Icebreaker - Pure Merino

“Every day is an adventure,” Kate Cocks says, of life on Mt Nicholas, the 100,000 acre merino sheep station she runs with her husband, Jack, at the foot of New Zealand’s Southern Alps.

As well as managing the station’s 30,000 merino sheep (Icebreaker’s key suppliers of merino wool), Kate and Jack are busy raising the station’s youngest farmhands, Jess (2 years) and Tom (5 months).

“Bringing up kids on Mt Nic is fantastic,” Kate says. And she’d know. She and her brother grew up on the station, homeschooled by their mother until leaving for boarding school. After continuing on to Lincoln University, Kate lived the corporate life for twelve years, before deciding to return to the land.

A thirty-minute boat ride away from the nearest town, life on Mt Nicholas has its challenges. “It’d be so cool just to ring up Little India and order takeaways,” Kate says. But living on a property that’s practically self-sufficient  –  electricity is self-generated, fruit and veges are home grown  –  there’s little to pine for.

Kate only needs to step out her back door to indulge in her passion for mountain running, and she, Jack and the kids love jumping in the truck and going exploring.  Jess and Tom thrive on farm life, enjoying  the company of more animals than most kids dream of. As well as the 30,000 sheep, there are cattle, horses, dogs, pigs, hens, goat, deer and plenty of native birds, including tui and bellbirds.

“I love the wide open spaces and being outdoors all the time,” Kate says. “It’s a great place to work and play, and have your family all around you.”

We received this hilarious email recently from Kevin Newton. We thought it was so funny that we asked him if we could share it with you…

Dear Icebreaker person,

I wanted to share with you my recent thorough and wholly scientific review of your SKIN200 merino top.

I live in Scotland, so my Icebreaker gear is commonly used at the ‘stop me dying because it’s bloody freezing’ end of the performance envelope. A couple of weeks ago I left snowy Scotland for a week in Egypt in the hope of defrosting at least my extremities. On the way to the airport I wore my SKIN200 as the bottom layer in a typical multi layer, survive long enough to vacate Scotland, ensemble.

Thanks to the magic of merino I made it out of Scotland with minimal frostbite. Six hours later when the airplane doors opened in Egypt and the heat rushed in, all was well with the world. As I walked down the airplane steps and the heat started to thaw my toes, all was still well with the world. As I waited at the luggage carousel whilst everyone else went on their merry way, all was not so well with the world.

Situation check; one SKIN200 top, one goose-down jacket, gloves, Icebreaker skull cap and jeans. Perfect, pyramids here I come! I should also mention that I am considerably tighter than a duck’s arse and the only country more rip-off than the UK is Egypt. So… kicking and screaming, I remortgaged to rent some shorts. However, my mind cavorted back to the Icebreaker ads about the magic of merino and I declined the offer to swap my wife for a T-shirt.

Day 1. I’m somewhat bemused that no matter how much suntan lotion I apply, if I need to slip the SKIN200 on it doesn’t stick to me. I’m also confused about temperatures; if I get too hot and put it on I get cooler; if I’m too cold in the evening and put it on I get warmer. Weird.

Day 2. Similar to day one but as we enter the SKIN 200′s 48hr usage envelope I spill beer down the front. I can’t understand why there’s no stale beer smell. I spill more beer; still no smell. I fall asleep.

Days 3 to 6. Much the same as above, except the accumulated bouquet should by rights now include sweat, wine (red and white, I’m equally inept), ice cream, sun block, grease from an allegedly beef like substance and various camel secretions. Still no smell.

Day 7. Homeward bound. I’m not normally nervous of flying but I’ve never sat next to a drunken Glaswegian after I’ve been wearing the same top for 7 days before. All went well. Indeed, I even acquired some new deposits, ironically administered by Jock as he lurched forward to examine the garment I’d just been explaining was Egypt proof.

Back home, no matter how much I argued that the self cleaning merino should be be kept unadulterated for scientific research my good lady wife could not escape her social conditioning and snook it into the wash. Although I was disappointed I understood the logic; female though it was. What I didn’t understand was the need to drape it over the garden chair to dry when gales were forecast…

That was two weeks ago. My boyish optimism still keeps my spirits high as I arrive home from work each day hoping that a kind neighbour will have responded to the ‘missing’ posters and I will be reunited with my SKIN200. Realistically though hopes are starting to fade and I fear the grieving process is setting in.

What have I learnt? Advertising hype, isn’t alway hype. Icebreaker merino is weird sh!t. I need to start a fund for a new top as unfortunately weird sh!t does not come cheap.

Best regards
Kevin

P.S. As we no longer make the SKIN200 we replaced it with the BF200 Oasis Crewe which is ultimately very similar to his original top. After such a great email, how could we not!

P.P.S If you want to read more of what Kevin writes about visit his blog at www.knewt.com

People told me it would be near impossible to travel by skateboard, carrying all my travel gear in my backpack. 1.5 years and 12,159km later, I had not only proved them wrong, I was also a Guinness World Record holder; for the longest journey by skateboard (as seen in the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records).

The journey started in 2006; to cycle 12,000km from Japan to England was the plan. Somewhere in the depths of Central Asia, however, I got the idea stuck in my head that travelling by skateboard would be not only more unique, but also potentially more convenient; my daily budget was around $5 a day, and wild camping with a bike was a hassle at times.

I made it to Switzerland on my bike, and there I switched to the longboard and never looked back. The remaining 1,500km from Switzerland to England was awesome; smooth separated cycleways along the scenic Rhine river. Keen for more adventure, I headed to the US (crossing the Atlantic as crew on a sailboat) to skate across that continent.

I broke the Guinness World Record half-way across the US, but still hungered for more. No one had ever skateboarded across China, so that, along with the knowledge that it was home to plenty of fresh new tarmac, made it the obvious choice. China did not disappoint; 5,000km of the most buttery, divine pavement on earth, wild deserts, high passes, and diversity of culture made it the highlight of the trip.

All up, I travelled a shade over 25,000km over 2.5 years before arriving back home in New Zealand. I bought my first set of Icebreaker garments for the original bike trip (GT320 zip top, 280 weight midlayer, and a few sets of 200 and 150 weight base layers), and they managed to last me those 2.5 years of abuse and sweat and heat and frigid cold. 21 days without washing was my record for anti-hygiene, and the Icebreaker merino-wool goodness lived up to the hype. Thanks Icebreaker for your commitment to great design and functionality.

- Rob Thomson (www.14degrees.org), Guinness World Record Holder and Icebreaker fan.