The couch for all the right reasons

Jack Heslip sells ice-cold lemonade at the Wanaka show. Last year as a 4-year-old he sold 500...
Jack Heslip sells ice-cold lemonade at the Wanaka show. Last year as a 4-year-old he sold 500 bottles during the show. With the temperature in the high 20s this year, he could well top that total.
The perfect gift for the student with everything hit the display stand at the Wanaka A&P Show with a $39,000 thud yesterday.

It is a bright green, trailer-borne couch with in-built stereo, television set, barbecue, fridge and sleeping quarters.

The man responsible, Robert McLean, of Hamilton, told the Otago Daily Times ''a lot of labour, a lot of head-scratching and a lot of technology'' went into it.

''I thought: 'It will never sell'.''

But it has - to businesses interested in adapting it to draw attention to such products as cars, beer, wine and insurance.

The ''crowd puller'' as Mr McLean calls it, is the flagship of a range of trailers he thanks the recession for.

Before the recession, Mr McLean and his staff of 36 made a comfortable living building 150 to 200 fibreglass boats per year.

But the recession changed things ''pretty drastically'' overnight.

Robert McLean, of Hamilton, displays his wares at the Wanaka A&P Show yesterday. Photos by...
Robert McLean, of Hamilton, displays his wares at the Wanaka A&P Show yesterday. Photos by Stephen Jaquiery.
Instead of laying off staff, Mr McLean took his fibreglass business in a whole new direction and now he not only manufacturers boats but also what he calls ''boats on wheels'' - fibreglass trailers for tradespeople and campers.

They include all mod cons from a toilet and shower to rooftop bunk room.

Mr McLean is just one of scores of company owners and reps from all over the country who have travelled to what is billed as the South Island's second-biggest A&P show.

In a huge shopping mall of marquees and outdoor display areas, the town has come to the country to soft-sell its wares.

There are rolls of wire netting, piles of rock salt, pizza ovens, spa baths, saddles, lip balm, sterling silver jewellery, portable effluent ponds and utes with huge bullbars.

There is a nifty device for extracting waratahs and a puzzled-looking, half-shorn merino from Glen Dene station.

Grant Jones, of Mosgiel, is selling $270,000 Fendt tractors and Murray Gorton, of Christchurch, is selling $260,000 Jaguar cars.

Neither are expecting cash buyers to step up during the show but believe their presence will pay off down the track.

Across the way, Boer goat judge Celia Burnett-Smith, from Queensland, is selling the idea of farming Boer goats.

''Oh my goodness. This would probably be one of the best environments I could imagine to breed Boer goats in.''

And David Giddings, from Marton, is in Wanaka to sell his range of Kelso rams - a mix of Romney, Texel, Finn and East Friesian.

''If you don't have the rams, you don't have the lambs, '' he told the ODT sagely.

Firewood splitter Henry Devereux was demonstrating how his machine makes matchwood out of tree trunks and promised to take ''the blood, sweat and tears'' out of chopping firewood.

Show co-ordinator Jane Stalker said the trade display was bigger than last year but she was comfortable the show still reflected its rural community.

''We still do try and focus on the farming sector of the show and keep its rural feel.''

The show continues today.

- mark.price@odt.co.nz

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