The annual agricultural festival that is Fieldays is hard to miss if you are anywhere near Hamilton at present.  Banners by the side of the roads are everywhere, and reports of queues of traffic waiting patiently to enter the huge site at Mystery Creek are front and centre on the news.  On Wednesday however, myself and the vicar of St Stephen’s, Tamahere, the Rev’d Ellen Bernstein took the rather more stately paced Waikato River Explorer from its mooring at Hamilton Gardens, winding our way along the Waikato river to reach Mystery Creek within an hour (the upstream return journey was altogether quicker!).  The perspective gained by the river journey was unique, and certainly gave profound meaning to the words Waikato taniwha rau. He piko, he taniwha, he piko, he taniwha. 

The Fieldays site is of course vast, and it certainly would take more than one day’s visit to experience everything.  From tractor pulling competitions, to chainsaws and logging, to fencing, a wonderful ‘AgArt’ fashion show (featuring many incredible designs from our very own Waikato Diocesan School for Girls), to detailed information about the technological ways of addressing farming issues, cookery demonstrations, highland cow combing, and alpaca encounters, not forgetting the four-wheel drive vehicle demonstrations; there was a huge amount to see and take in.  Two of our Anglican schools had stands in the main pavilion area, St Paul’s Collegiate, and St Peter’s Cambridge, and it was very good to visit them, and support their commitment to Agri-business enterprise and training. 

Over lunch we were joined by the Archdeacon of Waitomo, Christine Scott, and we continued our exploration of the displays, bumping into parishioners from Otorohanga and Cambridge, and many others who stopped to talk to us.  Indeed I think because we were wearing our clerical attire that opened up some very interesting conversations which demonstrated the real significance and importance of ministry in our many rural contexts.  Indeed the day after we attended Fieldays, there was an article in the New Zealand Herald regarding depression following falling dairy prices (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11463416).  Plenty to pray and think about as to how as a Diocese we might respond to such challenges.

Of course, no visit to Fieldays would be complete without acquiring various free items.  We all found ourselves ‘tagged’ at one point in the ‘Livestock Improvement Corporation’ (as the accompanying photograph demonstrates!).  I also gained possession of a red bucket, which may come in handy at some point!  I was certainly glad of my gum-boots, and I imagine that by the final day of Fieldays they would be much in demand.  All in all, good to have experienced it, and I look forward to opportunities ahead for further engagement and reflection on ministry in our rural communities.

+Helen-Ann.