Finally at home on the farm
A visit to Mt Nicholas Station could convert even the most ardent urbanite to rural life, writes Lorna Thornber.
Mt Nicholas Station was just coming into focus across Lake Wakatipu when I decided I’d missed my true calling in life. I should have become a sheep farmer - or married one.
Hailing from small-town New Zealand, I hadn’t been overly excited about the farm tour to begin with. I’d watched plenty of sheep shearing demos as a kid and my most vivid memories were of the look of indignation I thought I saw in their faces as they were wedged between the shearer’s legs and stripped; the greasy feel of the dirt and dag-encrusted wool we were given to feel afterwards.
But ‘‘Mt Nic’’ isn’t just any old sheep farm: it’s a high country sheep station topped and tailed by snow-capped mountains and their reflections in New Zealand’s longest lake. And that’s a special breed indeed.
As with any good travel experience, getting there is half the fun. Sitting on the open-top deck of the Southern Discoveries catamaran from Queenstown under an already intense mid-spring sun, I was amazed - not for the first time since I’d arrived back in the country after eight years away - at what a knock-out beauty it really is. The scene was the stuff New Zealand tourism campaigns are made of: a clear blue sky, mountains as remarkable as their name claims and a lake we were told is 99.9 per cent pure (we can thank the local wildlife for the impure 0.1 per cent).
It was my first time in the Queenstown region and my inner camera-wielding tourist soon broke free. The Remarkables, Southern Alps and Bob’s Cove - an oasis-within-an oasis of thick forest, empty white beaches and a photogenic jetty overhanging turquoise water - were too stunning not to freeze in digital format forever. Most of the passengers who disembarked at Mt Nicholas for the farm experience were from rural Taranaki and the rivalry that exists between North and South Island farmers soon became Lake Wakatipuclear. Despite a few quips from the Taranaki lot about Mt Nicholas being a bit tardy with its lambing, it was clear they were impressed. And at least a little envious. How many farms, after all, boast some 29,000 merino sheep on 100,000 acres of prime lakefront property surrounded by glaciers, fiords and backcountry ski fields? And contracts with Kiwi clothing success story Icebreaker?
After a four-wheel-drive trip up to a ridge with a panoramic view of the lake, we watched a whip-smart border collie named Belle make a flock of sheep crisscross a field in unison before settling in for the inevitable shearing demo. In such an idyllic setting though, all aspects of farm life seemed charmed. How lucky Kate and Jack Cocks are, I thought, to call this their home office; how lucky their children to call it their playground. Chowing down on cheese and crackers after the demo, I felt much better about my decision to return home. As an avid traveller, New Zealand’s remoteness will always be problematic for me in some ways. But this remoteness also makes it such a special place to explore.
❚ The writer travelled courtesy of Southern Discoveries.