Tuesday, 23 Sep 2025
\n \/\/ B+LNZ\n <\/p>\n
\n For generations, the Stuart family has welcomed New Zealanders onto its hill country land via a public walk track. This story is part of a B+LNZ and Herenga \u0101 Nuku Aotearoa (the Outdoor Access Commission) series celebrating farmers who open their gates to share special places.\n <\/p>\n
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Two traditional ways of staying connected \u2013 walking access and telegrams \u2013 are helping a South Island sheep and beef farm meet modern challenges.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the early 1980s a public walking track was opened from the settlement of Glenduan, just outside Nelson, through Cable Bay Farm to Cable Bay \/ Rotokura, where New Zealand\u2019s first telegraph cable came ashore – 150 years ago next February.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Commanding spectacular views over the Horoirangi Marine Reserve and passing through farmland and native bush, the popular two- to three-hour track (one way) has been permanently set aside for public use via a Walkway easement, under the Walking Access Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barbara Stuart, whose husband Ian\u2019s family has owned Cable Bay farm since the 1930s, originally made the decision to open the track through their then-1000-hectare coastal hill country farm after an approach from the Lands and Survey department.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The family agreed, in part, because it seemed a good way of dealing with constant requests from people to walk their farm track between Glenduan and Cable Bay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were other benefits too, such as Lands and Survey\u2019s part of the deal including support for gorse control.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another was having access officially controlled according to the family\u2019s needs \u2013 such as the annual track closure during lambing season, and the ban on dogs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since that time, the family has noticed further advantages of having walkers on their land. One is that their stock is notably quiet and docile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t faze them. It can be a selling point.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet another is that walkers occasionally notice something amiss with an animal \u2013 perhaps a limp \u2013 and let the Stuarts know.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the family also simply agrees, on principle, with public access, Barbara says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAvenues for people to get out into nature, public walkways, are very important for the wellbeing of New Zealanders into the future. You just feel quite proud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barbara said that with farming sometimes being quite isolating, another positive has been meeting people from all over the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFamily will come across walkers when they\u2019re on the hill working and have a yarn. Say gidday, where you\u2019re from, how you\u2019re going. It makes their day, in a way \u2013 they come home and talk about it. Not every farmer would like that, but these Stuart men like a chat.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Walkers on the Cable Bay Walkway also get an up-close experience of a working farm. Photo: Marion Gilbertson.\u202f<\/p>\n
Economic benefits\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, it has made good economic sense too. Barbara says their decision to share the farm with walkers has helped it weather recent headwinds faced by the sheep and beef sector.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The track is now administered by the Department of Conservation, which means no headaches for the Stuarts around track maintenance, management or safety \u2013 but also no income, since there\u2019s no entry fee.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the track\u2019s instant popularity enabled the Stuarts to leverage two businesses off it, opening a campground in 2001, followed by a caf\u00e9.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bay\u2019s beauty, including a scenic boulder bank linking the shoreline to Pepin Island \/ Maheipuku, and its rich telegraph history have made it a real destination for walkers, Barbara says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Next February, Cable Bay Farm will celebrate 150 years since it welcomed the first telegraph cable connecting Aotearoa to the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 1876, a submarine telegraph cable was laid between Sydney and Cable Bay over just 11 days \u2013 connecting New Zealand to Australia, the Middle East, and England, and making instant global communication possible for the first time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis bay was the centre of communications for New Zealand. You think of the benefits for the generations since then, from that communication with the outside world, and it all started right here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Historic photos show how a whole community developed around the Cable Station, Barbara says. As well as telegraph room where Morse code messages were received, there were two tennis courts, a billiard room, a boarding house for telegraph cadets, a blacksmith and a resident reporter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just a cable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although a fire destroyed the station in 1914, and the cable operation shifted to Titahi Bay near Wellington in 1917, Cable Bay\u2019s legacy as a place of connection endures.<\/p>\n
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Cable Bay in the late nineteenth century was a thriving community. Photo: supplied by Barbara Stuart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Staying connected\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meeting the challenges of hill country farming requires adaptability. Recently the family sold 331 ha of their land to another farmer, including 84 ha of forestry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
On a separate title, the sold block includes about half the Walkway, on the Nelson side.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The public\u2019s right to use the Walkway is unchanged, which Barbara said showed the value of establishing public access in perpetuity through the legal instrument of a Walkway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The new owner has even improved the Walkway gradient on his side, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Much of the walk is over open farmland, affording those amazing coastal views, but there\u2019s also about 1.5km through mature native bush on the part that still belongs to the Stuarts, protected under a QEII National Trust covenant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Apart from their enduring contributions to conservation and public access, the Stuarts\u2019 positive impact in the region looks set to continue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other activities and businesses have leveraged off the Walkway, including an Adventure Park, a sea-kayaking business, an enduro race and professional training for the Coast-to-Coast race.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barbara\u2019s advice for other landowners considering public access is that it could be very beneficial, but not to expect instant results.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople know their own land best and what\u2019s likely to work. Our Walkway was well-known to locals, but it took time to get known nationally and internationally.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The availability of water was also an important consideration, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking to the future, she felt Cable Bay could become as popular a tourist destination as nearby Kaiteriteri.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With two granddaughters and a grandson, Barbara hopes the family stays connected to Cable Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn today\u2019s fast modern world, people need to get into nature, find those special corners and connect. And we realise how important that is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This article was written as part of a joint project with Herenga \u0101 Nuku Aotearoa (the Outdoor Access Commission)<\/a>, to highlight the ways sheep and beef farmers around the country are supporting public access to the outdoors.\u00a0<\/p>\n