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Life On Muzzle
Remote Muzzle Station in southern Marlborough has captured the hearts and minds of generations, including Fiona Redfern and her parents before her. Fiona grew up and thrived in the splendid isolation, and wouldn’t have it any other way. Now Fiona and her husband Guy are running the station and raising their two small children in this wonderful but challenging environment.
As the crow flies, Muzzle Station is not too far from Kaikoura. But it’s not easy to get there. First, the truck — and it has to be a truck — must make it across the Clarence River. If the river is swollen or in flood, there will be no journey. Once safely across, there are more than 25 smaller river crossings and a 1370-metre-high mountain range to get across. If all goes well it takes three hours to make the drive, but it is often blocked with rockfalls and slips, not to mention snow, or rain that turns the track's clay surface to mud, rendering it completely undriveable.
There is another option. On a good day, it's just a 15-minute flight by Cessna 180 four-seater aircraft to Kaikoura. But good days are not always easy to come by in this part of the country, especially when they are needed!
This is the story of family life on New Zealand’s remotest station, and what it’s like to live and work in what is literally the back of beyond.
As the crow flies, Muzzle Station is not too far from Kaikoura. But it’s not easy to get there. First, the truck — and it has to be a truck — must make it across the Clarence River. If the river is swollen or in flood, there will be no journey. Once safely across, there are more than 25 smaller river crossings and a 1370-metre-high mountain range to get across. If all goes well it takes three hours to make the drive, but it is often blocked with rockfalls and slips, not to mention snow, or rain that turns the track's clay surface to mud, rendering it completely undriveable.
There is another option. On a good day, it's just a 15-minute flight by Cessna 180 four-seater aircraft to Kaikoura. But good days are not always easy to come by in this part of the country, especially when they are needed!
This is the story of family life on New Zealand’s remotest station, and what it’s like to live and work in what is literally the back of beyond.
272 pages, Paperback
Published October 2, 2017
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12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 29, 2017
What an inspiring story . Fiona has written a wonderful account of life on a remote high country station in New Zealand .
She has researched and included the history of the property before her parents moved to the farm in 1980 .
Fiona describes an interesting childhood growing up and she is delighted to be able to share these experiences now with her own children, and husband Guy.
But with any farming operation there are also challenges,rabbits,wind, floods, droughts, slips, snow and more recently the family was cut off for quite some time following the Kaikoura earthquake .
The scenery is spectacular and Derek Morrison has captured the various moods of the mountains , the Clarence river valley and the animals and buildings at the heart of the farming activities on Muzzle Station.
This book is a great read and will be enjoyed by anyone who loves farming, and the high country, it will sit nicely on the coffee table to be picked up and perused again and again
She has researched and included the history of the property before her parents moved to the farm in 1980 .
Fiona describes an interesting childhood growing up and she is delighted to be able to share these experiences now with her own children, and husband Guy.
But with any farming operation there are also challenges,rabbits,wind, floods, droughts, slips, snow and more recently the family was cut off for quite some time following the Kaikoura earthquake .
The scenery is spectacular and Derek Morrison has captured the various moods of the mountains , the Clarence river valley and the animals and buildings at the heart of the farming activities on Muzzle Station.
This book is a great read and will be enjoyed by anyone who loves farming, and the high country, it will sit nicely on the coffee table to be picked up and perused again and again
January 30, 2018
I read the early history of Muzzle station, (a name possibly derived from a stream on the property) but put the book down for a few weeks. I found the repetition of “Bluff (now Muzzle)” a bit annoying, as if someone had done a Word “search and replace” edit exercise on the first part of the book. Picking it up again a week ago, I found the remainder of the book very enjoyable, providing a well rounded description of life on a back country station, including the challenges, the isolation, the hardships and the characters who gravitate to places like this. Having grown up on a hill country farm myself, I can relate to the special sense of “ownership” which the author holds for Muzzle. This is where I come from. This is who I am. This is what I have done. This is what I know.
There were a few events related which seemed to be leading to outcomes that never eventuated but all in all lots of pleasure to be gained from reading this book. Thank you Fiona.
There were a few events related which seemed to be leading to outcomes that never eventuated but all in all lots of pleasure to be gained from reading this book. Thank you Fiona.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews