From driving trucks to selling collectables, Marlene Graham has had an interesting career path. John Lewis finds out how it led to creating her ''happy place'' in the former Shingle Creek pub.
Marlene Graham was still a child when it all started.
She says her memory of some things is a bit dusty, but she recalls with clarity, the day her grandfather gave her a couple of old shearing machine oiling cans, and she remembered being intrigued by them.
It set off a chain reaction.
Since that day, the 47-year-old has been collecting oil cans along with a few shipping container loads of other little collectable ''knick-knacks'' and ''bits and bobs''.
''I've always been absolutely curious about old things.
''Anything that's old or interesting, I'm like, God, look how this is made.
''I love seeing how things work ... old wheels and cogs ... fascinating.''
Now she has more than enough items to sell to other hardcore, slightly obsessed collectors.
She recently opened her own store, called Shingle Creek Collectables, in the historic old Shingle Creek Pub, a few minutes north of Roxburgh.
''I do like retail. I'm a real people person. I do like meeting people.
''That's the thing with the shop here - you never know who's going to pop in or what they're looking for. You'd never pick what they'll buy.
''There's some real characters.''
Ms Graham says there has been a real resurgence in antique stores and garage sales in recent years, which is closely aligned with a growth in the popularity of collecting.
Your typical collector will amass huge assemblies of things like teaspoons, toasters, coins, stamps, records, marbles, comic books, car hubcaps, even McDonald's Happy Meal toys - the list of collectables is endless.
Although Ms Graham provides most of these things, she also has items for a slightly different clientele.
''We send the weirdest things to the weirdest places.
''We send hat pins to this lady in Australia. She's got a whole room in her house that is filled with hat pins.
''She's got cushions on the wall to stick them in - it's like her wallpaper.''
If you thought that was bizarre, try the lady who collects ice-cream scoops.
''She's got 500 different ice-cream scoops in her collection.''
Ms Graham is far from judgemental about what people collect. That's because she too is an avid collector.
In fact, she has hundreds of old-fashioned flour sifters which she has conscientiously and affectionately collected over the years.
''I like the people that collect really different things. They're really interesting to talk to.
''People that collect things are adamant, that if they haven't got that one thing in their collection, they'll go far and wide to get it.
''Collections is what this is all about really.''
Antique stores and garage sales have also become increasingly popular in recent years because people are so much more creative now, she says.
''These young girls, they do the most wonderful things.
''They know what they want. They ask, Have you got an old handle or an old pot lid? and I'm like `What are you doing with this stuff'?'
'Young girls are really into doing up old furniture and old knick-knacks.
''They're intriguing. I love talking to people like that.''
Looking back, Ms Graham says the road to finding the perfect store for her collectables was a long and winding one.
For as long as she can remember, all she has ever wanted to do is own her own shop and sell stuff.
Had she had her own way (and enough money to finance it), she would have opened her own retail store the moment she left school.
But it's an expensive layout, and that dream wasn't to come true until very recently.
She chased the dream pretty hard when she first left school.
She got a job as a ticket writer for Para Rubber - basically creating advertising signs and shop displays.
She was a natural in the job.
''If I was ever to do a project at school, the information in the project might not be very good, but it would be illustrated and presented well.''
In between having a family, she became the purchasing officer for Whitcoulls in Invercargill for 16 years, and then worked in marketing and retail for a small Southland company which manufactured tandem trailers.
It was here that her life took the most unexpected turn - she became a truck driver.
You might think it's a far-reaching step, going from a shop floor to the cab of a big rig. But for Ms Graham, it was a natural progression.
''The company became so busy, that we were hauling the trailers on the back of a truck to Christchurch once a week. I also had to go to Christchurch once a week to visit our reps.
''I thought: Well, if I'm going up there repping once a week and seeing all the agents, I may as well take these trailer bodies with me, and that's actually how I came about getting my truck licence.''
She now drives an International Eagle for Wright Freight Services (the Cromwell branch of Mainfreight), doing the daily run from Cromwell to Dunedin and back.
The days are long - 1pm until 1am most days - but they are enjoyable and rewarding, she says.
''I don't think you've got to be macho to do this job. I just think you've got to be on the ball.''
Even though Ms Graham has been a truck driver for almost half of her life, her love of retail and antique collectables has always bubbled away beneath the surface.
About four years ago, she started searching for a way to bring her childhood dream to fruition.
She built a big shed out the back of her house in Bannockburn to store all of the materials she had collected during her lifetime, and opened it to the public every Easter and Labour Weekend.
''It was outrageous how many people would come.''
That was what inspired her to go the whole hog and set up her own business, where the public could buy, sell, trade and ''wangle'' anything collectable.
It wasn't hard to find premises.
In fact, in a strange way, the sharp turn off course she took when she took up truck driving was what helped her to realise her ambition.
Driving past the historic Shingle Creek Pub every day, she was immediately aware when it came up for sale.
Working around different people in the trucking business also puts her in contact with people who can provide products.
''We get a lot of stuff from people who are clearing out sheds or moving or downsizing.''
And so Shingle Creek Collectables was established in November.
Dealing with council over resource consent issues was challenging at times, but she says it wasn't anything that couldn't be sorted by using some language she had learned as a truck driver over the years.
While the store set-up is a work in progress, she says it is open to the public on the first and last weekend every month.
Already, she is getting large numbers of people through the doors, all looking for something to add to their collections.
''It's got a history of its own, being built in 1867 and it adds atmosphere to the place.
''It's got everything going for it. There's huge parking, it's all wooden and it's rustic on the inside.
''It takes me to my happy place.''
