11 September 2022

A Legacy in the Sounds

Kei te Koraha. Off the Beaten Track.

writer: CARLY THOMAS

photographer: Francine Boer

Kristen and Michael Gerard have made it their life’s work to leave their land deep in the Pelorus Sound healthier for the next generation. On their remote Hopai Farm, the two have carved out and conserved their own paradise and a place they call home.

Mike, Kristen and Gin - her loyal kelpie - checking stock on the outer Sounds farm. The Gerard family enjoys the contrast between the two very different Sounds properties - each carrying 2,000 stock units, one is very intensive and the other extensive.

Kristen is doing what she does best – “getting on with it.” Today, “it” appears to be a mad dash around the house getting things ready for the midwinter shearing muster. She has just been told the crew will be out for a few days and is in whirlwind mode, getting things sorted. “Where there’s a will there’s a way, right? Especially as a rural woman,” she says. “We get things done.”

Kristen’s life is lived in this continual doing mode. Alongside her husband, Michael, and son, Will, she lives on and helps run Hopai Farm, which borders the shores of Te Hoiere Pelorus Sound in Marlborough. It is remote, accessible only by boat from Havelock or a winding three-hour drive from Blenheim. At Hopai, home and work blend into a big and beautiful life. “This is where I belong. If I ever leave here, it will be in a box,” she says with a laugh, adding quickly, “I have told the kids that.”

Sheep, sky and the Pelorus Sound.

Born in the Sounds, Kristen, 61, is a self-proclaimed, fifth-generation "Soundsie." Her parents moved inland when she was five, up the Awatere Valley, south of Blenheim, where they ran a high-country farm. But Kristen's heart belongs near the sea - "The sea runs very deeply in my veins," she says - and the Sounds eventually drew her back in. "I was lucky enough to meet Mike, the love of my life and my best friend. He was farming at Elie and Hopai bays, and here we are still." The pair built a house out of milled timber from the farm on a remote shoreline, with water lapping at the jetty a short walk from their front door. Kristen says it is often a startling blue, "but some days the fog can come in, or the rain and it can look quite different."

The land, too, looks different to when they first arrived thirty-nine years ago. Michael's parents bought the farm in 1979, and in 1984 it became Kristen and Michael's turn to invest some hard work into its 1,250 hectares. They set about getting the farm up and running efficiently and started fencing off waterways - nowadays, every creek and swamp and the whole of the foreshore is protected from stock.

Kristen on their boat. She has two working dogs, and says it took them a while to find their sea legs. "It was funny at first when we put them on the boat. They didn't know what to do and they laid flat down on the floor with their legs spread out. But now when we get down to the jetty to launch the boat, they can't wait to get on. They love it."

Self-sufficiency is very important when living in an isolated area. Queenie the house cow arrived as a bobby calf one Christmas Day - a present from daughter Ketta. She has been a good milker, and often rears orphan calves as well.

Scenes from around the Gerard family farm.

After a stint on the Marlborough Conservation Board in the early nineties, Kristen became involved in the Sounds Advisory Group, a group of residents who give input to the local council. It was Kristen's long-standing passion for the area, and her desire to have it conserved, that made her want to include her voice. The Gerards also jumped on-board with the Significant Natural Areas project, which meant they had access to an ecologist who helped them identify special areas on the farm. "That was fantastic and hugely beneficial to the farm, as once special areas are identified funding assistance can be sought. This helped us with wild animal control and beefing up our perimeter fences," Kristen says. And the wilding pines, which were occupying space where natives could potentially regenerate, were also recognised as a big problem on the farm.

Thanks to a biodiversity grant and help from the Marlborough Sounds Restoration Trust, Kristen and Mike, 65, set to work poisoning pines by hand. "We often ended up in some pretty gnarly places on the farm we'd never seen before, and it also turned into a pig, goat or possum hunt." They have eradicated thousands of pines over the years. "We are winning now, but we are still having to deal to them. It has been a mammoth task." Kristen is the proud owner of a little electric chainsaw that she carries on her back - "That was the best birthday present ever!" She suspects many of her kids' childhood memories will undoubtedly consist of trooping around the bush looking for pesky pines. "It is something that we did as a family, and now we are doing it for our grandchildren. We want to leave this place better for them."

Altogether, the Gerards have created forty hectares of shelterbelts filled with bird-enticing plantings. They've also planted blackwood, eucalypts, rewarewa and beech on sixty-five hectares, and pines on another one hundred hectares. Ever so slowly, the land has transformed. Trees have grown, and the land has greened up. "The regeneration is amazing. There are a lot of areas now that we don't have to plant because the birds are bringing it in. I can put my arms around some of the trees that we planted all those years ago. It's amazing to think, 'Gosh I planted that!' Mike and I have worked really well as a partnership."

Kristen with her granddaughter Annie.

Wilding pines Kristen and her family are working to control.

Scenes from around the Gerard family farm.

Aerial view of the Gerards' land.

Besides growing her own seedlings in shade houses and eco-sourcing others from nearby bush, Kristen has a big garden. She grows vegetables but loves flowers, too. Her garden is, she says, her art. "It's where I can be creative. I'm always looking for treasures when I'm on the beach. I have lots of bits of driftwood around the garden."

Kristen points out the home farm on a map of the Marlborough Sounds.

Common dolphins often accompany the family home.

Kristen is the type of person who will do something herself if she possibly can. "Out here, you have to be in, boots and all. It's remote, and we only go into town about once a month. I have always been hands-on, working beside Mike. I can crutch and shear at a push. You have to be self-reliant. I might be a vet one day, helping animals, or a doctor the next, fixing someone up. First-aid skills are vital out here, and luckily, as volunteer rural firefighters for over twenty years, we have had regular training in this. I milk a house cow and I make cheese so I'm a milkmaid, too, and a cook as well, of course."

Their son Will, 36, daughter-in-law, Georgie, and their family also now live on the family's Hopai land, and together the two generations have taken on a 450 hectare block at the entrance to Pelorus Sound - a thirty-minute boat ride away - where they manage 1,000 ewes and fifty cows to ensure there is enough income to sustain them all. Kristen describes the new block as a "wildly exciting adventure; a real challenge for us. The absolutely fabulous views - and possibility of seeing dolphins on the way to work - are the icing on the cake. It is quite different country out there - all big, steep hill blocks, requiring more dog power."

Kristen says it is satisfying to know the farm has made them a living over the years. "We have put the kids through school, and they have all done really well. We haven't had fancy holidays or anything like that, but the farm is in good heart, and that's what matters to us." The succession plan for the farm is an ongoing discussion with the family - their daughter lives in Blenheim, and their other son in Wellington. "They all love it here," says Kristen. "They all feel very connected to this place." It's a sentiment Kristen has never lost, either. She may have had a run-around morning and an afternoon out mustering, but there is always time in the day to look at the sea. "Every morning I look out. Some days it can be flat calm and glassy blue and it is just so beautiful. There really is no place I would rather be."

Glossary. Rewarewa, New Zealand honeysuckle.