HIGH COUNTRY EVENTS

HIGH COUNTRY MERINO MUSTER

The annual merino shearing muster takes place towards the end of November each year.

The annual merino dipping muster takes place at the end of January each year.

At these times all the merino wethers (castrated male sheep, grown for their superior fibre) are gathered up and brought to wait in a large holding paddock. Each muster takes three days and on the fourth day the sheep are either taken to be shorn at the woolshed near Moke Lake or dipped in the yards near the holding paddock. The daily routine begins early with breakfast and lunch-making rituals and you begin to gather the sheep at day break. At the end of each day’s muster it’s back to camp, tend to their dog’s needs, then have a well earned beer and swap yarns about that day’s muster. ‘Camp’ is Ben Lomond Lodge for three nights and a back country musterer’s hut for one night.

We invite anyone with an interest in the story of the high country to participate in this traditional event. You will need a good level of fitness to truly enjoy this activity, as you need to be able to walk on unformed sheep tracks for about six hours each day. You will live with the musterers for the duration of the muster.

This is a truly unique and genuine high country experience.

MOONLIGHT MOUNTAIN RUN

We invite expressions of interest for the inaugural Moonlight Mountain Run in April 2010. It begins at the Pipeline Bridge across the Shotover River and ends at the Ben Lomond Station woolshed at Moke Lake. This is a 38km cross country run in an area not available for public access.The route initially follows the Shotover River, past old gold dredging equipment, and continues to follow water races above Stoney and Murphy’s Creeks before entering beech forest in Jones’ Creek. The route then follows farm tracks above the Moonlight Rover and Moke Creek to the woolshed. The course traverses the home of 3500 superfine merino wethers, and you will follow the route they take each spring to be shorn.