Battling it out at Borderlandz
For ten years, armed battles have raged in a paddock on the outskirts of Carterton. But, as Simon Burt discovers, it’s all just good clean fun. Photo by Pete Monk.
Since 2011, Vicky Gallon and her brother Craig Tyer have been welcoming people to the family farm to shoot each other. Not with conventional guns, of course, but with weapons called ‘markers’ which eject dye-filled gelatin capsules. The capsules disintegrate on impact, leaving a colourful splodge on whatever they hit. The combatants are playing a game known as Paintball.
Paintball began life in the US in 1981 when two men had a crazy idea. They armed a group of their friends with 'marking pistols', designed for use in farming and forestry, and let them loose across a large field. The objective was to collect a strategically-placed flag. Any player ‘marked’ by another was eliminated, and whoever returned with the flag was the winner. They franchised their ‘National Survival Game’ around the U.S., and copycats quickly sprang up across the world.
Carterton's Borderlandz Paintball stemmed from Craig’s love of playing the game and Vicky’s enjoyment of being outdoors. Both had day jobs so Borderlandz began as a weekend-only sideline, but Vicky is now full-time while Craig has work overseas. Vicky radiates a genuine enthusiasm for the siblings' business, explaining that the pair grew up together on the farm, free to roam and team up for some rough-and-tumble with the neighbouring kids. “We just got along very well. Everyone said don’t go into business with family, but it works for us.” Their grandfather, Les Tyer, had a lot to do with Borderlandz too; Les passed away last year at age 91.
Borderlandz is currently the only commercial paintball operation in Wairarapa and has three ‘fields’ covering 15,000 square metres. Teams slug it out in trenches and bunkers, over bridges and behind barricades in a series of fast-paced games with a variety of objectives. The gas-powered weapons are surprisingly accurate, even without sights, and Vicky says it's a bit startling when a paintball hits your mask for the first time. The 50-calibre paintballs can sting and cause a bit of a welt if they hit soft flesh, but are not dangerous. She says players rarely notice any pain as it’s masked by the adrenalin created in the heat of battle. Borderlandz also has low-impact, spring-loaded markers for kids aged 8–10.
Borderlandz Paintball is popular with office groups for team-building, with stag and hen parties, and for family entertainment. The games can be played in all weather, depending on how muddy players are willing to get. Spectators can watch all the action from a tunnel running through the middle of the fields. Vicky says it's interesting to watch new players nervously don their equipment and reluctantly go out to play, then return with big grins on their faces. She's delighted at how many female players turn up.
Craig is planning to be back in the near future, and the pair intend to build a maize field maze. “We’ve already had a trial with a maze,” Vicky says, “it was quite terrifying actually. We’ll do a family session during the day, a Halloween-styled one at night, and put paintball games through it too.”
Around the time they lost their grandfather, a major storm tore out their substantial safety fence and Borderlandz had to suspend casual or ‘walk-up’ sessions. “That was an awful time,” Vicky says. “We almost gave up. But Grandad was such a big part of this, we said no, we have to keep going for him.” The fence will be re-built when materials are available; meantime, bookings are essential, see www.borderlandzpaintball.co.nz
