Hi I was born, Heather Margaret Leckie, in Timaru on 12th January 1953 - the year Queen Elizabeth was crowned and Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Mt Everest. Not too sure if these two events have had an influence on my life, but I have had some interesting experiences and had many high mountains to climb. My Grandfather's brother - the late Sandy Leckie, started Leckie's butchery and he was a great man who had a heap of wisdom to share with me.
I am the second eldest of six children. My father died aged 38 the day after I turned 13 years old. My Mother did a great job, trying to keep her head above water with regard to financing her large family on her own. We milked 15 cows, had a number of sows and raised their offspring on 40 acres of land at Hunter, 7 miles northwest of Waimate. Mum wore out three knitting machines in her life as she worked to earn a little extra.
My brothers and sisters and I had to pick raspberries and strawberries as kids. One day I told Mum: "I'm not going back!!" She said "You will not have any money" I told her I didn't care" I still hate the smell of raspberries!!
I do not believe in pursuing activities that do not give rewards.
Mum sold our small farm when I was 17 and I moved to Dunedin where I trained as a Primary School Teacher for three years from 1970 - 1972. Before I went to College I worked at the Studholme Pea Factory and arrived in Dunedin with the total sum of $100 which I needed to buy books etc. I lived with the late Bill and Doreen Christie and Family for the first year. Bill was deputy Mayor for a long time. The father of the girl I roomed with paid her full years board when she arrived!! Heather had no money but boy I had some fun.
Bill and Doreen were great and took me to another part of Dunedin and afield every weekend. I certainly know a lot of places and have really enjoyed learning about the area.
I joined Young Farmers and still have a huge number of friends from that time. I was at a 70th birthday party for one of them a month ago. I flatted for the second and third year and that was a lot of fun.
When I left College I was posted to the biggest school in Christchurch but I did not want to go to a city again. Therefore through a bit of "Standing up for myself" (which I have done a lot of), I was posted to Awamoa School in Oamaru. The lecturer who helped me complained that I had to change boards and schools. He said "Get out of here and come back later" When I came back he said "Sign you are in!!" I said "You can do anything that you want" That has been my philosophy all my life.
I met my husband, Ross, soon after I began teaching in Oamaru. I taught two years at Awamoa School, one year at Fernbrook School and three at Totara School where there were 50% Chinese children. Ross and I were married on 7th June 1975 at the Anglican Church in Waimate - my Mother-in-law tried to tell me that I had to be married in the Presbyterian Church and in Oamaru - that wasn't going to happen!! My father-in-law said that when his son got married he had to have God Save the Queen and relations at the wedding - I said "Well he won't be marrying me!"
We farmed at Waianakarua and All Day Bay (McLean's had lived at All Day Bay since 1860. You may notice that McLean's Road is just North of Herbert and this runs right down to All Day Bay. Turn off at The Mill House for a lovely Coastal drive and you will go past this area.
Just after we moved to Waianakarua, Ross had a terrible car crash when a tyre blew out and the car was flung upside down along the right hand side of the bigger Waianakarua bridge, then tipped onto the road and he was thrown out after his safety belt broke, hitting his head severely on the bottom ledge of the bridge. He was in very bad shape with the top of his head coming off. He was unconscious for nine days, and after being told he would die that night - he made an amazing recovery.
We have four sons:
Jamie who is married to Michelle and have two lovely children: Olivia who is almost 8 and Isaac who is 6. Jamie is a drafter for Silver fern Farms and Michelle is an HR for Fraser McKenzie Accounting in Oamaru. Jamie started off in Dunedin after stints on large farms in between going to Lincoln. He now has the Waimate Area and they have just built their brand new home near the North Otago Golf Course.
David has his own business in Sydney: Leki Installations. He employs up to 15 fellows and works from Canberra to Newcastle and has also helped build the new Darwin Hospital.
When David was at Otago University he spent two holidays on Fraser Island in Australia. One day his Aussie mates asked him "What was your mother's maiden name?” He replied "Leckie" They laughed at him and thought that was the Maori name for Blacks as he goes very dark when he has had too much sun!! So he called his business Leki Installations. When you are in Sydney, next, look to see if you see many high rise buildings with louvers on them - probably David's work.
David recently married the Duchess of Bronte, Laura, and they have a gorgeous little fellow, Ted. My father's name was Edward James and unbeknown to David he has named Little Ted the same.
Our third son, Roy was something of a rebel. At the end of his sixth form the Rector at Kings asked Ross what Roy was doing next year. Ross said - coming back to school. The rector replied I hope you have a cell phone and have it on. Roy left school and went to Otago PolyTech to do an IT course.
He had been there about six months and we got a phone call to say that if we weren't in there with $3000 today then tomorrow we would owe $6000. He hadn't paid any board. Great.
So he left there and thought he would try Dairying. He ended up on a farm in North Otago. He stayed there for one year and then told me "The only friend I have up here is my brother - I am going to join the army!! Boy how was that going to go? I went with him to his first group meeting to find out about the army and what was expected of them.. They told the recruits that they had to do everything themselves - including toilets, beds the right way etc. I asked Roy, "How are you going to cope?" He replied: "It will be a piece of piss, Mum" Indeed it has been. He graduated out of the initial course top of his group, has gone onto become a Sergeant, has his Paratrooper wings and has had many postings. Including: Afganistan, Solomons, East Timor and then three postings to Kabul where he was involved with some rather terrible situations. He also applied to go on a course to Singapore. - he was the only Kiwi to apply. When he had been in Singapore a short time he sent an email to his mates and his Mum and Dad. He was complaining bitterly about how they were treating him - including taking his cell phone off him. One of his mates replied and that email came past me. They were laughing and saying that was why they didn't apply to go. I told him there is good in everything we do so look for some. Well things improved dramatically - he ended up with his own apartment, own car and own maid!! He sent me a photo of the group who were on this course and said "Pick Out the Whitey, Mum - he was the only one!!
He has now gone onto transfer to the Aussie Army, is a top soldier, has become an Aussie Citizen - a requirement to be in the Aussie Army, married a beautiful Pilipino girl, Sherry Mae - on Boracy Island (Reputed to be the second most beautiful island in the world) and has a gorgeous little girl, Poppy who is now 17 months old. He also has a Stepson, Josh, who is also living with them plus his Mother-in-law and they are all living in Brisbane. He is a top golfer and was the Captain of the New Zealand services team and is No 1 for the Aussie army. Amazing how a rebel like him has turned out.
A great example of what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
Our youngest son, Grant left school to also be in the army. He was a driver and also had a posting to East Timor. He has since finished in the army and is now an underwater diving engineer in Auckland. He has recently set up on his own and that seems to be going rather well. While having a chat, recently, with Eleanor she told me her son, James, was also in the army. I asked Grant if he knew James Archer - he said no. When I told Eleanor that Grant didn't know her son, James Archer, she told me that his name was James Faber - or Dougie Faber as the boys called him. Small world as Grant has spent a lot of time with James and has also met Eleanor!!
My boys all went to boarding School - Jamie to Waitaki and the other three to Kings in Dunedin.
One day when Grant was at boarding school the hostel boys heard on the radio that school was closed until 10am because of snow. They thought it would be fun to ring the radio and impersonate Lindsay Hocking and cancel it again until 11am. That worked really well so they called again and cancelled for the whole day. However they didn't realise that they had closed Kings and Queens and that they were in the middle of school exams!! Many weeks later I got a phone call from Lindsay Hocking and he said" Hello Mrs McLean, I'm afraid I have to suspend your son." I said "What has Roy been doing now? He said “Not Roy, Grant." Grant has been the impersonator!! At least my boys have had fun and grown into fine young men who know how to work and have done well for themselves.
In 1986, just after we bought the McLean Family farm at All Day Bay - we were hit with Rogernomics. Interest rates went from 7% to 20%. We had paid $400,000 for the farm - a year later it was valued at $180,000. We were also in the middle of a full on drought. Ewes were selling for $1 and lambs for $6. Not a lot of income to raise four young boys. So in 1996 we moved to Hindon where we leased Mt Hyde Station. This was a really lovely place to bring up our boys who had the run of 1800 acres. We stayed here for five years and then Ross worked for the neighbour for a further five years.
When we moved to Hindon in 1996, I had a year off teaching and then I relieved in classes and had a number of part time classes. I taught a lot at Arthur Burns School in Mosgiel and had a group known as The McLean Naughty boys!! These fellows were great and I had great fun with them, taking them on outings if they had done all that was asked. I do believe that many of our children need to be given a chance and have fun. They certainly had both in abundance.
In 2002 I saw an advertisement in the local Property Press for a job in Real Estate - offering a retainer and a vehicle supplied. I applied and turned up at the interview. I said I don't have a CV, I do have a car and I know how to work. They hired me.
I worked for this firm until 2007 when the atmosphere was getting a bit rough. Ross and I have always been ground members at Carisbrook and now the Stadium since we moved to be closer to our boys at school in Dunedin. One night I was in the Referees Room at Carisbrook and was introduced to a chap by the name of John Cutler - I had never heard of him and asked him what he did. He said "Real Estate" He asked me how I was going and when I mumbled a not too positive reply he said "Perhaps we need to have a coffee sometime" The next week things were very unpleasant so I called John and I said that I would like to have that coffee. That was Thursday, he said when do you want to start, I said "Monday" he said "You don't waste time" I never have. Working for Cutlers is great. The team are exactly that and when there is a deal to be done with competition, we all hook in and compete among ourselves for the benefit of our sellers who are the most important cog in the equation. I really enjoy Real Estate where I have met a huge number of people. The buzz of putting deals together, the energy required to deal with everyone and all situations can be a bit stressful - but I do not let that faze me. I now have a data base of over 1200 clients who I have dealt with through selling to them or for them. The challenge of something different happening every day at any time of the day is great. Many people think hat Real Estate agents work all hours - we do but this career has given me the opportunity to do what I want when I want - so long as I have my cell phone with me. One time I went with an agent from another company to look at a property at Hampden - on the way home we decided to play golf at Palmerston. His phone rang and he told the caller "I'm just looking at a farm!!" Maybe but he wasn't on a farm.
Real Estate had enabled us to buy a small block of land on Saddle Hill and to build the most beautiful home. This was of Oregon Logs and such a wonderful place to live. There were 50 acres, but being rather steep was really a lot larger than that. Maybe you would like to Google www.saddlehilllodge.co.nz where you can see some photos of our home. I really enjoyed the home stays and met hundreds of very nice people from all over the world. We always gave them a real Kiwi experience and the comments in my visitors book is testament to that.
From 2006 my husband, Ross was working as a fencer for Kim Rapley and also spraying gorse for Otago Spraying - which Kim owned. In January 2013 we bought Otago Spraying Ltd off Kim and Ross was in his element and making great money as he had already worked the business for four years - knew all the farmers and was building the business up very nicely. We had the contract with Electrics which involved spraying under all pylons from Clinton to Palmerston. On Saturday 16th February Ross was spraying and about 6.30pm he went to spray the last of his load around some pylons on the Mungatuas, near Outram. He got out of his truck to open a gate and then the truck started to roll back, so he reached into the cab to turn the truck up the bank to stop it - he over did that and the truck rolled over on top of him - killing him instantly. This was a most dreadful time for myself and my family and so terrible as I couldn't find him - with the help of Search and Rescue he was located the next afternoon. Ross was a very hard working person, had many many friends and loved his family dearly. The attendance at his funeral was testament to him.
Since I have been on my own, I farmed our property but increasingly this was taking me away from my Real Estate work - with sheep and cattle to care for and Saddle Hill Lodge Home stay, I was full time in every way. So last July I found a lovely family with four children who could see the value in my home and they have continued on the home stays and are farming the land.
I enjoy travel and last year was lucky enough to be invited to an Indian wedding in Rajkot - North of India. We also stayed in Mumbai and with the benefit of guides had a great look around. While in Rajkot I was taken to the International Rotary Doll Museum - where there were displays from all over the world.
Then this April I travelled to a little place called Mollymook - about three hours south of Sydney for David and Laura's wedding. Was so beautiful and boasted two Rick Steiner hotels. Then we drove to Melbourne for a couple of days.
I also own an e-bike and have now done a few trails: A2O (Mount Cook to Oamaru -360kms), The Clutha Gold Trail (Clyde to Lawrence - 200 kms), The Round the Mountains (Queenstown to Walter Peak to Kingston - 180kms) Aramoana and over on the Wheels Over Water Boat (70kms) to Portobello and we are just planning the West Coast Wilderness Trail for the beginning of November (- 139kms)
I travel to Australia at least three times a year and to Auckland at least once to visit family. I don't have any big trips planned at the moment. However I have always travelled to see our boys in their sport and Grant has told me that he may be going to a rugby tournament in Melbourne in September, so I might just have to go to that.
When I sold Saddle Hill I bought a unit in South Dunedin. Going from a four bedroom three bathroom 347m2 (plus 126m2 of decking) home to a two bedroom unit was quite a change. I also bought another four units that are near me and that I rent out, so I do have an income without relying entirely on Real Estate income. I have settled well and enjoy being able to lock up and leave without worrying about animals, gardens and other people.
I do not intend to stay in Dunedin forever and will soon be weighing up my options.
I have three sisters in Timaru, a brother in Geraldine and another in Waimate and family in Oamaru - so I will go north but not sure how far.
Thank you so much for listening to this long ramble.