ as Nokia is Finnish in Finland:
“Beginnings in 1910
George Skellerup, a Danish Australian opened his first retail store in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1910, selling tyres and rubber goods for the dairy industry.
By 1939, three rubber factories, a wholesale distribution company and a chain of retail branches had been set-up. These operations were consolidated in 1948, when Skellerup Industries Limited listed as a public company.
An International Company
With its head office in Christchurch, Skellerup is the principal company of Skellerup Holdings, listed on the NZX Stock Exchange and now employs over 800 people in New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, USA and China.”
(Source: http://www.skellerup.co.nz/3.html).
One Trackback
[...] Boot Throwographer did his research and consulted the organizers of the Gumboot Day. See more: Tully Golden Gumboot Festival and Taihape. [...]