They swapped the bright lights of Townsville on the coast of Queensland, Australia, for a country pub in Makikihi in 2018.

Despite having no hospitality experience - they took out the inaugural South Island Country Pub of the Year in 2025.

We caught up with Belinda and Dan to find out more.

You can’t beat a yarn with a bit of coincidence and synchronicity - and this one has both.

More than a century apart, two Scottish lasses fell in love with men from the same family and ended up calling Centrewood Estate home. And it all began with the toss of a coin.

This is a story about a boy from Atlanta who met a California girl in the Caribbean. And, after applying for a job in Waimate thinking it was Sydney - ended up building multiple businesses here. Where spiders are smaller and wallabies are a pest, not a national treasure.

Sarah Thomas grew up on Leonard Street in Waimate, where food was grown and cooked at home.

Years later, that upbringing helped shape Blended by Sarah, an award winning business supplying whole-food enteral meals across Australia and New Zealand - on the cusp of global expansion.

CEO of Talking Tree Hill, Kirsten Simmons, was raised on the family farm in Waimate district - which shaped her early years and has never really stopped pulling her home.

Originally from Ealing in West London, Lorraine landed in Waimate 23 years ago and never left.

These days she’s bringing colour, creativity and commerce to the main street via the The Quirky Magpie.