The Ball family had a farm on a no-exit road on a peninsula in Northland's Kaipara Harbour. They were close to the water and harvested oysters and mussels and speared flounder.
Erin is home schooled. As well as doing school work she looked after orphan lambs, milked goats and trained dogs.
Her mum remembers her learning to count at docking time. She would count lambs' tails into piles, and then count the piles.
These days she's a bit behind in her schoolwork but on the way to getting NCEA Levels 1 and 2, and especially fond of maths and biology.
When the Balls' Mangaturoto farm sold they made a list of what they wanted in their next property. Then they went on a road trip and looked at farms at Ohura, Raglan and Piopio.
They even headed up remote Watershed Rd to look at the farm at the far end - but turned back when the road got too scary.
They wanted both flat and hill country, and bought Kerry Burgess's Waitahinga Farm, which backs onto Waitahinga Dam. It has a high, flat house site with views of the sea, the South Island, Whanganui, Ruapehu and Egmont on a good day.
The farm has 3500 sheep and a few cattle. It's much steeper than their Northland property, with one piece "all cliff and jungle". There are no flounder but the deer and goat hunting is good and Erin shot her first goat at the weekend.
She's enjoying learning to ride the two horses left behind by the previous owner, and exploring the property.
"You go out there and you always see something new," she said.
She envisages spending more time working on the new farm, as well as finishing school.
"I love the mustering with the dogs."
Erin's first dogs were trained for agility, with the Mangawhai Dog Training Club. She started dog trailling when she was allowed to have a heading dog pup on condition she also trained it for sheep.
These days she has eight dogs of her own, and another she is training to sell. Some of her dogs have been agility champions. She's planning to carry on competing, and has agility equipment set up at home.
She'll join the local Paparangi Sheep Dog Trial Club, and would eventually like to join a Young Farmer group and carry on as a St John youth cadet.
It isn't likely she or anyone else in the Ball family will spend much time in Whanganui.
"We're not very town-y people. We go to town when we have to. Otherwise we just chill out here," Mrs Ball said.
