Cable Bay Farm is a 1000-hectare coastal, hill country sheep and beef property near Nelson. Until last year it was run by Ian and Barbara Stuart (above), who have now decided to retire after four decades of dryland farming.
They sold the stock to their son Sam and his wife Anni, who are the third generation of Stuart's on the land.
The farm's been in the family for three generations. Ian's parents, Fred and Tess Stuart (pictured below), took over the 200 acre Cable Station site after the Second World War and purchased further land to take it up to the size it is today. Over the years, Fred put 200 hectares of coastal bush into covenants for protection and established the Cable Bay walkway.
The walkway is now managed by the Department of Conservation and gets up to 700 trampers a week in the busy summer period. As a way of diversifying, Ian and Barbara have also built a campground beside the start of the walkway that is now frequented by trampers from around world.
The Bay got its name from a sub-marine cable that was laid between La Perouse near Sydney and Cable Bay in 1876. The cable was New Zealand's sole communication link with the rest of the world until 1902.
