Tommy & Julie

Met S for brunch in Ohakune then had a little time before before our 1pm group meeting to kick of our Kamanawa Winter Wonderland trip.  28-odd photographers all with their own reasons for wanting to be on this trip and also, from all over the North Island.  It seems I'm the only southerner to do it!  We were treated to a trip out to Tommy's farm where he and Julie introduced us to some of the Kaimanawa Heritage Horses they had trained......not all successfully.  A BBQ mid-afternoon filled our tummies, including BBQ'd venison, then it was back to the hotel hotel for an hour or so before meeting for dinner together.  Post dinner we were shown a DVD of the early days/history of the Kaimanawa Heritage Horses...... a sad story in many ways, particulalrly the early days, but so much change and some great collaborative work with Department of Conservation, the NZ Army (land owners) and the KHH Society.  Today though, thanks to funding cuts to DoC and re-appraisal of values (Army) the horses are once again potentially at risk of either running the area to the ground or being mustered and culled out of existence.  The next few months.....maybe years.....may be critical to their survival.

Tomorrow we head into the ranges to see them.........5.30am start so bed now I think!!