Wellington  - Nina Schubert, 25, a German fashion model who strutted the catwalk in London, Paris, Milan and New York for six years, is working at an abattoir in New Zealand, a newspaper revealed on Saturday.

"I need to learn a trade. I only know modelling," she told the Taranaki Daily News.

The 1.8-metre, long-legged, blue-eyed blonde who has been pictured in swimsuits in the world's leading fashion magazines, said it was hard, strenuous, physical work.

"We sort boned-out meat that comes down on the conveyor hot and still pulsating," she said. "I've shown some skill and they're going to give me some knife training for a trimming job."

Schubert said, "I don't know how long I will be here, but it's the best-paid work around. I could work in a shop or a cafe, but they don't appeal."

She told the paper she did her last modelling job early last year and quit when she woke up one day and realised it was an unhealthy lifestyle. She moved to New Zealand in November.

Now she is living in the small North Island town of Hawera with a distant relative and completed her first triathlon (750 metres swim, 20 kilometre cycle and 5.5 km run) a week ago.

"Yeah, I feel I'm at a crossroads," she told the paper, "but that is a very exciting place to be.

"What do I want to do with my life? I don't know. Does everyone else know?" dpa