Vicki McIntyre recently resigned as principal of Strath Taieri School, in Middlemarch, to take up the principal's job at Hinds School, in mid-Canterbury.
The new position is essentially a promotion because she will also take over the role of leader at the Mid-Canterbury Technology Centre - an organisation which provides technology for years 7 and 8 pupils in a cluster of 11 schools in the area.
The downside is, her husband Alan will remain at their home in Patearoa where he works on a large sheep station.
So, rather than travelling two hours each day, to and from work in Middlemarch, Mrs McIntyre's commute will be about four hours each way.
However, because of the distance, she will not travel to and from work daily. Instead, she will be ''a weekend home-girl'' and travel home to Patearoa for the weekends.
It is what you do for a job that you adore, she says.
Alan had always worked in the high country and so she had travelled to wherever she had work.
''So this is nothing new. We've always lived like this.
''We lived at Godley Peaks Station, which is away up the west side of Lake Tekapo, and I commuted down to Fairlie to teach; then we lived at Hukarere Station, which is very isolated up the back of Heriot, and I travelled to Balfour.''
She said their two children were now grown up, and she would not have considered applying for the Hinds job if they were still young.
Mrs McIntyre has been principal at Strath Taieri School for the past 11 years, and while she would miss her pupils, she was looking forward to the new job.
''It's an exciting challenge, but it will be sad to leave the area.
''The kids here have been fantastic. I'll really miss the kids and the community - great country kids.''
She said the long commutes would continue indefinitely, or until her husband decided it was too far away and moved somewhere closer.
''We don't know. It's amazing - when you do move, other opportunities open up.
''But we're happy just to go with the flow for now.''
