Australian Rural Bachelor not just a stud

As they assembled on the Village Green stage early Wednesday morning, the Fieldays 2014 Rural Bachelor of the Year competitors looked like sheep being led to slaughter.

The eight single lads all dressed in pale blue collared shirts and fawn coloured moleskin trousers lined up on the chopping block as The Hits radio presenter Blair Dowling asked them questions so awkward you could almost taste their sweat.

But one of those sheep was not like the others.

The Australian in their midst, Joshua Mark Gilbert (Josh), was not easily outed on appearance. 

With sparkling blue eyes you could almost drown in, the 22-year-old New South Wales boy flashed a cheeky grin worthy enough for a Hamilton tourism brochure before completely hanging himself with, “Yeah I’m Josh, I’m from Astraya.”

At least that’s what I think he said. I don’t speak Australian.

“I grew up in a really small wool town, in western New South Wales. We were there for about nine years. Then we moved up to the coast where we are now,” he said.

But as the only Aussie in the competition this year, he might not be there for long with the option of moving to New Zealand for the right woman.

“It’s pretty nice over here. I’d just have to take over New Zealand instead of Australia.”

Australia, New Zealand, what’s the difference?

“One thing I’ve found that’s really different is the agriculture merged within cities,” he said.

“The place we went yesterday was incredible. There was the ocean right there, there was sheep on the mountain and you could see skyscrapers. I took a few photos of it and sent them back home. It’s just amazing how it’s all integrated, the agriculture in the city and how it all works together.”

Maybe it was the views that held Josh back a bit during the four days of events.

Though he seemed very confident, Josh had a few issues with some of the tasks, being thrown by our “different” way of fencing in Wednesday’s speed fencing competition and complaining about the shovels.

Apparently size does matter.

“Ours are much bigger,” he said.

Josh may have struggled with tasks that were set for him, but came in to his own when talking about his new accounting job and the hours in total each day he travels to attend university where he is currently studying law.

“It’s two hours each way. I leave at 6am and get home about 10,” he said.

“I’ve got exams the day after I get back so I’ve been sitting down on my laptop and doing some study at night.”

But he didn’t always want to be a lawyer. As a young lad Josh wanted to be a police officer, then a fireman, and also came close to being a pilot.

“I went to sign up, I was all ready to go, did all my testing and stuff, got the paper work back and they said I’d have to sign up for 16 years and I said, ah well, I won’t become a pilot then. So off to law school I went,” he said.

Josh also credits his mum Deb for his career choice. “My mum’s a maths teacher, so I got my math skills from her, and I want to become a lawyer because I just want to help people out. Then two years ago I found my passion for agriculture. I’ve grown up around farms, my grandparents have always had farms, but this is a bit of a new thing for me.”

As well as nabbing himself a sheila, Josh’s long-term goals include wanting to start Australia’s largest agricultural enterprise using the principles executed by the most prominent farmers of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

“Surprisingly one of the first self made millionaires in Australia was a farmer,” he said.

“I want to use those grassroots principles that made them a lot of money back then and trying to apply them in a business model that can be used now.”

With such a busy lifestyle, when will this hunky catch find time to woo the woman of his dreams?

“There’s always time,” he said.

You have till Sunday, good luck.