Date: 24-31/01/09
Leader: Marlene Lynam

This trip was the standard eight day package tour, with day tramps included as added extras. There were 20 Manukau Tramping Club members in a tour group totalling 27. The 2.5 hour Chatham Islands Airline flight was comfortable, though a little noisy, and we were grateful for the ear plugs the airline supplied. On arrival we were met by Valentine Croon (Val Junior), the Chatham’s Hotel proprietor, and Ben Cooper, our guide for the week.

As our luggage was piled onto Val Junior’s ute to be taken to the hotel, Ben whisked us away to Kaingaroa, a fishing village at the north eastern corner of the island, for dinner at the local Sports and Social Club. The locals contribute to the home cooked buffet meal for visitors each Saturday night during the summer, with proceeds going towards the club’s upkeep. This was our first taste of the local delicacies – namely crayfish, paua and a number of varieties of fish. We didn’t realise you could cook paua in so many different ways. After a huge feed, and mixing and mingling with the locals, we were delivered back to the hotel at 9.30 pm. On the way back we passed feral cats, pigs and cattle, which had started their nocturnal roaming of the island in search of food. Ben told us that collisions with these wild animals were one of the major causes of car accidents on the island – we could see why.

Day 2 dawned and after a hearty breakfast, Ben took us on a 45 minute excursion to Tikitiki Hill, a short distance from the Hotel. Here we saw a great view of Waitangi (referred to by the locals as “town”) and the first of the many impressive red coloured cliffs we were to see on this trip. We then waited for Lorna to return from a church service in Te One. There was a congregation of 15 people and the 80+ year old minister is trying hard to encourage the locals to attend; they had a delicious morning tea of paua “pikelets” after the service.

We set off to the western shores of the Island, and Ben, our driver, gave us an excellent commentary of the history of the island, and pointed out many landmarks. We stopped at the Basalt Columns, at Ohira Bay, and had our lunch. This consisted of a very substantial sandwich, cake, savoury and fruit each, along with thermos tea and coffee. We were to enjoy these packed lunches each day. We then spent an hour or two exploring the five sided basalt rocks. These are part of lava flows dating back 79 million years, and according to Elizabeth Makgill, are much more accessible than the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland.

After a brief stop at Port Hutt, Ben drove us to the top of Tawirikoko Hill (109 m) where we were treated to 360º views of the North Western side of the Island. There were a number of volcanic cones in the distance, which represented a small centre of volcanic activity dating back around 34 million years.

En route to Admiral Farm, where we were due to have a barbeque dinner, we stopped for a walk along Waitangi West Beach. It was such a lovely day, that Tony and Liz couldn’t resist stripping to their undies to go for a swim. Liz’s modesty was overcome by her desire for a swim and the help of Anj. Liz covered herself with a wrap which was retrieved by Anj, just as Liz jumped under the cover of the waves. At Admiral Farm we met Valentine (Val Senior) and Lois Croon, Val Junior’s parents. We were escorted by Lois around her beautiful garden, saw the Admiral butterflies that gave the farm its name, and enjoyed a delicious meal. This is where we had our first taste of blue cod - first of many.

Day 3 saw the group splitting up for the first time. After a tour and morning tea at the Moriori Kopinga Marae, the “medium walkers” in our group set off on a walk around Manukau Point, guided by Val Senior whilst the “light walkers” followed the normal tour timetable. The tramp primarily consisted of walking on farm land along cliff tops, giving us great views of the swirling sea below us, the cliffs and Pitt Island in the distance. It was a warm, sunny day and the terrain made walking easy, though our socks and shoe laces quickly collected grass seeds, even those wearing gaiters.

We met up with the “light walkers”, many of whom had come to meet us on the track, and then we continued on a 1.5 hours return trip to the site the Chatham Islanders had their millennium sun welcoming celebration. That night we had dinner at the hotel for the first time, and most of the group ordered crayfish, each of us receiving half a crayfish each. It would have appeared to the waitresses, that this was the first time many of us had eaten crayfish. Many in our group had to ask what part of the animal they could eat and struggled with all the “debris” that comes with them. Nicola, finally getting sick of trying to separate the shell from the flesh on her overcrowded plate, came up with a great solution – she plonked the empty shells etc on a serviette on the table cloth to make more space.

On Tuesday we headed out to Cape Young for the day. The light group were taken by bus to Splatter Rock and took a shorter route to Cape Young, whilst the medium group were dropped off to take the long route to Cape Young (6 hours). Val Senior was our guide again, and the first 1.5 hours was down hill or flat, until we reached the beautiful Paua Bay, at the end of Maunganui Beach, where we had lunch. Val Senior called it Paua Bay for a reason, there were certainly plenty of paua on the rocks, and Doug made the most of it, collecting his quota for the day to take back to the hotel to be cooked for a pre-dinner snack that night.

After lunch we headed up the hill to walk along the cliffs towards Cape Young. This was the highlight of the trip for many, the scenery was amazing. There were red cliffs, with lava dykes dating back many millions of years jutting out of them, the reefs way below us with kelp “skirts” swirling in the waves, and the farm land stretching for miles in the distance. Val Senior explained that we would have to take a short cut across the paddocks, and not go right out to the blow-hole which is part of this walk. This area was off limits out of respect for the previous head mistress of the school who had drowned there recently in a freak accident.

We were all getting a bit hot and tired by the time we reached Cape Young, and felt we didn’t really have to climb to the high point for a better view. We sat on the edge of the cliffs and took in the scenery as we had afternoon tea. However, Shane was not content with this, and after a drink started running up to the top of the hill. He disappeared for a while, and then we could see him waving out to us as he reached the knob at the top. Shane soon caught up with us as we headed around the edge of a crop of rapeseed to the bus. We stopped at Splatter Rock and heard that many of the light group had made it right to the top of the knob, and had also been very satisfied with the view they had seen from there.

A strong south westerly wind and rain blew in over night, so on Wednesday our plans changed. Instead of going fishing or flying to Pitt Island, the option of going to more sheltered places was chosen. We were hosted by the Mayor of the Chathams who guided us through a reserve of bush on his land. After lunching there we went for a walk at Henga Beach and also viewed the Moriori Rock carvings. The walk down to the beach to see the carvings was fine, the wind was behind us, but on the way back we all suffered half an hour of significant resistance training – battling a head wind. As we all got back onto the bus, it was very obvious that we were all having a very bad hair day.

The wind had died down enough for one group to fly to Pitt Island on Thursday, but it was too rough to go fishing. The rest of us headed off to see the Kaingaroa area in the North East in more detail. On the way we stopped to collect fossilised sharks teeth at Blind Jim’s Creek, and we were not disappointed, we all found some in the sand. We then went to Hapupu Reserve to see the Moriori Tree carvings. The medium group then split from the main group, and with Val Senior’s guidance once again, they set off on a walk around Point Munning. The walk was along the beach, where we gathered shells and rocks on the beach. We passed the remains of an old whaling station, and saw old whale bones on the beach. The tail wind pushed us along the beach at breakneck speed, and we met up with the others who had done a tour of the historic sites in the area from the bus. Our next stop was the seal colony which was most impressive, with many young seals frolicking around the rocks, and swimming in the sea nearby.

Friday was the last opportunity for us to go fishing – and the wind had dropped sufficiently at Kaingaroa for the boats to go out. Tony, Janet and Richard flew to Pitt Island in a six seated Cessna and the others divided into two groups to go on the fishing boats. Whilst the first group went fishing in the morning, the others went with Ben on a bus tour along the South Coast, to see the large native pigeons (parea). This tour provided views of rich farmlands, and the coastal waters. Whilst the afternoon group went fishing, the morning fishers visited Ohinemama, an1880s historic homestead and had lunch there, as well as touring the South Coast.

The fishing was worth waiting for. The blue cod were biting, and the fish were pulled in by hand line at breakneck speed. So were the sharks – MaryRose was very surprised when she hauled in, what she thought must be a very big blue cod, and found it was a shark instead. Eels were also hauled on the deck and even a greedy mollyhawk was caught on a line, but was released to fly off again. The fish that was caught was brought back to the island, filleted and frozen and distributed to all on the tour the next day. Each visitor taking home about one kilo of frozen blue cod each. The successful fishing, the colours of the sea and the albatross flying beside the boat made it a great day for everyone.

Bernie was the tour guide for those who went to Pitt Island, and the itinerary included a visit to the highest point, where we had great views of the whole island, as well as the off shore islands. We saw the barge which ferried stock out to the ships anchored in the bay, down at the wharf, as well as the remains of an old jail which was used to dry out very drunken whalers. We had a great lunch at Delwyn’s place, and then walked through the nature reserve.

On Saturday, we flew home – farewelled at the airport by Val Junior with a handshake, and a hug from Ben. He was a great tour guide, and we appreciated the effort he made to make our trip an enjoyable one. It was a great experience - the food was delicious, the accommodation comfortable, and our glimpse of island life was very interesting. Thank you Marlene for the idea which sparked the trip and for doing all the organising.

Janet Gibson