Guest chef Norka Mella Munoz was part of a luxury culinary experience onboard Ponant’s Le Lapérouse. Photo / Bevin Marriner
A seafood lover’s dream, this luxury cruise holiday through the Chatham Islands offers blue cod, pāua fritters, and a glimpse into island life, writes Isobel Marriner
My first taste of blue cod was in Stewart Island, from the Kai Kart in Oban. It was a revelation – fresh, tasty, juicy; wrapped in crisp hot batter. Rakiura is an amazing place for so many reasons, but that feed was one of the highlights. So much more delicious than the snapper and tarakihi I was used to in Auckland.
So, pre a luxurious cruise of some of the South’s best destinations, there was no way that chance was going by. Dunedin was putting on an exceptionally pleasant day, so straight up to the Octagon for dinner. Dunners has it sussed here, with its range of cafes and pubs, all with open-air seating, so you can have a quick wine or beer and get your bearings, then stroll around, menu-surfing till you find what you want.
READ MORE: What to do in the Chatham Islands
Irish pub The Craic had me at hello, blue cod. Pan-fried and fresh with chunky chips and a tasty tartare. In fact, it had me so bad that I went back and had exactly the same for lunch the next day, before heading to the wharf to board our beautiful home away from home for a week, Ponant’s Le Laperouse. And we were off to the Chatham Islands, where the best blue cod comes from (so they say...)
Owenga, on the main island, Rekohu, was our first landing. Bouncing over the waves it was hard not to think of the bounty that lay beneath. As well as cod, the Chathams are renowned for their big crayfish, kina and pāua. But they are also a favourite meeting place for great white sharks, so best to concentrate on not falling overboard. After a bit of a paddle when exiting the Zodiac, I was hiking through farmland with gritty, damp feet.
Crayfish season was, sadly, all but finished, and the paddocks were full of pots. The treescape was a mix of megaherbs, like the famous Chatham Island forget-me-nots and coastal trees sculpted by the wind; larger trees on the islands include the karaka, which was brought to the Chathams by the Moriori, who called it kopi. They ate the flesh of the berries and used the (poisonous) kernels to make a kind of flour.
A couple of, thankfully friendly, four-legged locals followed us up to a gorgeous windswept beach when I saw something that I, at least, had never seen before. Amid the clumps of seaweed were pāua shells, hundreds of them, polished on both sides. I’ve still not been able to ascertain whether this “phenomenon” is caused by natural abrasion by the sea, or a lack of barnacles, or indeed if it is a phenomenon. But I was pretty impressed.
Another local, two-legged this time, stopped to chat and just casually dropped in that at low tide off the rocks here there were pools the kids fished in that were “absolutely loaded” with crays, cod and pāua. “I guess we take it for granted...”
Our second landing at the Chathams was on Pitt Island/Rangiauria. Our guide was an off-islander farmer who went there for work and fell in love with the place, and with a local. There was a lot of pride evident when she told us that her (primary school-age) children would never starve; they could cook, garden, fish, hunt and forage. As well as being able to mend their own vehicles.
This useless mainlander trudged on with a dodgy hip past more megaherbs — one of the more interesting being the Chathams’ giant puha. (While the Chathams have the “ordinary” puha, there’s also a much bigger version, though not actually of the same genus. But they called it puha, so you might expect it was similarly eaten.) Once in danger of being eradicated by the wild sheep and pigs that inhabit the islands, which obviously found it delicious, this coastal plant is now making a big comeback. Wild pork and giant puha. Yum.
Wild sheep? The only experience I have had close to that was on the Marquesas, where, as part of a mainly delicious feast, where I fell in love with octopus, they also cooked us some feral goat, a great favourite there. No. Sorry. Eau des armpit.
The wild sheep hunted on Pitt, however, are descended from Saxon merinos taken to the islands in the 1800s. And merino meat is now trending as a delicious thing to eat, so I must put aside my prejudice.
The woolly Pitt Island sheep we got closest to, however, were in a paddock next to the island’s only accommodation, Flowerpot Bay Lodge. Feeling a tad cheaty, as we had only (hip, remember) attempted the “short” walk option, we were welcomed to this comfortable retreat with a scrumptious morning tea. Fritters made with the local paua were served on home-baked bread. A delicious slice accompanied by coffee on the deck, looking out to the private gardens and the sea.
Many visitors to the Chathams choose to spend at least a few days on Pitt Island, and the lodge is a gorgeous place, cosy on the inside, yet and wild on the outside — perched as it is on the corner of New Zealand’s easternmost outpost, the first place in the world to see the rising sun.
It has a storied history, occupying the site of the original homestead, settled all the way back in 1843. The lounge is lined with photos from the past and a vast selection of books containing all you need to know about the islands. What a remarkable place to stay.
Back on the ship, the pāua feast continued, with guest chef Norka Mella Munoz of Wharekauhau Estate demonstrating her own recipe for fritters. Norka, on board as part of Ponant’s partnership with Relais & Chateaux, explained that she prefers to make hers without flour, for a lighter and tastier version.
Norka’s petite frame was later seen wielding an enormous mallet to yet more pāua into submission for a tataki that featured in a special epicurean feast with other New Zealand specialties such as gin-cured Ora King Salmon and venison.
The small taste of the magnificent larder that is the Chathams left me wanting much more, and I was excited to discover I could order “Chatham Blue”, snap-frozen and shipped directly from the islands — it’s every bit as nice as the fish I had in Dunedin. They do crayfish tails and pāua pies too... Hmmmm....
The writer was a guest of Ponant.
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