Qualla: Gorge River https://qualla.com/gorge-river en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:28 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/8/p/s/gorge-river-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Gorge River https://qualla.com/gorge-river Gorge River: Introduction https://qualla.com/gorge-river/ Photo credit M.Bitton, CC BY-SA 4.0. Robert Long dropped out of medical school in 1980 and walked into the bush. Not for a weekend, not for a gap year - for good. He followed the West Coast of the South Island south past Haast, past the last road, past the last track, until he reached the mouth of a river that empties into the Tasman Sea roughly 15 kilometres northeast of Awarua Point. He built a hut. He stayed. The nearest town - Haast, population barely three figures - is a two-day walk away. A helicopter or light plane visits perhaps once a month. For more than four decades, the mouth of the Gorge River has been home to the family that locals and journalists call "New Zealand's most remote."

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Image: M.Bitton | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/8/p/s/gorge-river-wp/r8ps-gorge-river-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Gorge River: Where the Mountains Meet the Sea https://qualla.com/gorge-river/ Photo credit Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. The Gorge River begins in the Hope Blue River Range, gathering water from steep, forested catchments before flowing southwest through the Cascade Forest and into the Tasman Sea. Its tributaries - the Duncan River and Jerry River - contribute their own volumes, and by the time the...

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Image: Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/8/p/s/gorge-river-wp/r8ps-gorge-river-where-the-mountains-meet-the-sea.mp3 0:06 2 full Gorge River: The Long Family https://qualla.com/gorge-river/ Photo credit Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. Robert Long - known locally as "Beansprout" - is a man of varied talents pressed into service by isolation. He is a painter, a carver, a custodian of the Department of Conservation's Gorge River hut, and an occasional deckhand on fishing boats when he needs cash. His wife Catheri...

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Image: Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/8/p/s/gorge-river-wp/r8ps-gorge-river-the-long-family.mp3 0:06 3 full Gorge River: Self-Sufficiency at the Edge https://qualla.com/gorge-river/ Photo credit Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. Living at the Gorge River means solving every problem yourself, because help is not coming quickly. Medical emergencies require a helicopter. Supplies arrive by air or on your back after that two-day walk. Weather determines everything - when you can fish, when you can travel, wh...

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Image: Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/8/p/s/gorge-river-wp/r8ps-gorge-river-self-sufficiency-at-the-edge.mp3 0:06 4 full Gorge River: The Wildest Coast https://qualla.com/gorge-river/ Photo credit Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. South Westland's coastline, where the Gorge River reaches the Tasman Sea, is among the least accessible stretches of shoreline in New Zealand. There are no roads south of the Haast-Jackson Bay highway, no cell phone coverage, no power lines. The forest is dense with rimu, kahikat...

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Image: Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/8/p/s/gorge-river-wp/r8ps-gorge-river-the-wildest-coast.mp3 0:06 5 full