Pounawea locals enjoy a free ice cream from Mr Whippy at the Pounawea waterfront as part of a two-day initiative created by Otago South River Care last week. Project co-ordinators Rebecca Begg and Craig Simpson said the initiative’s purpose was to bring farmers out for a yarn and to let them step off their farm to take a breather. ‘‘Last year we had our first ever ice cream tour and we found it to be agreat success,’’ Mrs Begg said. ‘‘We had plenty of farmers who appreciated the time away from their hard work to have ayarn, so it’s been overall pretty positive.’’ The tour ranged from areas including Pounawea to Waitahuna. Mrs Begg said a recurring theme at the tour stops, just like last year’s, was people commenting on concerns about dry conditions. ‘‘We get funding for a range of different aspects for our catchment areas, and one of those aspects is health monitoring and wellbeing, so we found it has been a helpful initiative for our farmers so far.’’
REPORT AND PHOTO: EVELYN THORN
