Southern Africa - New Zealand, IPPS Scholarship 2024
Southern Africa - New Zealand, IPPS Scholarship 2024
Grant Hayman from IPPS New Zealand reports:
The Scholarship was to bring Liezel Nel and Michelle Stanton out to New Zealand from Southern Africa from the 23rd of October to the 17th of November 2024 return.
This scholarship has proceeded under the auspices of the New Zealand and Southern African IPPS Regions.
Both Liezel and Michelle have entered into this scholarship really putting themselves out of their comfort zone and entering into all experiences and visits with a real interest and enthusiasm.
They were like sponges ready to suck up information and experiences, as well as sharing there own knowledge and experiences with us. This made it a breeze to host and have them here in New Zealand.
Financial Sponsors to Achieve this were:
Antony Toledo
Barry Hayes
Mark & Claire Brown
Grant & Robynne Hayman
Dave & Shirley Ogilvy
Michelle Stanton sharing her impressions of both her and Liezl Nel's trip of a lifetime:
‘Oh, he’s a character’, ‘Don’t believe a word he says’, ‘All the women fancied him, and all the men fancied her’, and ‘If he asks to draw you, say no’. These were some of the ‘warnings’ we were given as we hopped from host to host during our IPPS exchange to New Zealand. 11 hosts spread across 11 cities, man did we have the trip of our lives.
Since the New Zealand contingent surprised us with their plans to bring us over from South Africa back in March 2024, the months since had been spent in anticipation of the 23rd of October – the day we left Johannesburg for Christchurch. And in typical IPPS fashion, the team went above and beyond for us and arranged a guided tour of Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. We could certainly think of worse ways to spend a 12-hour layover.
We finally arrived in Christchurch on Friday the 25th of October. We were warned by fellow South Africans to not even bother trying to smuggle in our beloved biltong, and so we both happily avoided any rigorous bag checks at immigration. We were greeted by Robynne and Grant Hayman. Grant was decked in his South African rugby jersey and we felt instantly at home. This feeling did not subside through our entire journey. Everywhere we went, we were welcomed so warmly. And thank goodness for that, because it was COLD. On only our second day in New Zealand, we experienced our first proper snowstorm. Specially ordered in for the Africans, so we were told. We arrived at Clare and Mark Brown’s home in Wanaka just as the snow stopped falling. We had whitebait fritters, visited an electric cherry orchard, and had coffee with Jo Wakelin while we looked at her exquisite garden.
Our next stop on the journey was Te Anau. We finally got the hang of its pronunciation by the time we left New Zealand. Along the way Mark Brown took us to Garston Hops. This was a brand-new crop for us, and it was great to see the raw ingredients for the craft drinks we were so impressed by. Graeme Humphries hosted us in Te Anau. In him, we had the best tour guide (Antony Toledo, take note). We explored Milford Sound, Lake Manapouri, and walked the parks Graeme’s team has kept beautiful over the decades.
Jess and Michael from the plant store generously drove us around for the next two days. We were delivered to Barry Hayes in Invercargill, and while his geranium production site was impressive, it was surpassed by our drive to Bluff in his Maserati. Michael was tasked with the simple mission of driving us safely to Dunedin. However, within 10 minutes of meeting him one of us electrocuted ourselves on a fence while taking pictures in front of a field of tulips. Smelling faintly of burnt flesh, we eventually made it to the Browns in Waitati. The conference over the weekend was preceded by nursery and botanical garden tours, and a cozy dinner where we had the chance to get to know fellow IPPS members. When you have to present a talk to titans of the industry, it helps greatly to meet the titans beforehand. The conference was packed full of talks on developing a career in horticulture and stories of lives spent in the industry. Liezel chauffeured us to Christchurch in Jeff Elliott’s car, and we were welcomed by Nailan Gooneratne and his family. Nailan showed us the best of Christchurch’s horticulture, and his daughter Shana showed us the best of Christchurch’s retail and shopping. We ended our time in the South Island with a stay at the Elliott’s in Amberley. Jeff and Caroline drove us all over, giving us an inside look at production and research nurseries in the area. Caroline also escorted Michelle up Mt Grey for a ‘run’. During our stay in Amberley, we were both acutely aware of the fact we would likely never meet another person quite like Jeff Elliott.
We rejoined the Haymans on the plane to Napier. Trevor Allan and Marie Taylor fed and sheltered us during our stay. We thoroughly enjoyed the IPPS tour around Napier and its surrounding areas. We visited Hanui’s Garden, Plant Hawkes Bay, Hohepa Plant Nursery, The Plant Company, Oderings, Tree Guys and Rockit Orchard.
From here Scott and Mandi Bromwich drove us to Tauranga and showed us must-see sites like Lake Taupo and Huka Falls along the way. Liezel gave us all a taste of South Africa with her delicious milk tart after our first Kiwi barbeque. Our visit to Scion was a highlight, followed by an afternoon of gondolas and luges in Rotorua. Scott handed us safely to Shirley and Dave Ogilvey on our penultimate stop of our tour in Hamilton. The Ogilvy’s spoiled us by arranging personalized tours of nurseries, the Hamilton Gardens, Daltons, and even Hobbiton. Dave did the final hand over to Antony Toledo. We met the finest New Zealanders at Multiflora Laboratories, Joy Plants, Rainbow Park, Ardmore, Nga Rakau, Van Lier nurseries and the Auckland Botanic Gardens. We quietly celebrated Antony’s birthday with the Toledo Family, and they were very patient while we did the last of our shopping in Auckland. Special effort was made to find Michelle some kumara tubers to take home, as she was certain they are different from the sweet potatoes we have in Africa.
At the end of our trip, Michelle specifically was feeling very emotional about leaving New Zealand. She wrote in her diary something along the lines of ‘I will be very sad to leave NZ. Mostly because of the people we got to meet on our journey. I felt so welcomed and cared for, and felt like I connected with pretty much everyone we stayed with. I am realizing making connections with people means the world to me’. IPPS New Zealand, you are made up of extraordinary people. Thank you for making this trip of a lifetime possible. Thank you of showing us your world-class horticulture, but most of all thank you for showing us the best of humanity too. We will remember you for your warmth, generosity, kindness, and humour. We are taking back invaluable experience to South Africa, where we hope we can contribute to IPPS South Africa a fraction of what you have contributed to our lives.
We would also like to thank IPPS Southern Africa for nominating us to take part in the original selection for the Australian exchange program. This especially includes the Du Toits, and Karen and Gaye from Shadowlands, our original mentors who lit the sparks that ignited our passion for horticulture. Thank you for showing faith in our younger selves, supporting our nominations, and forging a strong path for us to follow as we hopefully lay some of our own bricks along our journey with the IPPS.