Sound reward for a season’s work

After another demanding season on Align Farms’ Mount Somers support block, the Hinterlands team took an end-of-season charter into Dusky Sound with Fiordland Charters – proof that investing in your team off-farm pays dividends on it. Words Sarah Perriam-Lampp.

In In Parntership

Before the cows arrived at Hinterlands for the winter, the team behind Align Farms’ Mount Somers support block headed somewhere with no cell coverage, no alarms and no gumboots – Dusky Sound, aboard Fiordland Charters’ MV Pembroke.

Hinterlands is a 250ha (effective) drystock block that underpins Align Farms’ Mid Canterbury dairy operation, wintering cows, heifers and calves for the group’s milking platforms. The business is built on the philosophy that better people make better farmers.

Getting to the boat is an adventure in itself. The team flew out of Te Anau with Southern Lakes Helicopters, a 30-minute scenic flight deep into Fiordland National Park, before touching down beside the Pembroke in Dusky Sound. From there, three nights revolved around fishing, diving, hunting and eating, with the crew tailoring each day’s itinerary around the weather and the team’s wish list.

“We were given the trip by our farm owner and it was an incredible way to feel valued after a long season” says Will Perriam-Lampp, Operations Manager – Support Blocks, Align Farms. Fiordland’s fishing needs little introduction. Blue cod, tarakihi and hāpuku all feature on the menu, alongside crayfish, gathered freediving in the sheltered water beneath the waterfalls. For the hunters in the team, southern Fiordland’s bush holds strong numbers of red deer, and heading ashore for a stalk doubles as a contribution to local conservation efforts.

“It was incredible. The scenery is out of this world but the history was also really interesting.”

There is history at every anchorage. Dusky Sound is where Captain James Cook rested his crew in 1773 and where conservationist, Richard Henry, made New Zealand’s first attempt to save the kākāpō – work that continues today on the area’s predator-free islands.

For a farming business, a trip like this is less a junket than an investment. An end-of-season break off farm gives a team something to look forward to through the grind of winter feeding, and something to talk about long after they are back in the yards.

“There were four of us living in close quarters for three days so we spent lots of good bonding time on the boat. Getting to break off onto land and chase deer in the bush was also awesome.”

Hosting farming crews is a natural fit for the family-owned charter business which has built the Pembroke experience around small groups of up to eight guests. All meals, fishing gear, dive tanks, kayaks and the tender are included, so guests need only bring themselves.

The charter season runs from October until June, and bookings can be made up to two years ahead – with popular end-of-season dates the first to go.