It's holiday time for Dave

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 33, 5 February 1985, Page 4

It's holiday time for Dave

After five years of work without a break, Dave Johns, the manager of Hurlstones Earthmoving in Ohakune has decided its time for a rest. He sold his business, Dave Johns' Bobcat Services to Hurlstones last October — "we went from the biggest little earthmovers in town to the biggest in town!"he says. Since then Dave has been managing the business for its new owners, but now feels he needs a break and plans to take a long holiday. Dave came to Ohakune from Australia with a group of wool classers twenty years ago and has remained here ever since. In his time in the town he has done just about everything except be on the council — and he missed out on doing that by one vote! "I stood in 1968 and would have been the youngest councillor if I'd got in," he said. From 1966 Dave was a partner in the Ohakune Mountain Road Transport Company which built one of the first rope tows up the mountain. He ran the rope tows for ten years from 1966 and during that time also had several part-time jobs.

He worked part-time for Populair on the rope tows and for AHI until he joined them full time. He was operations manager of AHI until 1981. For four and a half years, Dave managed Glenacres, a carrot-growing company and in 1970, he won the Bass Publicity Award for carrot promotion. After he left Glenacres, he built up his own engineering business beginning in 1974.

Dave stayed in Ohakune because he loves the mountains. "I think I get the love of the great outdoors from my father who was a sea captain and was always

amongst the elements." Dave is the type of manager who believes it's best to lead by example — "I hate having clean hands,"he concluded!