Every school day for the past 24 years, the Tarras School bell has chimed like clockwork to mark the start and end of lessons - courtesy of principal Noelene Pullar.
Yesterday, on the last day of term for the tiny rural school, the bell was rung in its official capacity for the final time, as both it and Mrs Pullar retired from duty.
School staff, long-serving board of trustees member Gus Chapman-Cohen and the school's 18 pupils presented Mrs Pullar with the bell - engraved with the dates of her tenure: 1989-2013 - as a memento of her time in Tarras.
Despite a career spanning nearly half a century, Mrs Pullar had ''no particular aspirations'' to become a teacher after finishing school.
''I drifted off to teacher's college with my friends because they were going there and here I am 47 years later. I've had an absolutely wonderful career, I've had promotion without needing to shift from a beautiful town like Wanaka.''
She is also believed to be the longest-serving teacher in Central Otago and would not change a thing about her time in the profession.
''I've had every imaginable day, from excellent to frustrating, but then one thing I can say for it is that I've never gone home and said I've had a boring day. There is no boredom in teaching.''
Her career began in primary schools in Dunedin and Mosgiel, before she was assigned to Wanaka with husband Bill, who was also a teacher but retired from Mount Aspiring College about 10 years ago.
Under their bond with the Government, the young teachers agreed to go to Wanaka to do their ''country service''.
They expected to move on once the required placement period was up, but soon discovered life in a growing town meant promotion was possible without shifting.
Mrs Pullar worked initially at Wanaka District High before it became Wanaka Area School, then split into Wanaka Primary School and Mount Aspiring College.
After becoming principal at Tarras in 1989, she began years of daily commutes from her home in Wanaka, where she and her husband still live.
Writing two children's books on hermit sheep Shrek had been a high point of her time teaching in Tarras, particularly as profits from the books' sales had enabled a community-funded second teacher at the sole-charge school.
The ''country children'' at Tarras School had also been a highlight, due to their ''good values ... good healthy minds, good healthy bodies'', she said.
In her retirement, Mrs Pullar plans to devote more time to Wanaka Rotary and the Aspiring Singers group, and begin home-hosting.
The new principal at Tarras will be Darryn Rae, a former school principal who manages the Enrich@ILT gifted and talented children centre in Invercargill.
