A life on Gorge River : New Zealand's remotest family / Robert Long.

Prologue -- Early days -- Off and away -- Brookfield years -- To the other side and back -- New beginning -- Timeless land -- Journey to the east -- Home at last -- Living off the land -- Nickel spoon -- Fishing big day -- Journey to the Red Hills -- Scratched -- Spinning wheel -- Family visit -- Walking the coast to Milford -- In a family way -- Long way home -- How the other half live -- Providing the essentials -- Disaster -- Creative energies -- Our life, our children -- Come fly with me.

Robert Long and his family - wife Catherine, and children Christan (17) and Robyn (14) - live in complete isolation, in a hut two days' walk south of Haast in South Westland. Robert has lived there for nearly 30 years; Catherine for 20 and the kids all their lives. Their only contact with the outside world is a helicopter or plane once a month, and two trips a year to the 'outside world'. This is the story of how and why Robert - known locally as 'Beansprout' - came to live at Gorge River, and the family's experiences there over the years, living self-sufficiently and forging close bonds with the natural environment. It is an inspiring tale of one man's decision to 'drop out' of capitalist society and successfully establish a lifestyle most New Zealanders can't even imagine, harking back to the days of the earliest pioneers.