Nothing better than small town life
Erin, better known to his 62,000 TikTok followers as his handle @baddy.co.uk, has lived most of his life on a one-acre farm in Horotiu, a small Waikato township just south of Nga¯ruawa¯hia. He tells Mikaela Wilkes about his favourite things, including tal
My mum and I are both crazy vegetarians. We seem to adopt animals from people who don’t want them. Any animal that is missing a limb or a toe, mum says we need to keep in the paddock.
We have two dogs (both rescues), two cats (both morbidly obese), two ducks, 50 chickens, and a turkey (but I don’t know where it went).
I lived in England for two years, but since I’ve moved back I’ve thought: It cannot get any better than this.
I am a hermit. I get quite exhausted from social interaction, which is probably hard to believe from my social media presence, but I spend 90 per cent of my time by myself.
I was not well in England. I suffered eating disorders and with my mental health, so I alienated myself from my school friends.
I downloaded TikTok at the start of lockdown and started making sketch acting videos. I moved home and lost my will for those, so I started setting the camera up and talking to it how I would FaceTime my friends.
People loved it.
Instagram is like a CV. TikTok is like a private group chat.
People can film themselves saying, ‘‘today I had a can of tuna and noodles’’ and people will support it. People say ‘‘you know what, you’re so normal’’ and that is what they find enjoyable.
In my TikToks I’m not like: Hey girlies, just got given this handbag. . .
I’m like: Hey girlies, almost crashed my car today, lol.
It is a lot more genuine.
Covid-19 made this happen because there were no flash holidays or events to post about.
I have received nothing but love on social media. Most of my followers are based in the Waikato and I have made quite a few friends by meeting people from the comments.
I am so boring that I dream to work parttime in a small town cafe.
That was my life in England.
I used to go the cafe in Cotswolds every single day, talk s... with all the old girls, have a ciggy and go ‘‘all right, I’m off back home for a wine’’.
I work in a call centre now, which is pretty mundane, but I love getting paid to giggle with people all day.
Hamilton is the best city in New Zealand. Hamilton is an industrious place, so the people that live here don’t even try to prove themselves. If you live in Auckland, cool beans, but good luck with the cost of living.
The only downside is the $40 Uber home on a night out. You can find me and my girlies in the clubs in Hamilton most weekends, or on Auckland’s K Rd. I am the resident MC every time I get on the p..., I like to stand up and tell stories.
Pinot noir is my drink, whatever bottle is cheapest at Pak ’n Save. I feel glam drinking red.
Gypsy was the first thing I was responsible for when I moved back to New Zealand.
My sister had two pigs, Gypsy and Amber. Amber died last year. You wouldn’t think pigs can be diabetic because it’s their whole MO, but she ate too much and couldn’t do it any more.
I was going through a tough time because I had been making a home in England and had to leave everything behind. When I got back, I had nothing except for a bag of clothes for the wrong season.
I didn’t have any friends, but I had Gypsy. I used to sit in the paddock every day and talk to her. Gypsy doesn’t have a house
Check out Homed, the home of living ideas, on Stuff. because she hates being covered by anything except trees. She likes to hide and sleep in the bush.
I learned te reo by osmosis.
I grew up and went to school in
Nga¯ ruawa¯ hia, where I was white and everyone else was Ma¯ ori.
No one around me spoke te reo fluently, but I learned a lot just from the words we always used with each other.
Mixing the two languages in our every day is how we all spoke, replacing English words with reo words by default. It was such a genuine way of learning the language, just being around it all the time. My mum uses reo words as well.
I think it is a Waikato thing, especially in Nga¯ ruawa¯ hia, Huntly, or Horotiu, where I live. I say haurangi a lot, which means drunk or mad. I use tuahine, which means sister. I don’t use some of these words online because I don’t want people to think I’m using reo for comedic effect.
My father gave me a book of poetry the last time I saw him, which was in 2012. I really like poetry and creative writing, and having things explained to me in language that we don’t use any more.
I’m really into crystals, I’m one of those gays. They were all gifts. I date quite a lot. I like to be romanced. If I get given something by a man I don’t cherish it, but I also can’t throw it out.
I have been known to play pranks on men out of pettiness. I once stole some batteries out of a heat pump controller and a jar of peanut butter. I think I’ll probably make silly videos forever.
Erin is supporting a campaign to help Waikato hapu¯ Nga¯ti Tamainupo¯ to buy a historic garden site at Pukeia¯hua Pa¯ in Nga¯ruawa¯hia. He would appreciate any donations.