Amie has joined him for the last 20 years. <\/p>\n
The couple now share the experience with their children, James, 12, and Fletcher, 10. <\/p>\n
As well as shooting with a rifle, Jamie said his uncle always encouraged him to take a camera into the bush and shoot photos of what he saw.<\/p>\n
Jamie carries a good Canon, and the boys are embracing photography with his older cameras.<\/p>\n
Uncle Bob is in his late 80s and still spends a considerable amount of time in the bush in the company of family and friends.<\/p>\n
In 1992, Bob took on a private block in a very remote area. <\/p>\n
In some parts, the nearest road can be a 24-hour walk away.<\/p>\n
Jamie Fairbairn walking into camp on a rainy day. Photo \/ Jamie Fairbairn<\/p>\n
Nowadays, Jamie is a vital part of the block\u2019s operation. <\/p>\n
He knows the area \u201clike the back of his hand\u201d and has taken many people in to shoot their first deer and experience their first helicopter ride.<\/p>\n
Living off-grid <\/p>\n
\u201cWe use a very old school structure built by Bob in 1992,\u201d Jamie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a timber frame, tarpaulin-covered hut, but it\u2019s dry and provides shelter. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe leave supplies there from visit to visit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family are into bushcraft and finding hacks to have basic facilities. <\/p>\n
Due to weight and space constraints in the helicopter, they have to travel with essentials only.<\/p>\n
Fletcher Fairbairn finds a cast-off deer antler. Photo \/ Jamie Fairbairn<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a survival element to every day,\u201d Jamie said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no cellphone coverage, no electricity, no emergency services, and best of all, no people except us!\u201d<\/p>\n
Their toilet is a real toilet positioned above a long drop hole, and gravity-fed water from a stream further uphill is piped into the cistern, allowing normal flushing.<\/p>\n
If the weather is fine, they dip in the creek with a bar of soap, or they can boil up some water and add cold water in a 20-litre container to have a traditional camp shower.<\/p>\n
Sources of food <\/p>\n
Amie enjoys a break from cooking, as Jamie likes the opportunity to cook using gas rings or the camp oven over the fire. <\/p>\n
His chicken and vegetable camp oven meal is legendary. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t often hunt for food in January because the hinds have fawns at their side and the stags are in velvet,\u201d Jamie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, there\u2019s nowhere to store the meat in the summer heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fresh food runs out quite fast, but immersing sealed bags of fresh food in a moving creek keeps things surprisingly cool,\u201d Amie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that, we rely on canned and dried food, and we keep supplies of those topped up at the hut.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Fairbairn family out for a hunt with the cameras. Photo \/ Jamie Fairbairn<\/p>\n
With no electricity other than LED headlamps run off a small solar panel, and tired from a day of exploring the bush, the family tends to retire early.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvenings around the fire are all about the ambience, listening to the sound of the creek and hearing the morepork calling,\u201d Jamie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sometimes play cards or games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their beds are stretchers or basic bunk beds, and warm sleeping bags.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys usually build a hut somewhere in the bush on each trip and will often build or mend bridges over the creeks using rocks and sticks, which was a highlight for Fletcher this trip.\u201d<\/p>\n
For James, the highlight was taking photos of a sika fawn. <\/p>\n
Safety and survival <\/p>\n
Jamie may be a highly experienced bushman, but there is no skimping where safety is concerned. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe bush can be a harsh environment, and we all have suitable layers of hunting clothes, light waterproofs, puffer jackets, boots, blaze vests and caps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also prepared with basic first aid for things like broken limbs or cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
James Fairbairn preparing lunch while out on a hunt. Photo \/ Jamie Fairbairn<\/p>\n
They always carry Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) and a Garmin InReach device, which can be used for texting and sharing your GPS position using the global Iridium satellite network. <\/p>\n
Jamie and Amie are grateful to share their love of the bush with their boys and see them learn and embrace the slow pace of life in the remote bush.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a pleasure watching them observe and photograph the flora and fauna and appreciate what the bush offers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amie has joined him for the last 20 years. The couple now share the experience with their children,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[176744,682,5432,16651,176745,2109,32255,154298,189,2956,78,296,19720,17768,3607,111,43,139,69,176743,9615,1136,29544,13913,1852,1227],"class_list":["post-328450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-ahimanawa","tag-being","tag-between","tag-bush","tag-fairbairn","tag-family","tag-familys","tag-helicoptered","tag-holiday","tag-holidays","tag-in","tag-into","tag-land","tag-means","tag-napier","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offgrid","tag-piece","tag-private","tag-range","tag-remote","tag-taup","tag-tauranga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}