The historic Chatham Island stone cottage at Maunganui and its inhabitant Helen Bint are well worth a visit.
Photo / Liz Wylie
The historic Chatham Island stone cottage at Maunganui and its inhabitant Helen Bint are well worth a visit.
Photo / Liz Wylie
In the 1980s, the New Zealand Tourism Board ran an advertising campaign with the slogan "Don't leave town until you've seen the country".
The campaign did not mention the Chatham Islands although they are part of the country and have been since 1842.
I can now count myself among thosefortunate enough to have visited the main Chatham Island, named Rēkohu by its original Moriori inhabitants, and I am certainly keen to go back some day.
Thanks to Te Anau-based operator Merv Halliday and Air Chathams, it is now possible to board a plane in Whanganui and arrive at Chatham Island airport around 105 minutes later.
No passport is needed and it may be the most stress-free journey a traveller can experience.
I spoke to Halliday before his first tour left in October last year and asked if there might be an opportunity for a reporter to tag along.
My cheek paid off and I was offered a seat on the tour he had scheduled for Boxing Day last year.
That flight was cancelled due to a lack of bookings but last week Halliday made good on his promise and I got to join a group of passengers from Whanganui, Feilding, Ashhurst, Palmerston North, Taupō and a couple from Te Puke.
Most, like me, were making their first visit to the Chathams but some, like Pauline Ross-Watts and Vonnie Cave, were making return visits.
Cave was on her fourth sojourn, having made her first in 1989 when she toured the island in a Landrover driven by author Michael King who had recently published his book Moriori: A People Rediscovered.
We were treated to four days of uniquely Chathams "take us as you find us" kind of hospitality, combined with excellent food and accommodation as well as daily tours that provided many memorable sights and experiences.
Our tour guides were Margie Wyatt (a Chatham Islander now resident in Waiouru), who accompanied us from Whanganui, Toni Croon, owner-operator of Hotel Chathams (always accompanied by her little dog Pipi), and Matilda Silbery, a relative newcomer to Chatham Island.
Each day we were taken on incredible journeys to different parts of the island to discover the rich history, wildlife, plant life and rock formations that exist nowhere else in the world.
Every experience warrants a story of its own and those will come later but here are just a few highlights.
Visiting the beautiful Kopinga Marae on the hilltop at Te Awatea where the names of all Moriori people living in 1835 are inscribed on totara panels.
Totara panels at Kopinga Marae on Chatham Island are inscribed with names of Moriori people living in 1835.
Photo / Liz Wylie
Seeing the rakau momori (Moriori tree carvings) on the bark of living Kopi trees, meeting the residents of the small community at Owenga where we were treated to lunch and visiting the southern end of the island where the bush is flourishing after 30 years of regeneration and seeing the Parea (Chatham Island pigeon).
Rakau momori inscribed on the bark of Kopi trees on Chatham Island.
Photo / Liz Wylie
On our final evening, we visited the beautiful Admiral Gardens run by Toni's parents Lois and Valentine Croon, where we were treated to a tour, some local craft beer, and a delicious dinner.
The most fascinating encounter was on our final day when a trudge over a very boggy paddock led us to Maunganui and the 1870s stone cottage where Helen Bint (and a few cats, dogs and chickens) lives off the grid.
The visit resulted in two stranded vehicles and a personal catastrophe for me when I sank thigh-deep in mud but it was so worth it.
Chatham Island and its inhabitants are well worth a visit and to get the most out of it you do need local guides to impart knowledge and gain access.
I also recommend that you take your gumboots (and a change of clothes) when you leave the hotel.
Margie Wyatt left Whanganui with another group on Monday and Halliday has a further tour scheduled to leave on December 31. To find out more visit chathamislandtours.nz
