A Dunedin man turning his Christmas tree farm into the slice of wonderland it once was, hopes it would have made his son happy.
John Munro's Christmas Tree Farm owner John Munro said it had been his dream for 34 years to own a such a farm.
This year, he had sold 25 to 30 trees. Last year he only gave a few out to family and friends who needed a festive tree.
Two years ago, he decided to once again make his Christmas tree farm into a large pine forest, with "perfect" specimens.
"I'm quite precious about the trees; I don't want to be selling substandard trees."
He said it took four and a-half years to get a tree big enough for Christmas, so in two years’ time, the farm would be something to marvel at.
"My goal is to have a whole block of gorgeous trees shaped and pruned, all the perfect size, full and fluffy, so that people will come in and just say, ‘I'll just have that one, they're all perfect’."
Mr Munro said the last time his block of land was overflowing with lush, well-pruned trees was when his son, Nick, was still alive.
"He used to come here and we did it together and it was just gorgeous.
"It was fantastic. It’s always bittersweet to be here."
Nick died in 2005 after an altercation over a taxi escalated and resulted in him being punched.
The punch sent him backwards and Nick hit his head on the road. He died five days later from cardiac failure caused by his injuries.
"He was 18 years, 4 months and 24 days of utter joy."
Mr Munro liked to think his son would have been pleased that he was getting the Christmas Tree Farm up and running and "being happy again".
"Nick and I, we did the fencing together, we had the deer here together, we planted trees together, we sold Christmas trees ... it was just such a hoot of a time.
"Now that I'm past that sadness, I want to create it to have it not necessarily in his memory ... not necessarily to make just him proud of me, but all of my children and my darling wife Fenella, to make them proud of what I can do again."
