The walkway on the Stuart family farm offers stunning views of the Horoirangi Marine Reserve.
Along the Cable Bay Walkway, visitors wander through farmland and native forest shaped by four generations of the Stuart family — and past the quiet resting place of their son Evan, whose memory helped transform the land.
Buried on the Stuart family’s sheep and beef farm, alongside the native bush line they planted, is their firstborn son, Evan, who died at just 18 in the 1995 Cave Creek tragedy on the West Coast.
Evan’s grandfather, along with several other family members’ ashes, is also buried here.
This is also the start of the well-used Cable Bay walkway, which the family has generously granted access to the public since 1981.
Commanding spectacular views over the Horoirangi Marine Reserve and passing through their farm and native bush, the stunning walk has been used by visitors ever since.
Behind the walk, the Stuarts have been farming there for nearly 100 years, with their son Sam, the fourth generation, now running the 850ha.
“We sort of feel like we are tangata whenua too, my grandchildren are sixth generation on the land,” mother Barbara Stuart said.
“We love it as equally as our native Māori brothers and sisters do.
“I feel like I belong.”
The family’s ownership of Cable Bay Station began when grandfather Dave Stuart purchased the land in the 1930s before leaving as a Kiwi soldier to Italy and North Africa in World War II.
“He came home and never wanted to leave Cable Bay again,” Barbara said.
“They were pretty shell-shocked.”
In 1981, Dave was asked by the Walking Access Commission if he would open the land for the walkway from Glenduan, just outside Nelson, to Cable Bay/Rotokura.
Looking back on her 50 years on the land, Barbara said the changes that had taken place in that time had been remarkable to experience.
“We are so blessed we have had the most amazing life at Cable Bay.
“It has gone from being a backwater and not what many people knew about, and now we’ve got thousands walking through it every year.”
One of the larger changes was that the family was giving up 200ha and planting a native forest.
She said this was spurred on by Evan’s passing and the need to diversify the land.
The walkway runs 1.5km through that mature native bush, protected under a QEII National Trust covenant.
She said it was special to have their son placed right by the walkway, given that he was so into the outdoors and pursued a career in it.
“Your first-born child, you know, they are all special in their own way, and it wouldn’t matter which one you lost, but you never forget him.
“We looked at the natural assets and thought about what we have got.
“We live in this gorgeous place, we have got a walkway with lots of people.”
In 2000, the family put in a public camping ground to make money from the popular track and share the area more widely.
The Stuarts leveraged a second business off the walkway when their other son, Hamish, opened the Cable Bay café.
They have since leased both businesses to new owners, allowing them to take a back seat in the farming operation.
Barbara said they couldn’t put a price on the social side of having others experience their farm and views.
“Family will come across walkers when they’re on the hill working and have a yarn; say gidday, where you’re from, how you’re going.
“It makes their day, in a way – they come home and talk about it.
“Not every farmer would like that, but these Stuart men like a chat.”
The bay’s beauty includes a scenic boulder bank linking the shoreline to Pepin Island/Maheipuku, which Dave’s brother, Jim, once owned.
The family has noticed further advantages of having walkers on their land.
One is that their stock is notably quiet and docile.
“People don’t faze them. It can be a selling point.”
Aptly named, Cable Bay is where the first telegraph cable was placed between Sydney and New Zealand in 1876.
The farm and the surrounding area will celebrate 150 years since that first cable was laid down on February 21.
It was completed between Sydney and Cable Bay over just 11 days – connecting New Zealand to Australia, the Middle East, and England, and making instant global communication possible for the first time.
At that time, it took months by steam or sailing ship to receive a message from England and then to return another.
With the number of new immigrants arriving in New Zealand, there was a need for faster communication.
Barbara said historic photos showed how a whole community developed around the Cable Station.
As well as a 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.
“It wasn’t just a cable,” she said.
-Supplied by Beef + Lamb NZ. Tip your hat and your fork to farmers on National Lamb Day, February 15.