Geography

The farm is located amongst rolling hills at some 300 metres elevation above sea level. 

The local geology is a mix of undifferentiated marine sediment and basalt extrusions. This has weathered over the millions of years to produce red soil on the ridges from the basalt and more erosion on the regions of the softer marine-derived rocks to form the valleys. 

The main walnut paddock is in a valley with clay loam that has been conditioned by 80 years use as a dairy pasture. (A soil assay found an organic content of 8 to 10%.)

We have two permanent creeks derived feed from springs. If the headwaters were not in dairy farms, you could probably bottle it and sell the creek water as the finest mineral water. 

Rainfall is higher than the lower regions closer to the sea, with some 875mm of rain last year, a year that had one of the driest autumn periods on record. We have a monthly rainfall chart from our time at the farm (see link above).