Notes from the Tarn

Hurunui Jack’s take on life
– from dating and fashion to winning and competition

I LOVE IT! I’ve been single for several years now. I still love the excitement of the chase even if it’s not going to lead to anything. I enjoy it for what it is. Enjoy the company and the fun. Enjoy it as a process – not just the means to the end of marriage. Enjoy the company and fun of dating. Enjoy relating to people. Don’t get married unless it’s really right. It’s got to be really right – when it is there’s a joy of real companionship that’s unbeatable, but you’ve got to really want to be together.

Yes, I do love it – and I’m a bloke! I don’t like the pretentiousness of catwalks – but fashion has to start somewhere. I love colour and design in any form and I hate seeing people who only wear black. West Coasters are afraid of style being pretentious rather than enjoying it. I feel good in my clothes – people say I wear them well but I think that’s just because I enjoy the clothes I wear.

It’s not just that I love it,it’s part of me. I used to hunt for trophies – since I was 13 –In NZ someone’s got to do it – it’s about culling and keeping numbers down as well as getting out into magnificent scenery with great friends and forgetting about whatever was bothering you.

Hunting is about being a man – I’m a hunter gatherer – I love the process. Being out there and doing it. Groper, wild pork, venison, whitebait, ducks. I love being able to fend for my family and friends; bringing something back to share with people and being able to provide for them. I think that’s something that runs very deep for a man.

One of the great joys in life, after love of course. Fresh, tasty food that’s shared and savoured with friends is unbeatable. Just take the freshest of ingredients, like mussels or whitebait you’ve just caught, add some wild mushrooms you’ve picked and cook it with a few fresh herbs – preferably over an open fire. Sensational.

I’m not a fan of fast food. Quite the opposite; I like being involved in the process from go to whoa. I want to go and catch what I’m going to eat or grow it. Then I want to enjoy the process of cooking it. Then I want to taste and enjoy it. Sometimes when I’m eating fish off the grill I think I can taste the wood and the fish and the river and the hill the mushrooms came from.

And when you add a wine that goes well with what you’ve cooked, well, it’s nectar from the Gods!

I don’t like coming second. I love competition. I think that’s a very Kiwi thing. I love winners who aren’t spoiled or boastful but are still committed to win.

We’ve got interesting attitudes to winning in New Zealand. We expect the All Blacks to win or else they’re cannon fodder. Not winning is inexcusable. But meanwhile at schools, participation is more highly prized than winning. Making everyone who enters a winner is all fine and well, but it doesn’t encourage the talented competitor to be their best and win.