Invercargill, where they go to ends of the earth for you

Mention Invercargill to people in the North Island, or others who have made brief trips to the south or none at all, and the reaction tends to be unfavourable, from “it really is the end of the earth” to “you’re going to Invercargill – why”? Well, whatever it was that Venture Southland, the local tourism agency, put in the water before we arrived has worked a treat because the week we have had has been hugely memorable, for all the right reasons.

It starts and ends with the Southland people, who are as genuine as the day is long – and the daylight in this part of the world can stretch from before 5am to after 10pm, which is pretty long. Everywhere we have gone, people go out of their way to make you feel welcome, ask about you and Scotland, and offer any help, whether that is shopkeepers, taxi drivers, restaurant, World Cup staff or even teenagers happy to hand over their skateboards to Scottish photographers looking for a “different” picture.

The star of our trip has been our motel manager Adam MacDonald Harris, unsurprisingly of Scottish descent – if ever down this way, don’t look past the Balmoral Lodge Motel. Having filed Tuesday’s articles, the perennially upbeat father-of-three picked up The Scotsman duo and drove us south to Bluff, the last town in New Zealand and originally called Campbelltown, because “you just have to go and see it while you’re here, eh”?

Former Selkirk coach Mick Craig and his wife and friends obviously thought the same, the latest of countless Scots met this week enjoying the views to the South Pole just 3,000 miles away (Edinburgh is a mere skip of 11,680 miles from the same spot). At Bluff, we sampled their famous delicious oysters and our own Tom English revealed that it was the first seafood he had eaten in 22 years, since an unsavoury incident involving scampi as a student in 1989 created a week-long bond with his toilet. But he has beaten the demons and the oysters slipped down a treat.

We were then taken by Venture Southland’s equally enthusiastic guide Kerryn Smith to the Speight’s Ale House for some fantastic local venison and given a tour of the Invercargill Brewery. Set up and run by local man Steve Nally and his father Gerry – whose own father is from Galway in Ireland and who married an English woman – largely because they were sick of rubbish beer “and the home brew was getting a bit out of control”, he is the man behind the Men n’ Skurrts beer launched recently for Scotland’s visit and to tap into Southland-Scots history.

He has a great brand named after his grandfather called Stanley Green, the label of which features a great Victorian picture of the man himself, and it tastes good too. He employs five full-timers, but his craft beers are now selling across New Zealand and as far afield as Massachussetts. This time next year, he will have moved from his small factory in a garage to newly-built premises with a restaurant to drive plans to keep up with the demand to take his beers global.

“We just love what we’re doing,” said Steve, “and that’s the secret of success I think. The Men ‘n Skurrts was one of our fun beers that came by accident when I mixed up some peaty hops and came up with something nothing like what we intended to brew. It was like Laphroaig on steroids.

“But we all had a drink of it and thought it was too good to pour away, so we came up with this. I’m self-taught and have been brewing for over 12 years now and I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but we’ve produced some great ones too and made a lot of good-selling beers and ciders. Most of all, I enjoy it – free beer for life. Can’t beat that eh?”

What Steve did not mention was that the brewery has won countless awards across the country for its quality produce and has recently attracted interest in English pubs.

There was due to be a fishing trip to the picturesque Stewart Island organised to give the media another taste of the area – fitting, I suppose, for reporters often on fishing trips – but the wind, rain and hail put an end to that. With the game tonight and a swift departure to the airport for a 6am flight to Wellington, Invercargill is going to fade quickly in the rear window.

But the city, and its entertaining film-star mayor Tim Shadbolt, has left an indelible mark on countless Scots over the past week and one suspects that any derogatory comment about Invercargill made within earshot of this week’s visitors will, in future, receive short shrift. We now know better and Wellington will have to go some to beat the genuine warmth and friendliness of the people in this city, even if the temperature has rarely risen above 10˚C. Thank you for your hospitality Invercargill.