Since he started a family Robert has made a living as an artist. He does Oil-On-Canvas paintings of the local scenery around the South Island and sometime people's requests for scenes as far away as Queensland, Australia. When he's not painting he carves Pounamu-Jade which he and his family find on the beaches around his home. He carves the jade using diamond tool powered by 1 KW of solar panels on his roof. Over the last 20 years possums have been breeding in the local forests and these pose a threat to the trees in the area and also the Longs' vegetable garden. Whenever the weather is favorable Robert sets between 20-60 possum traps around the hills behind the house to control the possum numbers. He describes the possums as a "never ending problem." He plucks the fur off the small possums and skins the large ones. He sells the skins to his wife Catherine who gets them tanned and sews them together into luxury possum bed throws, cushions and scarves. When there's any spare time he also loves to dive for crayfish in his favourite spots along the coastline. |
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Paintings
Robert Long's Autobiography
Robert Long and his family – wife Catherine, and children Christan and Robin – live in complete isolation, in a hut two days’ walk south of Haast in South Westland, New Zealand.
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. Order your signed copy direct from Robert by clicking the button below. |
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