The Great New Zealand Road Trip - Diary, Day 4 - Timaru to Christchurch

Singer Leovis Guerra, whose stage name is Fony Liovis.

Editor at large Shayne Currie is on a two-week road trip, to gauge the mood of the nation and meet everyday and notable Kiwis making a difference in their communities and wider world. In the main feature today, he visits the company formed by one of our most famous entrepreneurs. And in our Nine Questions With... column, we catch up with Brianne West.

At 82, one of our greatest authors, Owen Marshall, is showing no signs of slowing, as he works on a new collection of short stories at his Timaru home.

“One good thing about writing is that normally, unlike sport, provided you keep your marbles, you can keep on rumbling,” Marshall tells the Herald as The Great New Zealand Road Trip journey heads from Timaru to Christchurch.

“I’m still enjoying it - after several novels, I’ve come back to doing short fiction.

“I’ve slowed up definitely but I still read a lot and I do write. It’s nice to continue your art, whatever the result is. It’s not necessarily a matter of getting things placed or having great success with them. But it’s the way you view life and it’s the way you express your view of life.

“I think that’s important.”

Owen Marshall. Photo / Jackie Jones

Marshall believes Timaru didn’t suffer as much as some other more tourism-focused South Island towns such as Queenstown and Wanaka during the pandemic - and there are bright spots on the horizon for the South Canterbury centre.

He believes the Timaru-based, $500 million Scott Development project will go ahead, despite it being placed on hold for now.

And he is feeling optimistic more generally “in the sense that we’re better off than most others”.

“I mean, when you look around and you listen to the news and you see what’s happening in the world, it’s not a happy place, is it?

“There are all sorts of threats and problems, not just the terrible wars that are occurring, but also economic problems, ecological problems.”

He said he’d travelled overseas a bit in his time.

“I’ve always loved that, particularly because of my interest in history. But when I come back, I’m very thankful to think that this is where I am and this is where I live and how lucky I am to be here.

“A lot of people are not having the sort of life that we’re having.”

Thursday marked possibly the shortest distance day for the VW ID.5 on the Great New Zealand Road Trip journey - no charging required after the two-hour journey from Timaru to Christchurch, although I will need to find a ChargeNet station on Friday morning ahead of a more strenuous route to Greymouth.

The Great New Zealand Road Trip heads from Christchurch to Greymouth on Friday.

In Christchurch, I met singer Leovis Guerra, from Cuba. He has been in Christchurch for two months, and he was waiting in New Regent St for his girlfriend to finish work.

His word for the Road Trip mood-board? GREAT!

He’s happy in Christchurch, generally finds the locals to be friendly and warm, and enjoys the food, especially he says - with a smile as wide as the Waimakariri River - the cheesecake.

Singer Leovis Guerra, whose stage name is Fony Liovis.