Wild weather, vaccinating a population scattered across a vast area and dealing with tough economic times presented considerable challenges in 2021… Maniototo Community Board chairman Robert Hazlett reflects on the year and his ward’s hopes for 2022.

Along with ongoing pandemic headaches, the arrival of 2021 bought with it a spectacular downpour, causing serious damage to roads and disrupting the holidays of many visitors across the Maniototo.

Getting bridges fixed is now a major goal for the area, Robert says. On a positive note, amid the year’s challenges, dealing with Covid-19 had bought people

together, he says, highlighting a community that is well used to having to rely on itself to sort through difficult times.

“People just tend to get on with things and being a rural area, farm work still has to be done so many services still get done as normal. Being a rural community, you do feel that you are left behind sometimes which causes plenty of frustrations.”

Despite its unique challenges people had adjusted well to a second lockdown being thrown at them in August and the Maniototo has achieved consistently high vaccination rates. Robert says it helped a lot to have people like long-time local medical practitioner Dr Smith on the job.

“We live in a reasonably isolated area, which means help is further away so we have to get things done ourselves to ensure everyone’s wellbeing. People seemed to adjust well knowing how it{the lockdown} worked the first time and with a large number of people vaccinated everything went easier.

We are very lucky to have Doctor Vern Smith who has lived in the area for 30 years and has been very proactive in the vaccine roll out.”

He says some normality would now be greatly welcomed by the people of the Maniototo.“It’s just been a trying year and it has been good to see the Maniototo community getting through this situation together and helping each other.

All costs have gone up - petrol, food and being further away from services and kid’s sport puts added stress on to the situation.”

What he’d like to see more of - and less of - to assist the area in recovering from its challenges, could probably be applied to the whole of rural New Zealand.

“Looking forward to a relatively normal year would help…tourists returning, farming continuing to strengthen and less bureaucratic bullshit.”