THE LAND BEFORE TIME
Friendly people, wild landscapes and ancient treasures are found exploring the remote Chatham Islands in the new Holden SUV range.
Chatham Islanders are a hardy bunch. The 600 residents of the island archipelago, 862 kilometres east of Christchurch, form one of New Zealand’s most remote communities. With just one freighter bringing supplies from Timaru a couple of times a month, improvising and ingenuity are a way of life. Number eight wire isn’t just an expression — it’s how to fix a wonky appliance or broken car.
Thankfully, there’s no need for amateur mechanics when exploring the terrain from the comfort of the new Holden SUV range. The vehicles adapt easily to all conditions including gravel roads, hilly paddocks and sand, and to the weather which encompasses sunshine and blustery rain.
The Chathams have 200 days of rain a year; the wildlife has adapted, with 18 unique bird species including the Chatham Island tūī and the Chatham Island pigeon/parea, who are larger and heavier than their mainland counterparts. The Chathams originally formed the eastern tip of the 4.9-millionsquare-kilometre continent, Zealandia ( Te Riu-aMāui). Seismic activity 65 million years ago saw parts of the land sink into the ocean, leaving the Chathams on their lonesome. It is wildly beautiful here and an ideal destination for a road trip to celebrate Holden’s 65th anniversary in New Zealand — the trip is an ideal test for the premium range of Holden SUVs, which includes the Acadia, Equinox, Commodore Tourer, Trax and the island favourite, the Trailblazer, popular because it has a diesel engine.
Hotel Chatham publican Toni Croon is our tour guide for the day as we head east to Cape Fournier and land owned by the Solomon family. The Solomons descend from Tame Horomona Rehe ( Tommy Solomon), a prominent Moriori leader immortalized in a statue. Toni’s dog Pipi, as fit as a fiddle, runs alongside the car until discovering the Holden’s grunty and adaptable SUV range is perfectly at home in the rugged Chathams; (above) Helen Bint’s listed basalt cottage is totally isolated — and Helen wouldn’t have it any other way.
joys of the Holden’s heated seats.
Gravel roads to Port Hutt and Waitangi West put the Holdens to an easy test, which is also the case with an off-road burst on hilly terrain to meet local celebrity Helen Bint. Helen lives in a Category One-listed historic stone cottage by Maunganui hill — isolated, even by Chatham Island standards. (Meet Helen in NZ Life & Leisure, Sept/Oct 2015.) Her simple existence in a basalt house built in 1868 by missionaries has few creature comforts; just a coal range with clothes washed in a bucket. Helen moved from Nelson a decade ago and says: “I have more adventures here than I ever had living on the main road of Nelson.”
As fishing is the largest industry in the Chathams, it’s fitting that we catch our dinner. At low tide, we park the Holdens at Waitangi West beach and gather pāua from shallow rocks using a pāua knife to measure our catch so we don’t take under-sized molluscs. There’s little chance as these are huge.
At Admiral Cottage, boutique accommodation owned by Toni’s parents Val and Lois Croon, we learn how to shuck pāua with a flick of the wrist, and tenderize the molluscs with a mallet. We then eat like royalty — the perfect end to an incredible day.
GETTING THERE:
Air Chathams flies daily from several different New Zealand centres, including Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
WHERE TO STAY: Hotel Chatham is a one-stop shop for accommodation, dining and private tours.
For more on the luxurious Holden SUV range, see holden.co.nz