Erewhon Station

I left home at 6.30am !!  Weather very average, cold and drizzling, but hopeful the weather would be better at our destination of Erewhon Station.  It was at times, no rain but chilly.  
Good photography conditions without the strong sunshine.  
Erewhon Station is a huge property way up in the Ashburton Lakes area, takes two and half hours of driving to get there, the latter part narrow gravel roads.  The station, whilst merino sheep is there main income, they do cattle and deer as well.  Erin is so passionate about the clydesdale - she breeds them, she shows them, she takes them to fairs and special events and has been very successful with them. 
Today they had two teams ploughing, one with six clydesdales, the other with eight.  So interesting to see how they manage these horses, and how they respond to sound from the drivers.  And the turning at each end was fascinating. 
That took care of the morning, we lunched in their woolshed and chatted with the group from the Fairlie photography group.  All up only eleven of us.
After lunch they hitched up six of the horses to the wagon and took us up the hills to a place that overlooked the huge braided river looking as far up to the Southern Alps (first extra).
We loved the new foals and I can't go past shuggy coos.
I've put four different parts of our day as extras.  I'll do some editing over the coming days and get them on flickr.  
But bed beckons....its been a big day, lots of travelling and lovely fresh air.
I've been up there before six years ago, doing a similar programme,  but I loved it just the same.  What lucky folk we are. 
Apparently, they  have groups travelling all those hours with people off cruise ships....that certainly would be an eye opener for them.  It has become a lucrative tourist venture for them.