Grant | Ōamaru, Otago
“One of the things I perhaps regret was when I was in my late teens at university. I was heavily involved the go-karting scene and and motor racing and that kind of thing.
So, I did a lot of go-karting while at varsity, and really enjoyed that all round the South Island, and I suppose when you start settling down a little bit and having children, some of your focus changes so I never really pursued the motor racing side so much. Dad had been heavily involved in hill-climbs and single seaters and all that. So, it was always something I thought I’d do, but it didn’t happen but other things did.
I started off in Christchurch till the age of three, and then moved up to Auckland. So, I lived in Auckland till I was 16. Schooled up there and then came down to Christchurch where Dad was based at the age of 16, and again thought I was going to take up a motor racing career and go and work on one of Dad’s farms. But Mum had better ideas. She circled some newspaper articles about some university courses. So, straight at the age of 16 after leaving school in sixth form, I went to Lincoln University and ended up going through and getting a degree in valuation and property management. That was the time I was doing a lot of go-karting and all that kind of thing, but as you come out of university and start life with partners and then children, focusses change. So, at the end of the day, I got a good degree, and now I’m using that working for council in the property team some 26 years later. So, that was a good positive outcome at the end of the day.
There’s always a danger with that kind of thing. I suppose it was good to experience something different, live in some different places as well, like living in Auckland for a long time, then living in Canterbury for a long time, on the Bank Peninsular in Christchurch. So, it was good to mix up a few different places as well. Came to Ōamaru in 2000 with the one-year plan and still here in 2020. So, life changes, and sometimes you never really know what to expect.”
