Our Way of Life
Beyond the banks of the Hurunui River, as big skies give way to bush-clad hills and mountainous ranges, Island Hills Station unfurls into the vast landscape, where cultivated farmland rolls into a wild and rugged paradise.
The rugged paradise of Hurunui’s Island Hills
OWNED BY THE SHAND FAMILY SINCE 1928, ISLAND
Hills Station blends a traditional family farming model with a flourishing manuka honey business, however, its most distinctive feature is its spectacular walking track. Situated just under two hours from Christchurch, and with no cellphone coverage and not a television in sight, Island Hills Station provides an experience like no other that makes it the perfect place to reconnect with nature. What makes this walking track truly unique, though, is its manager, Shaun Monk.
Shaun is best described as New Zealand’s less pretentious answer to Bear Grylls, with just a touch of Barry Crump.
Add to this Shaun’s vast knowledge, boundless enthusiasm and infectious sense of humour, as well as the breathtaking vistas of the walking track itself, and the experience becomes one not to be missed. Shaun’s knowledge of the New Zealand wilderness and his hunting prowess has seen him become a celebrity of sorts with outdoor adventurers. His YouTube channel has had nearly four million views, and he has a devoted social media following.
Having grown up on the West Coast with an outdoororiented family, Shaun’s love of hunting and the outdoors has been a lifelong passion. ‘I grew up in isolated South Westland rain forest country at a place called Paringa, where my parents had a cray fishing boat and later a boutique salmon farm with an adjoining tourist café. My uncle’s beef farm was next door, and we would help him out with mustering which was mostly done on horseback and in jet boats,’ he explains. ‘We literally lived in the bush, without mainline electricity or local shops. We had a milking cow, pigs, chickens and a massive garden, plus wild fish and deer meat were plentiful. Dad did extra jobs to make ends meet like possum trapping and live deer capture. Hunting for meat was a normal part of our existence and has become a huge part of my lifestyle ever since.’
A recent career pivot saw Shaun turn his weekend hunting-guide side hustle into a fully fledged business. ‘I was able to run the guiding gig as a weekend job, which complemented my flat land “other life” as a pastoral agronomist where I was managing a high-grade seed production facility for AgResearch.
‘At the age of 45, a midlife crisis had me thinking pretty hard about what I’d really like to be doing, and seeing smiling clients getting out into the wilderness on our Island Hills adventures was far more rewarding than the corporate meetings. So I quit my 24-year career job in March [2020] and decided to try my luck at guided hunting.’
When COVID-19 threw New Zealand into lockdown, however, the hunting business suffered as New Zealand’s international tourist trade came to an abrupt halt. Shaun looked at other options to attract domestic tourists and settled on rekindling the walking track property owners Dan and Mandy Shand had started in 2004 but had since shelved due to time constraints. ‘The old track had attracted over 90 per cent domestic visitors, and it seemed obvious that Kiwis, now restricted from international travel, would be looking to their own backyard for new experiences,’ says Shaun. ‘So in May 2020 we set an opening date for the first of October and went flat stick building new tracks and reworking old trails with the help of some wonderful volunteers, often working in isolated
spots in some horrendous winter weather. All of the tracks are handmade, and I’ve got to be honest, the work half killed me, but I enjoyed every minute, and we got it all done in time for our first booking.’
The 30-kilometre track is broken up into three days, traversing through farmland, across tussock-covered ridges and through native bush that boasts a mixture of kanuka and manuka trees, broadleaf forests and four different species of beech trees, all humming with a plethora of birdlife. The track is well maintained, with foot bridges providing easy crossings over rambling streams, waterfalls within arm’s reach and views that stretch right through to the alpine ranges of the Lewis Pass. Packs are ferried to huts for guests, and walks can be taken solo, or with Shaun as a guide.
‘The big drawcard is that you get to walk a crowd-free 30 km private track without a cumbersome pack, arriving each afternoon to hot showers, fully serviced camp facilities and the security of a booked bunk. But Island Hills holds a few surprises that visitors never even thought existed in this hidden corner of North Canterbury. Just getting here in your own car seems like an adventure as you wind along the narrow Mandamus Gorge road, then over the clunky swing bridge into cell network-free hill country – it really does feel like immediate isolation.’
The walk begins at the historic Cook House, with a farm museum adjacent which is filled with relics from the farm’s long and colourful history. Guests stay at two different huts throughout the trek, each of which blends modern conveniences with historic charm. ‘The Cook House was the musterers’ quarters for the station that was built in
1914,’ owner Dan Shand explains. ‘The Valley Camp Hut was built by all the people that enjoyed Island Hills Station for mustering, possuming and recreation; it was finished in 1980. The Bush Hut was built in the great depression by a Norwegian woodcrafter who was paid by my grandfather. It was built for mustering and still stands as an amazing example of another time.’
The Bush Hut sits amid 600 hectares of QEII reserve, the largest of its kind in Canterbury, and conservation efforts are at the forefront of the Island Hills Station philosophy, with the station undertaking the Mandamus Preservation project, which has a strong focus on predator control. ‘The station has more than half of its 7,000-hectare holding under a non-grazing covenant; the regenerating forest and alpine ecosystems on the farm are very significant areas of native plants and wildlife,’ says Shaun. ‘We are starting to see more and more bird numbers and even species such as South Island robin and kākāriki that haven’t been seen around here for decades. We believe the placement of the Mandamus River valley and catchment is a significant avenue for native wildlife movement from the Lake Sumner Forest Park near Lewis
Pass right out into the Amuri and beyond. Birds such as tūī need these “feed avenues” to stimulate migration into new areas. The control of pests and predators like wasps, possums, stoats and rats is key to the abundance of birdlife, and we have started a conservation programme based on voluntary donations for bait stations and traps. Volunteer labour is used, and having someone like myself full-time on-site to drive the programme will create momentum. The Shands and I have a dream to one day hear the screeches of wild kiwi as they roam Island Hills Station.’
Farming practices on Island Hills complement the environmental ethos, with Dan implementing low-impact
‘Giving Kiwis opportunities in their own backyard is exactly what the Island Hills experience is all about.’
free-range methods. ‘We farm extensively as it suits this type of country. We are cold in the winter and very hot in the summer, so we have to farm to the extremes,’ Dan explains. ‘The extensive nature and size of the blocks also means that getting to them can take a bit more time than on some properties. This means that the only economical way to farm is to leave them to it as much as possible. It also has a very low impact on the environment which we also like. We live and work in an amazing part of the country and so sharing this with others means that we can preserve the land and improve the environment at the same time. People are increasingly wanting to understand their food, so what better way to do that than come and see the amazing environment it lives in.’
With the walking track catering to a diverse range of ages and fitness levels, and parent-child bush experiences on offer, the Island Hills Station walking track is a must-do on the list of New Zealand outdoor adventures.
‘Giving Kiwis opportunities in their own backyard is exactly what the Island Hills experience is all about. We are not trying to be something really fancy, that’s just not our style and being genuine is key to why our best marketing comes from word of mouth referrals,’ concludes Shaun. ‘I just can’t get enough of being in the bush and hills, so to work right amongst it is a dream come true and being able to bring others to enjoy the outdoors is the icing on my nature cake.’