Former islander extols ‘rugged, raw’ virtues
The fact the Chatham Islands has become an alternative ‘‘overseas’’ holiday during Covid-19 is no surprise to a South Canterbury man who regularly takes visitors there.
Allan Averis, of Peel Forest, said the Chathams has become a much more popular destination than when he lived there in the late 1960s.
Figures from Air Chathams show passenger bookings were up 30 per cent over the 2019-20 summer and website traffic was up 100 per cent, with a 130 per cent increase from Canterbury.
When Averis was living on the Chathams he worked as an engineer at the crayfish factory and his three daughters learnt by correspondence.
‘‘It was very isolated. There were no roads, and stores came by boat once every 12 months,’’ Averis said.
He and his late wife, Pat Averis, had wondered how they would calculate how much milk powder they would need for a year and how they would cope without fresh eggs.
‘‘We arrived at the Chathams and there were 12 chooks, mash and wheat. They’d put the hens in the crayfish pots so they wouldn’t run off.’’
There were just 13 people working at the factory to start with, but when the family left five years later the workforce had increased to 140.
‘‘There was a crayfish boom; they nearly fished it out catching too many. Everyone who had a boat caught them.
‘‘It was a tough life. There’s not a lot of shelter.’’
Cod sold for 10 cents for 0.45 kilograms, and it was easy to catch. He recalled going out fishing with four fisherman and catching tonnes.
Without any bees it was up to residents to use a paint brush and pollinate their own vegetable plants.
During their time there Pat set up a Sunday school and would bake hotcross buns with the children and teach them to make flax baskets for the harvest festival.
Allan said sometimes all the kids would pile onto his trailer, and they’d go to a paddock and play football or catch eels in the lake.
The only time he heard about the Chathams was on the radio at the end of the weather, and it was always wet.
‘‘It’s a unique place. You can’t do anything about the weather.
‘‘It’s always windy and 20-minute showers. The southerly is cold, but there’s no frosts. The kids loved it – chasing weka, the seal colony, watching their pups, and the shag colony.’’
During the summer brown water was accessed from the lake where the cattle, sheep and geese wandered.
‘‘Our immune system had some work to do, but we didn’t get sick.’’ He still prefers creek water to chlorinated water now living in Peel Forest.
Allan and Pat decided they needed to return to the mainland in the early 1970s so their children could attend school and have a bit of competition, as they were the oldest in that area at the time.
In addition, Allan wanted to build a yacht and sail around the Pacific for a year. Once the children left home the couple ended up cruising the Pacific for six years.
‘‘Forty years after leaving Raoul Island we sailed up the north beach.’’
On his 80th birthday, two years ago, his daughters shouted him a trip to the Chathams and the locals remembered him – they now call him ‘‘Old Al’’.
Since then he’s taken friends and acquaintances for week-long trips to the Chatham Islands and shows them around.
‘‘It hasn’t changed much. Most of the sights to see are on private property.’’
His last trip was two weeks ago and his next one is in November with about eight people.
‘‘Seven days is barely enough time to see everything.’’
He said accommodation on the islands was expensive and so was food at $7 for a can of baked beans in the shop.
Ever enthusiastic about the Chathams, Allan does not think the islanders get a fair go.
‘‘They’re in desperate need of a meatworks, so they don’t have to send live sheep to be killed.’’
He hoped he could raise awareness of what a ‘‘wonderful place’’ it is and encouraged the Government to spend some money on it.