Vantage point for rookie

Getting the story sometimes means getting out of your comfort zone. Five of our excellent cadets recount the stories that affected them as reporters at the Otago Daily Times. Today, Arrow Koehler.

Coming into this job straight out of high school, I have done a lot of things I would have never expected.

My first week as a cadet reporter for the Oamaru Mail, I was given the highly-anticipated North Otago A&P Show to cover.

I knew the basics — get some photos, find out the winners and talk to the organiser — but was otherwise clueless.

I turned up without a press pass, but looked official enough to get in without question.

Fellow reporter Sally Rae was judging sheep and said I needed a photo of the best sheep in the show, a Dorset Down ram.

She locked me in the cage with the owners, the sheep and its trophy.

Immediately, I was almost bowled by the prize-winning piece of mutton five times my size.

Sally was uncompromising and made sure my photos were good enough to publish before she would let me out.

I needed a photo to show how big the event was, so I headed to the Network Waitaki cherry picker, which was hoisting children into the air.

After standing awkwardly in a queue of 8-year-old boys, I got my turn.

Strapped into the bucket, with notebook, pen, phone, camera and handbag in hand, up we went.

The experience made me want to regurgitate my lunch, but the photo was ALMOST worth it.

I have never been a fan of horses, but when you are doing an interview with someone who should be on the other side of the show and takes a shortcut through the horse showgrounds, you hold your breath and follow.

I trailed, barely able to keep up as I scrawled incoherent scribbles and avoided every horse as if they were oversized, plague-ridden rats.

Hours later, I finished; exhausted, sunburnt, blistered and glad it was over.

I hope a different reporter will cover this year’s show, but it did teach me a lot and was certainly memorable.