Tarras women are notorious backroom battlers and famous for their cooking. Now, they have truly put Tarras on the tourist map.
No baking competitions and no knitted dishcloths.
Those were the rules Heather Perriam's friends set when she revived Tarras Rural Women in 1990.
The former Women's Division Federated Farmers Tarras branch, founded in 1930, had been in recess since 1963.
"They told me they would join, but they also told me they didn't want competitions.
"So we've never had competitions," Mrs Perriam recalled, when the Otago Daily Times visited her at Tarras Village last week.
The women turned their energies instead to rebuilding the Tarras cemetery wall, making tapestry kneelers for the Tarras church during New Zealand Women's Suffrage Year (1993) and publishing a history book (A Tapestry of Tarras).
Their most recent project is the first tourist map of Tarras, the basis for Labour Weekend's fundraising Taste of Tarras tour.
Billee Marsh, who retired from Dunedin to Tarras with her husband Wayne about six years ago, is the Tarras Rural Women president and halfway through her two-year term.
She joined soon after arriving and has relished rolling up her sleeves for the community.
Now working as a relief teacher at Goldfields Primary School in Cromwell, the avid mountainbiker's goal is to ride every peak surrounding the town, so it is not surprising she wants to promote the experiences found in Central Otago's great outdoors.
She particularly likes the ruins of Pengally's Hotel in the Department of Conservation's goldfields site.
"And I love the quails . . .
"But it is the beautiful still days and the vineyards and the lots and lots of trails.
"Often you are the only one here . . .
"And the smell.
"I often think if you were blindfolded and brought here you could tell the time of the year," Mrs Marsh said.
Artist and graphic designer Jillian Porteous moved from Dunedin to Tarras nearly five years ago with her artist partner Shaun Burdon.
She, too, promptly joined Rural Women and this year designed the map.
She has also taken on the production of Tarras Talk, the community newsletter.
Tarras Rural Women provided valuable community contact, she said.
"There is always something that needs to be done.
"Say there's a funeral.
"Everyone bakes.
"Living in the high country can be quite isolating.
"There are jobs and responsibilities.
"It is not like living in the city," Miss Porteous said.
Though Mrs Perriam was happy to pass on the leadership mantle, colleagues say she is still a key "ideas person" for community fundraisers.
Spin Lucas, of Nine Mile Station, helps look after the interdenominational church at Tarras and knows Mrs Perriam very well.
Although the group had avoided knitting dishcloths it did not find it so easy getting off a tapestry assignment.
"She saw something about a church in England with kneelers and her light bulb went on, as it does.
"We thought `Oh no, Heather'.
"But we got in behind it," Mrs Lucas said.
The kneeler project was a labour of love and more than 75 now exist.
Tarras craftswoman Kath Templeton helped with designs and Mrs Perriam donated wool through her Merino Shop.
Each tapestry tells a story.
The cushion worked by Mrs Lucas depicts the former Lindis Hotel, while the one by her mother, Sheila Anderson, portrays the family home.
Back in Tarras Village, the shops are having a makeover.
Mrs Perriam is extending her Merino Shop, which she has owned for 25 years.
The Tarras Village grocery store is being renovated and a plant nursery is being built.
There will also be a "House to Shrek", the world-famous merino sheep belonging to Mrs Perriam's husband, John.
The changes may not be finished in time for the tour but Mrs Perriam is not worried.
There are plenty of other things to see in the village on the day.
One is a vintage gift store called "Mrs Robinson" in a house next to the former petrol station.
It was established two years ago by Fiona Robinson, who is on other committees and supports the Tarras School but is not a member of Tarras Rural Women.
There will be home baking and preserves at one of the tour destinations, the Cluden Station Woolshed "bring and buy" sale.
The counter cabinets in the Tarras Country Coffee Shop are laden with slices: tan square, brownie cake, fruit and nut slice, citrus slice.
Cafe proprietor Imelda De Freeze loves baking but is too busy to do it as often as she would like.
She employs seven staff and has just hired a local cook who specialises in old-fashioned baking, because that is what her customers want.
The cook's name is off the record for the moment because the appointment is very new.
Ms De Freeze's eyes twinkle though.
She knows she's scored a coup.
Because one should not leave Tarras without tasting the wine, three vineyards are included on the tour.
One of those is Tarras Vineyard, on a 2.5ha pine-forested block beside the Clutha River.
Its award-winning pinot noir is sold over the internet and distributed overseas.
Vineyard manager Chad Douglas, who was raised in Lumsden and obtained a master's degree in climatology at the University of Otago, clearly does not qualify for Tarras Rural Women.
But his boss Nancy Carlson, who is in the United States, is a member.
"Nancy flicked me an email and said `Chad, can we be part of this?'.
"I really don't have too much to do with the ladies, but what we are doing is good for the district . . .
"Tarras is a nice little village and it has a nice cafe.
"They [Rural Women] are pretty motivated to putting Tarras on the map.
"It seems this little town with its own identity can still bring in the people.
"And there are people in Central Otago who are interested to see what Tarras has got.
"There is more than just merinos," Mr Douglas said.
Carol Bunn, of Vinpro in Cromwell, is Tarras Vineyard's winemaker.
Because the vines are grown in a cooler climate, the wine has a lighter fruit flavour with floral perfumes, Mr Douglas says.
Tourists have started coming to the vineyard - a few because the forest was a location in Peter Jackson's first The Lord of the Rings film - and a tasting room has been built.
It will be open during the Taste of Tarras tour.
Art and food - including cup cakes - will also be available.
So what better way to spend part of a spring day than sipping red wine and eating cake in a pine-needle-scented vineyard.
Be there
The Taste of Tarras tour is on Sunday, October 25, from 10am to 4.30pm.
The full self-drive itinerary, site tickets, and a copy of the new tourist map, are available for $15 from the Merino Shop and the Wanaka i-site.
Wine, food and art stalls and music performances will be available at various sites along the tour.
Funds raised go towards Tarras Projects.
Labour Weekend 2010 has been set aside to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the subdivision of Morven Hill Station into 22 properties, and the 125th anniversary of the founding of Tarras School.
