Ben Ohau Doing Just Fine

The South Island’s MacKenzie Basin is internationally famous for two things; providing the stunning backdrop to the final battle in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and producing the most consistently high quality merino wool in NZ. The Cameron family of Ben Ohau Station have been exporting their premium merino wool to Europe since 1897. One of its more recent customers, Italy’s Loro Piana fashion house, has twice awarded Ben Ohau its World Wool Record Challenge Cup for the finest bale of wool produced in a solar year. The station has also won the Loro Piana Trophy for the NZ Record Bale for four years running. Ben Ohau currently holds the NZ record for the finest fleece ever produced – at 12.3 microns it is finer than cashmere. Read about the history of Ben Ohau Station in NZ Life and Leisure here.