Country Life

Young backpackers on bus tours are making a tangible difference in the struggling Bay of Plenty town of Murupara. Local tour operator Nadine Toe Toe's motto is 'Change a town through tourism'.

Laura Douglas has set up a tourism venture in Kingston that gives visitors to Queenstown the chance to experience a taste of the country-side.

Blueberries, kiwiberries, boysenberries, loganberries... well, there might soon be another one to add to the mix – the snowberry. Trials are underway to see if there's potential for a commercial snowberry crop in New Zealand.

Warm weather has blessed the North Island this week, and while the South Island's generally been lovely too, the temperatures are dipping quickly down south.

Gold kiwifruit growers are making very  good money but grower David Jensen says a shortage of labour to harvest fruit won't be solved by simply increasing pay rates.

Stray bus visits Murupara in Tuhoe country, Snowberries with Plant and Food, and Southern Girl in Kingston Central Otago, Kiwifruit grower David Jensen.

Converting to organics has been a rewarding challenge for filmmaker and farmer Gaylene Barnes and her brother Andrew. They grow vegetables commercially on the family farm at Highbank in Canterbury. Growing food is part of a long term rehabilitation plan for Andrew after suffering a traumatic brain injury three years ago. Gaylene's latest documentary "Seven Rivers Walking" premiered at last year's Christchurch International Film Festival.

Susan Murray checks in with an apple harvesting gang and an apple orchardist who says proposed wage increases will cost him an extra $75,000 dollars a year.

Marlborough Sounds sheep farmer Noel Moleta is turning his hand to growing hops after purchasing a 122-hectare property near Tapawera. So far he has planted 14 hectares and another 15 are going in now. At the last count 2,500 poles had been erected and 44,000 plants put in the ground. Noel says sheep and hops go well together. He sent 700 lambs to the hop farm for the summer to graze under the five metre high canopy.

Many North Island areas received good volumes of welcome rain last weekend, some dairy herds are being dried off and the South Island feijoas, apples and kiwifruit are filling Tasman's cool stores.