Heartland - The Catlins

Television (Full Length Episode) – 1996

Heartland host Gary McCormick hits small-town Owaka in the Catlins — the wild southern coast stretching from Invercargill to Balclutha. After witnessing baptisms, weddings and school sports days, he discovers a community which revolves around family, church, music and the shearing shed. Interviewees include a Metallica-loving teen, a spoon collector and a 74-year-old who shaves once every few decades. After a brief nature visit to check out moulting yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho) at a Long Point farm, he meets a youth group who follow bible study by sliding down hillsides at high speed.

In the Catlins, life still revolves around ordinary things — it centers on the family and school, and one of the two social anchors of the district: the church or the pub. Social division is sharp and clear. The locals put it simply — there are the elbowbenders and the kneebenders.
– Presenter Gary McCormick, early in this documentary