THE PLACE
Brokenwood: Population 5000 and declining – slowly - one by one or, two by two depending on the murder rate that week.
Brokenwood is in a farming belt. The climate is temperate, so within a fairly short distance there’s everything from wheat crops to sunflowers. There are quite a few grape growers and wineries in the area too. The landscape varies from relatively flat, farmed areas – to a mountain range nearby. The sea is about 20 kilometres away. There are several smaller townships nearby – each with their own different character.
In the hills are exotic little valleys and equally exotic people. The ones who are escaping the rat race – the hippies, the tree-huggers, the retirees, the occasional quiet bikie retreat, the health spas.
The immediate vicinity includes a wealth of different and very familiar locations: from a horse riding school to a trucking depot, a weekend farmers’ market to the minimum security prison on the outskirts of town, a vintage tourist steam train to the busy local airfield, a wind farm with huge turbine towers to a shooting range. Brokenwood has it all.