'There are two of us'

271114WCSMtwins2 TRAP FOR THE UNWARY: Identical twins Natasha Johnston and Bianca Carmichael have plenty of differences. PICTURE: STUART MUNRO

Being identical twins when you're grown-up, living separate lives in different places and usually have opposing views is one thing but when you are both living in the same town after 15 years apart, mistaken identification can become a bit of a nightmare.
Natasha Johnston and Bianca Carmichael are two completely different women and say they always have been - but people in Wanganui keep mixing up the 41 year olds, even though one has short hair and the other long.
"Look, we might have been one egg but we were totally different chicks from the start," Natasha (Tash) laughs.
The mix-ups can at times be embarrassing and sometimes it can be amusing - but for the women it's mostly excruciating.
"We're over it ... we do different things, we are different people," said Natasha.
Bianca has returned to Wanganui - where Tash has lived all her life - after travelling the world for more than 12 years, then living for a time in Wairarapa.
Their adult lives have diverged from when they were little, always dressed in identical clothes and called "twinny" rather than by their own names.
They initially lived in Puriri Street and went to Tawhero School before the family moved to Maxwell and raised horses.
They laugh when they say those years were fantastic because they had a horse each and rode 6km to school every day, rain or shine.
"We were horse mad, our whole family was horse mad."
Bianca wonders whether the huge freedom they had as children actually made them a little "wayward" in their teens.
There are stories from their years at Wanganui Girls' College they grin about but won't expand on, except to say they weren't very scholastic and left school as soon as they could.
They worked in a laundry factory for a couple of years until their lives sped off in opposite directions.
By their early 20s Tash had a baby boy and Bianca was in Sydney after working at kennel, learning dog-grooming skills and working at a local supermarket.
Tash worked as a stunt woman, cowgirl, rough rider and trick rider throughout New Zealand then at the meatworks in Wanganui and Waitotara while Bianca found work with a boat building company in Sydney, building Grand Prix racing yachts.
Bianca met her (now former) husband in Sydney and the couple headed for London where she first worked as a specialist dog groomer to the rich and famous in Chiswick whose pedigree darlings were paraded at the Crufts Dog Show.
"They were unbelievably fussy about their dogs, you didn't dare leave a hair out of place. "When the dogs were at Crufts we weren't allowed to touch them, only the show groomers could, it was very weird."
Over the years the couple travelled throughout South America , Asia, Russia, and North America, always returning to London.
Bianca has never forgotten living in Southampton and working for a boatbuilder on the Isle of Wight where they built the boat used in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. "And I missed meeting Johnny Depp by two days because we were leaving for Russia."
They were on their way to visit New Zealand, but got waylaid travelling through China, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam and to Sydney where they were offered a two year-contract working at a boatbuilding company in China about an hour north of Hong Kong so never made it back home that time, Bianca said.
In the meantime Tash had met the man "of her dreams". "Actually I'd known him since we were 12."
As well as working at the meatworks, husband Tony was in a rock band and decided Tash should be part of it too.
"So suddenly I was being trained as the bass player and singing a few vocals. I had a month to learn to play 30 songs and I loved it," Tash said.
The name of the band - The Flannels - came from hot, sweaty rehearsals in their band room where they were forced to wrap cold, wet flannels around their necks.
Playing regular pub gigs now for 10 years, Tash said it's been a brilliant social life for her and Steve - and they get paid. "We always have a great time."
Bianca was recently at a local bar watching her sister perform when the woman standing next to her said "you are such a good bass guitarist and singer ..."
"I just stared at her then looked at my sister onstage ... I mean come on."
When she arrived back in Wanganui Bianca set up a dog grooming business, Hot Dogs, which is popular with local dog owners.
But one morning a customer stormed in saying, "You were supposed to be clipping my dog but I saw you shopping in The Warehouse, it's not good enough".
With a huge sigh Bianca explained again that she had an identical twin. "I got my cut hair really short after that."
But even with mixups including people questioning why Tash had been seen with another man - actually it was Bianca with a boyfriend - the twins say they just want people to know one thing.
"There are two of us ... there are two of us."