Crump: still a good, keen man

Press, 27 July 1989, Page 5

Crump: still a good, keen man

By SUZANNE KEEN Visiting Barry Crump is a bit like stepping into a scene from one of his books. A U/2 hour drive from Rotorua to Opotoki and a further half-hour journey on a narrow, shingle road ends at a rugged property in the heart of the Urewera bush. Brave a walk across the swing bridge above a swiftly flowing river and you are rewarded with a beer and a chance to explore one of the smallest sheep stations in New Zealand. The contents comprise five sheep, three horses, 30 goats, two cats, one dog, and one real Kiwi bloke. Crump’s white, timber house with a cosy open fire and basic furniture matches his persona perfectly — right down to the deer antler toilet-paper holder which graces the lavatory. The man himself arrives in a small helicopter which lands in the riverbed. He mounts a horse and rides up to join the party already in full swing in his backyard to mark the launch of his latest book, “Bullock Creek.” Crump, aged 54, looks, speaks and acts much like some of his invented characters. A cowboy hat, denim jeans and tan jacket contribute to his bushman appearance. Although the hat is later abandoned for a blue towelling “morning hat” and then a fur hat in the cooler evening, the Crump character never alters. Friends and neighbours of the author are just as colourful and chatty. This is the countryside where you become everyone’s “mate” even if you have known them only five seconds. Crump has lived in the Urewera bush since 1982. “It’s the longest I’ve stayed in one place. I must be getting older,” he chuckles. Crump believes the bush is “an incredible part of the world.” He said his love of the Bay of Plenty was the reason many of

his books were set in the central North Island. Asked if the peaceful surroundings help his writing, he guffaws and launches into a round-about explanation of how the setting does not make the book. “I believe in a poem Rex Fairburn wrote

l when he heard they had begun a literary fund for writers: “ ‘Here is a little poem I learnt on my mother’s knee. The mushroom grows in the open and the toadstool under a tree’.” “Bullock Creek,” is centred on the highI country of the Southern Alps. It is based on a character named Barney Carter, or “The | Doughroaster,” who returns to his old I stamping-ground in the Alps and ends up wintering it out on Bullock Creek station. “It’s about one type of person,” Crump says. “The old guys and their women. It’s about one in particular who has been made out of date by incredible changes in society — his skills are no longer needed.” | Although “Bullock Creek” is Crump’s , eighteenth book, he is not willing to predict I how successful it will be. He has only recently begun receiving letters from school children who have enjoyed his last book, “Wild Pork and Watercress,” which 1 was published two years ago. “I can never tell how a book will sell — I’ve heard all the jokes before. I just hope people will like it.” Although the author has no books in the pipeline at present, he is writing a play for television. In his spare time he fences and clears the land and chops wood for when it gets cold, which it frequently does in the Urewera bush. Other pastimes include listening to the radio, completing crossword puzzles and writing fantasy poetry. “Writing poems takes the edge off the writing impulse when you are still running after writing a book. I just like mucking around with words.” In the future Crump intends to write more “serious stuff.” He said it would be easy to stick with the winning formula, but he has gained the confidence to begin experimenting more.