George | Gate Pa, Bay of Plenty

“Obviously where your family is home to everyone, but also having a good support network of friends is pretty key, I feel. Last year a group of my friends were all going to the One Love festival which is on this weekend, and last year I didn’t have money for a ticket.

It just so happened to work out that a friend worked at Phoenix Bar over at The Strand, and some people left tickets behind. They’d moved on with their holiday or something, so their manager let them take them home, and I ended up getting one of the VIP tickets they left behind. So, that was awesome, and I still got to go with all my friends, and had a wonderful time. Just friends pulling through for your mates, I guess. It was neat.

I think it’s massive for your mental health. You can feel quite isolated without having a network around you. Having people to spend time with, and talk to, and all that’s massive. I’ve experienced a lot of isolation. I was dairy-farming for five years, so I’ve had those struggles with being away from people, and just in a working environment for a lot of the time. I had people around me in the farming community too but in town, everyone’s really close and there’s always people around you here. It feels like there’s more people around when you’re in the city. It’s pretty cool. 

I was born in Tauranga, went to Matua Primary School, and then Bethlehem College, so local all the way through till university, where I went down to Lincoln University to study agriculture. Didn’t end up leaving qualified, but I had a good time. Ended up farming for five years after that, dairy farming, and been having a bit of a gap year just mowing lawns, doing a bit of Council work around town. It’s been good. Bit of a different experience, yeah.”