Another speech

Here is Megan's speech. She also won third prize at the Lion's competition.

PUTARURU

Under a large mountain lies the sleepy little town of Putaruru…. Beautiful bushwalks, never ending forests and farming land and some of the best quality water in the world. The water in the Blue Springs is such good quality that it’s the source of the ‘Pump’ water company, so you could say that everyone in New Zealand has a little bit of Putaruru in them. One bushwalk rolls from beautiful scenery onto high bluffs with trees running all the way down to the river. You can never get enough.
Now, that’s what you might find in the text of a travel brochure, but we, the loyal long-time residents of Putaruru know the sometimes sad, behind the scenes truth about our town.
Sure, there are beautiful bushwalks, but they do get quite boring when your mother has made you walk them over and over again.
Yes, there are never ending acres of farming land, forests and hunting country, but there are no decent sized shopping facilities. None of those big red buildings where you can happily spend hours roaming around looking for bargains at heavily reduced prices. Sometimes I wonder what all of those weekends kicking up a sweat walking up a large slope for the tenth time were really worth, when I could have been in Rotorua or Hamilton looking around for that perfect outfit in JayJays or Supre. Although Putaruru is definitely one of the lowest ranking towns on the chart when it comes to shops, I suppose some people find joy in going for a bit of a jog while trying to find that so called ‘trained’ pig hunting dog they lost last week.
Most outsiders would think that the people of Putaruru are so lucky because we have beautiful, clean water to drink and fresh air to breathe, but we have no well known food outlets. No Subway, Burger King, Mc Donald’s or KFC to satisfy our cravings. Oh, how I crave the sweet smell of a six-inch sub with meatballs and mayonnaise on toasted bread, instead of stinky silage bales rotting away in the back paddock.
Putaruru is a small town, but it’s my home town, and my fondness for it will never really ware off, no matter how much I think I want it to.
So, how many times have you walked the tracks?

By Megan Hemming