Sometimes a friendly wave is all you need

It was foreign territory for a surfer and his board but for Dom Huxley it was a worthwhile trip — even though he had a sore behind and was walking like a cowboy at the end of it.

Mr Huxley, general manager of Surfing for Farmers Charitable Trust, has just cycled from Tekapo to Oamaru and along the way checked in with farmers.

Surfing for Farmers is an organisation set up to help the mental health of farmers — taking the men and women off the land, heading to the beach to take the mind away from stock prices and the weather and on to waves and cold water.

Mr Huxley said it was a chance to meet new people and listen to them.

"I guess the gap in our programme is inland, so the idea was to bring a bit of that Surfing for Farmers DNA inland and remind people to not take things too seriously, even when life is serious, and prioritise taking a break," he said.

Farming was tough work at times and some days were not easy, he said.

"There’s so many things outside of your control, whether it’s the weather or pricing or whatever is going on. The first thing you do is try and work harder. So having a bunch of silly jokers riding around from the highest point in New Zealand in a wetsuit with a surfboard kind of sparks up a chat, and then you can quite easily — yeah, broach that subject."

Mr Huxley, 39, biked the whole way in a wetsuit with his board alongside. He had a bit of a paddle at Lake Tekapo but the board was luggage for the rest of the trip.

The wetsuit and the board made for a mixture of pleasure and pain.

"To be honest, it’s like being in a sauna and a compression sock at the same time. It’s quite unpleasant, but you get a few good laughs out of it.

"I actually try to avoid the sun in general. I’m a bit of a vampire. So as soon as the sun comes out, I start sweating. It’s like a faucet’s on."

The surfboard on the bike meant sometimes it felt like piloting a glider.

He never tired of meeting farmers and it was a mixture of emotions in his four-day ride.

"I mean you’re either getting too much rain or not enough rain. It’s been a bit of a crazy summer, to be fair ... at the same time it can swing the other way pretty quickly. You make money one year and then you’re in crippling debt the next year."

He said Surfing for Farmers allowed people to get into the moment.

"We get you in the present, because when you’re about to get smashed in the face by a wave, you’re not worrying about what’s going on on the farm and you talk to a bunch of people which go, hey, I’m experiencing this or that or your finances are tired or cashflow’s shot.

"All of a sudden you go, oh, geez, it’s not unique to me and it makes it a bit more manageable."

Mr Huxley biked into Oamaru yesterday afternoon and was set to head to Kakanui beach last night to have a surf.