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Joan Poulton and Phyl Christie recall their life as members of a family of eleven children on the South Island high country station of Clarence Reserve, in the inland Kaikoura area.
Their father, Percy Acton-Adams brought his family to the area just before the first World War. He returned from the war with a bullet wound in his neck from the war which had not healed. They recall the spartan regime he endorsed for the children, until he died in 1927. He had served in Gallipoli and Egypt and rode into Jerusalem alongside General Allenby, whom they met in England in later years.
The children had a governess Miss Pearl Trelaw [?] and a nurse, who stayed with the family for 25 years. Their father's batman George Workman came back with him, after the war and worked on the station for many years. The girls attended Rangi Ruru School and recall visits from their teachers, the Miss Gibsons.
Their father was known as 'The Colonel' on the station, but called 'Puck' by his friends because of his sense of humour. There were about 40-50 men working on the station and the girls were not allowed to associate with them. The cook, Mrs Porter is recalled and "Hump" the station manager.
After their father died, their oldest brother Miles had to return from studying at Oxford University to take over the station. He then died in 1934 of pneumonia after being caught in a snowstorm. A younger brother had also died in a flying accident in England and they recall the impact of these deaths on their mother.
The discuss the swagmen who used to visit the station for food and the drinking habits of some of the station workers.
Floods were frequent in Spring and Autumn and they often had to pull stranded travellers out of the Clarence River. They talk about techniques for pulling people out by horse or vehicle.
In the summer holidays they would go camping in the high country. They often go back to the region and are horrified by the amount of wild briar now there. However, the native vegetation has improved without sheep being run on the land.