Back to nature at world's end

By ANNE BESTON

It beggars belief that human beings ever thought they could live here.

But in 1850, after a slick sales job by London agents, British settlers arrived at Enderby Island, at the northern end of the subantarctic islands, more than 400km south of the South Island.

Furious winds and 300-plus days of rain a year made life impossibly harsh. The settlement was abandoned within two years.

The notorious subantarctic weather struck again when new Conservation Minister Chris Carter took a tour of the Auckland Islands on board the frigate Canterbury two weeks ago.

With him was a party of 20, including Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, Horowhenua Labour MP Darren Hughes, Department of Conservation staff and media representatives.

Late on the afternoon of the second day, the tourists set off to view the Gibson's albatross colony on Adams Island. They were dropped by Navy helicopter on a windy ridge.

Within an hour, sleet and cloud enveloped the helicopter's landing spot, leaving the visitors stranded.

Battling through waist-deep peat bog and giant mounds of tussock for more than three hours, the group finally scrambled down to the shore and rescue by a Navy inflatable boat. Mr Harvey and Mr Shadbolt were grey with exhaustion.

While the next day's "island rescue" headlines weren't the kind the minister had wanted - he also announced the creation of a marine reserve at the Auckland Islands on this trip - the adventure didn't dampen his enthusiasm for these barren, wind-swept, granite outcrops that provide a last glimpse of ice-free land before the frozen wastes of Antarctica.

"New Zealanders interested in conservation are well aware of the value of these islands," Mr Carter said.

"We have early history here with the settlers and famous shipwrecks - it all adds to their value.

"Are the historical sites here worth preserving? I think so."

The five groups of islands that make up the subantarctic group lie in the "roaring 40s", the area between 47degS and 52degS where the southern ocean is at its most merciless.

The islands include The Snares, Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands (with Enderby Island at the northern end and Adams Island to the south) and Campbell Island the furthest south.

They range in size from the tiny 341ha Snares to the main Auckland Islands of 62,000ha, more than twice the size of the Hauraki Gulf's largest island, Great Barrier.

DoC has been quietly promoting the subantarctic group over the past few years.

Most of its efforts have been aimed at convincing whichever minister is in charge that New Zealand taxpayers' dollars should be spent there.

The department's next goal, after the almost $1 million spent on eradicating rats on Campbell Island last year, is an $11 million, four-year pig eradication project on the Auckland Islands.

In its conservation management strategy for the subantarctic islands, the department spells out why the money is needed.

It says the islands have the most diverse range of seabirds in the world - including 10 albatross species, six of which are only found on the islands - the largest populations of wandering and Gibson's albatross, four penguin species including the rare yellow-eyed penguin and rockhopper, more than six million seabirds on The Snares alone, the world's third rarest duck and the two biggest breeding sites for the endangered New Zealand sealion.

Few plants, except for a range of weird, stunted vegetation, survive in the harsh climate. Campbell Island has one tree, planted as a memorial by the settlers.

On Adams Island, the plants look like a carefully landscaped garden - as though someone methodically set out millions of tiny, low-growing plants over hundreds of hectares.

To further bolster its case for money, DoC has also turned its attention to historical sites, including the sad little cemetery created by the early settlers.

One of the graves is that of a young girl, the headstone made by her father using the grindstone he brought from home - one of the few things he used it for.

But if DoC is clear about New Zealand's obligations to protect and enhance these inaccessible islands, it is the Navy personnel who provide a snapshot of what a fair portion of ordinary, tax-paying New Zealanders might think.

During our four-day sojourn through the southern ocean, the Navy's can-do, macho discipline was a stark contrast to the DoC men's earnest concern for threatened species and unique ecosystems.

While the Navy men's ribbing was generally good-natured (and very funny), it was obvious they were more than a little baffled why anyone would spend millions of dollars on a clutch of granite rocks that only 600 New Zealanders a year apply to visit.

DoC would probably be happier if no one came at all.

Management of the islands is about "minimising the risks of adverse effects", the 113-page conservation management strategy says.

All proposals for tourism should be assessed against "stringent environmental standards" and the preservation of nature is "the primary purpose" of the island's reserve status and classification.

Tourist operators are not exactly lining up to take visitors to the subantarctic region, but even with the equipment and expertise of the Royal NZ Navy and a frigate at our disposal, we spend less than four hours on land in four days of sailing.

The first day out from Bluff, at least half the civilians are seasick and so are a good proportion of the crew.

And then there's the argument about cash priorities. Although the pig project won't come out of the department's regular budget - it will need its own money approved by Mr Carter's Cabinet colleagues - everyone knows DoC never has enough money. Pest control, land acquisition, saving kiwi - there is plenty on which to spend money closer to home.

DoC southern islands ranger Jeremy Carroll is a softly spoken, passionate believer in the department's subantarctic work. He makes the trip south at least twice a year.

"It's a fabulous place, one of my favourite places in the world," he says with a smile that acknowledges not everyone would agree with him.

He, like DoC southern area manager Greg Lind and Southland Conservator Kevin O'Connor, who are also on this trip, want the islands returned to their pre-European state.

And he is not alone. Arriving at our last port of call, in Perseverance Harbour on Campbell Island (less than an hour's sunshine a day on 215 days of the year), we are astonished to see a 13m cutter moored close to shore.

It belongs to Nelson couple Mark and Tui DeRoy, who are putting together a book of photos on the Auckland Islands.

They are unfazed by 50-knot winds, grumpy sealions and three good days of weather in three weeks.

"We really enjoy the isolation," Tui DeRoy says. "You just expect this kind of weather. This is a special place."

Grouped around the jetty on Campbell, New Zealand sealions are lolling, snuffling, biting and arguing, staring at us with their huge eyes. DoC scientist Dr Simon Childerhouse is getting off here to begin a three-month stint studying them.

His fieldwork in the subantarctic, holed up in a small hut with only basic amenities, is the highlight of his year.

"I love them," he says cheerfully of the sealions. "They are very intelligent and very curious - one of their favourite pastimes is to chase people."

It's been a long and demanding trip for the crew and officers of the Canterbury.

Island rescues, shepherding "civvies" up rope ladders, into helicopters and boats, issuing survival suits and lifejackets have kept them busy. Whether DoC gets its money or how much it spends here is the last thing on Captain Dean McDougall's mind when he announces after the rescue that the ship will anchor for the night.

It's a welcome respite from the pitching and lurching we've endured for the past two days. The Canterbury lolls quietly in Carnley Harbour, the bow light shining white against the black emptiness beyond.

High on a ridge above the harbour, an albatross sits in its nest, its head turned towards the white-capped swells of the southern ocean.

Herald feature: Environment