According to the latest Census figures, Central Otago's population has grown by 7.5% in the past seven years. However, statistics don't reveal the reasons why people choose to move to the area, writes Shane Gilchrist.
Talk about a complete change of direction.
A couple of years ago, Sydneysiders Angela and Rob Mckeen had an epiphany of the epicurean variety. They thought they'd like to make cheese, specifically goat's cheese, in Central Otago. Fast-forward to an overcast yet balmy spring afternoon at Springvale, near Clyde.
The couple, along with 9-year-old daughter Maria, are surrounded by 26 goats, half of which are adult does, the remainder kids that, when not eagerly seeking udders, seem curious about the camera lens pointed in their direction. Cheese, Angela admits, is still some way off, as is a house on the 15.27ha block of land near McArthur Ridge (''It's just gorgeous ...''). In the meantime, the family is renting a house in Clyde.
''One day we hope to build out here, but at the moment it's just fenced with all our lovely goats in there,'' Angela explains.
''In some respects, we were fairly naïve; we thought we'll just get there and find something and settle on it. But it took us a while to find the right bit of land ... we fell in love with it.
''The first priority is to get the business going ... I am trying to get everything up and running, organising consents and feeding the goats every day. I'm getting to know the local vet very well.''
Though goats don't feature in Census calculations, people do. And the Dunstan area, a rural zone between Clyde, Alexandra and Omakau, has been the fastest-growing area in Central Otago in the past seven years, expanding by 741 people to 4512, a 20% rise. The next fastest-growing area is Cromwell, which has seen its population bloom by 561 people to 4146, a 16% increase since 2006.
According to the latest Census figures, Central Otago's population has grown by 7.5% in the past seven years, with 17,895 people living in the district. Though Alexandra's population remained static, it still has the biggest population (4800), with the Dunstan area next and Cromwell third.
However, bald statistics don't reveal the reasons why people choose to live in a particular area or, specifically, why some have chosen to move lock, stock and barrel, to Central Otago.
''Lifestyle'' is a word often thrown forth in various marketing campaigns, and for obvious reasons. It's warm and fuzzy, redolent with the promise of some sort of freedom, of escaping the ''rat race'', of having better ownership over one's own destiny.
Even the Central Otago District Council's recently completed Economic and Business Development Strategy (2013-2016), includes a focus on what might otherwise be termed ''social well-being''. Yet there are challenges to achieving that.
The demographic make-up of Central Otago differs from New Zealand as a whole; it has a much smaller percentage of people in the 18 to 30 age group and a much higher percentage of older residents.
Young people tend to leave the area once they finish school, some returning in their 30s to raise families, while for the large post-''baby boomer'' generation now approaching retirement, many of whom are relatively better off financially than earlier generations, the Central Otago lifestyle is often an attractive option.
The CODC's Economic and Business Development Strategy therefore aims to increase the population of the region across all those demographics.
''Many of us who live here and also those who come to visit value our wide open, relatively unpopulated landscapes,'' the strategy's authors state.
''But we also value and need thriving growing communities as otherwise all but core players in our retail sector will gradually fade away, some schools will close and education opportunities for our young people will become more limited, some of our smaller communities will cease to be viable, and many of the aspects of social life that we all value and enjoy won't continue to exist.
''Growing our population is key to Central Otago's future economic well-being.
''Groups we should target include people with businesses or jobs that are free to locate anywhere who might be attracted to live in Central Otago for the lifestyle we enjoy here; retirees; people, including those with young families, who could help address the skill shortages in the region; and young people - provided education and training opportunities can be offered that will encourage them to stay in the district.''
CODC economic development manager Warwick Hawker says growth is not just about economic reasons; there are important social and educational reasons, too.
''We are quite keen to attract people who see the lifestyle of Central Otago as a benefit. For instance, there are those who work in the IT sector who base themselves here but may work for a company in Auckland or London or somewhere; they also go out and do their mountain-biking or whatever it is they like to do.
''As well as attracting that mobile group, we also want to encourage older people to retire here,'' Mr Hawker said.
''And, thirdly, we want younger people with families who can expand our available workforce, because Central Otago effectively has no unemployment and hasn't had for many years.''
Angela, Rob and Maria swapped the Sydney suburbs for Central Otago in June last year, just in time to experience a severe frost.
''Because our furniture hadn't arrived, Rob and I were sleeping on an airbed and had three layers of thermals,'' Angela recalls.
''We are originally from New Zealand but had been away for 12 years, five of which were spent in London and seven in Sydney. I'd worked in banking for 25 years and also in project management. Both Rob and I worked in IT and had been on holiday in Marlborough in 2011 and we both thought, 'What the hell are we doing?'.
''We were killing ourselves in Sydney, working hard for someone else ... we had this wonderful daughter who we were spending little time with.
''The timing worked out well as we had contracts that were coming to an end and it was a good time to sell a house. We were actually living in a suburb in Sydney called Alexandria and had quite a few amusing conversations with people when we explained where we were moving to,'' Angela explained.
''We had quite a large mortgage in Sydney but we had enough cash [post-sale] to be able to come here and buy a decent amount of land.''
While Angela attends to the business of looking after goats and planning an artisan cheese cottage industry, Rob works at an Earnscleugh orchard, doing a range of physical jobs. Though the 48-year-old sometimes returns home tired at about 4.30pm, there is still plenty of time to spend with family.
''It's about lifestyle,'' Angela (46) enthuses.
''That's the thing. We wanted to come here and be a family and we have achieved that. Everything else that happens around that is a bonus.''
In fact, the toughest adjustment Angela has had to make is letting her daughter roam more freely.
''In Sydney, you don't let your children walk more than 20 feet in front of you in case someone pulls up in a car; you just don't let them out of your sight.
''It's something that will take me a while to acclimatise to. I am getting better at that.''
Angela says that although Maria had to leave friends behind in Sydney, her daughter has made lots of friends at Clyde School.
''She is really thriving and gets to spend so much more time with us.
''She loves putting on her gumboots and going out to the block of land. She refuses to pick up the goat poo, but that will come in time.''
Like the Mckeen family, Sharron and Bart Thompson and their children, Maegan (14), Brylie (12) and Joel (10), are relative newcomers to Central Otago. In fact, they moved to Alexandra just a week later, also in June last year.
Having holidayed in the region as a child, Sharron (45) had always found it an appealing place.
''We decided that we'd retire here one day,'' she says.
''We were living in the rat race in Christchurch and my husband asked one day, 'If we ever got an opportunity, would we move?'.
''Then we had a couple of life-changing earthquakes,'' she says, referring to the September 4, 2010, and February 22, 2011, events, the latter of which resulted in 185 deaths.
''My husband got offered a job in the transport industry down here and there was also a job for me in the office, so we thought we'd do it.
''But there is a little bit of a twist to our story,'' Sharron said.
''Unfortunately for our wee boy, Joel, his hair fell out two weeks before we moved. He got alopecia after being stuck under something during one of the large June [2011] aftershocks. Almost a year to the day, his hair fell out. He'd been reasonably traumatised from the earlier quakes. We were quite glad to get out of it for his sake.''
Although Bart (50) took a ''significant'' pay-cut with his new job, it's unlikely the family would have been able to afford to build a new house in Christchurch as big as the five-bedroom home they completed in an Alexandra subdivision at Easter.
Yet there are drawbacks to living in a relatively small place, Sharron says.
''The lack of variety of food and lack of competition are my two biggest gripes. I do find the shopping incredibly frustrating.''
Still, lack of choice in one area is offset by advantages elsewhere. The list of combined activities in which the couple's children partake is long and includes aerobics, rowing, soccer, teeball, touch, basketball, squash and golf.
''They are very busy children ... I think that's the key to having happy children in the country,'' Sharron says.
The sports opportunities down here are absolutely amazing. We couldn't have afforded to do all those things in Christchurch.
''Joel is learning to play golf at the moment and an ex-pro is teaching some children free of charge. That's amazing. Take touch: we used to pay about $80 to play in Christchurch; it's free here. Teeball was $70-80 [a season] in Christchurch; here, it's $8.50.''
A lengthy stay in Christchurch Hospital in 2010 meant Roy De Cort had plenty of time to contemplate his future.
The result: he, wife Maria and daughter Megan moved to Clyde in December, 2011, to a start fresh.
''Before the first earthquake, I got Guillain-Barre syndrome, where your immune system attacks your nervous system. It left me paralysed and in hospital for the best part of three months. I had to learn to walk again,'' Roy explained.
''After spending that long on my back thinking about stuff, I thought things could be different. Come the February earthquake, we both realised we could do other things.''
Roy (48), a jeweller, works from home, doing trade and private work. Having previously worked full-time in Christchurch, he is enjoying a part-time role that allows him more hours to spend with 6-year-old Megan (and the family's latest addition, a Staffordshire terrier puppy named Lola).
''I suppose the pressure is off me in that I can pick and choose what I do,'' he says.
Maria (35), the communications co-ordinator at the CODC, is also relishing the move.
''We wouldn't describe ourselves as earthquake refugees, but everyone in Christchurch was affected,'' Maria says.
''It'd take twice as long to get to work, so I'd be in the car for 40 minutes. Now, it's a seven-minute drive and I can pop home in my lunch hour.
''I also like the fact Megan is going to a small school like Clyde instead of the larger city school she was destined for if we'd stayed in Christchurch.
''We moved down in December and a few months later my sister ended up getting a job at Clyde School, so Megan's first day at school was also my sister's and she has ended up being taught by her auntie,'' Maria says.
''I think it took Megan about half a day to settle into kindy. And I think she had play-dates in the first week of starting school.''
Invitations have been extended to the parents, too.
''When you say you're from Christchurch, it's almost like people are about to hug you,'' Roy says, adding: ''You don't have an excuse not to be social.
''We've been lucky in that we've fallen into a group of people who are quite social and have children, too. There's always something to do. You could be busy every day if you wanted to. There is always a need for volunteers.
''Stand still too long and you get roped into this or that.''
