As long as David Hawkins has breath in him, he says, he'll be swinging an axe.
The 75-year-old has been chopping wood since he was a 16-year-old working in the forestry industry and was displaying his skills at this weekend's 103rd Annual A & P Show at Riverdale Park, Ngongotaha.
Woodchopping was a popular sport when Mr Hawkins was a youngster.
"That was just what you did - either chop wood or play rugby. I just love it," he told The Daily Post. "This November I'd have been doing it for 59 years."
The former New Zealand Veteran Axemen team wood chopper isn't planning on hanging up his axe any time soon.
"I have to keep going or I might die and that's pretty permanent," he joked.
The sport isn't as popular today with fewer taking part in competitions than a decade ago.
"We used to get 65 or 75 axemen at a meet but these days you'd be lucky to get 45 or so," Mr Hawkins said. "There isn't as much money in it as there was and it's just becoming too expensive. There isn't as much wood available to practice on."
However, spectators still flock to watch the woodchopping at the Rotorua agricultural show.
"It's still very popular even though there is a decline in people chopping," he said. "There have been crowds up on the bank watching both days [this weekend]."
Organisers of the A & P Show say they plan to make future events "bigger and better" to entice more people.
The event has been on rural calendars throughout the country for more than 100 years.
Rotorua A & P Show committee vice-president Roy Davis said in recent years, numbers coming through the gate had been dwindling but he believed the event was still as relevant today as it was a century ago.
"Everybody wants to go to the A and P Show. Many, many years ago every farmer and his family would come. It was where they caught up with everybody and showed off their stock. It was a real family affair.
"Sadly, these days we clash with so many other events going on it's becoming difficult to get people through the gates."
This year, about 5000 people checked out the show - down substantially on a decade ago, Mr Davis said.
"Forty years ago we'd get triple that easily."
Even the number of stock on show was down this year, a result of the ageing of farmers who were passionate enough about their breeds to bring their cattle to the show, Mr Davis said.
After this year's event the organising committee would be discussing what path the show would take in the future, he said.