This is my mum, Shirley Maddock. In 1964, she was the creator of New Zealand's first-ever documentary series, Islands of the Gulf. ARCHIVE: To visit an island is to leave the mainland behind, even if it is only for the day. Those programmes shone a light on various islands in the 4000km2 Hauraki Gulf. I'm Elisabeth Easther. And over 50 years later, I'm retracing my mother's journey, looking at the islands' wildlife,... There she goes. ...the history and, above all else, the people. I think there's a lot of people here that are a little bit different. I want to know ` what's island life like in the 21st century? Welcome to the yurt. It's so beautiful. (WAVES CRASH) (ALL SCREAM FAINTLY) Welcome to my 'Islands of the Gulf'. Copyright Able 2018 (RELAXED MUSIC) Having looked at how the islands have changed since my mother made her series and wrote the accompanying book, next I'll explore the islands' history and how its influences still resonate today. First stop ` Kawau Island, 45km north of downtown Auckland and named for the shag ` the bird, that is. Of all the islands in the Gulf, Kawau is where you can best see enduring evidence of New Zealand's colonial past. That's largely due to Governor George Grey. After buying the house that belonged to the manager of the island's copper mine, Grey established his own private kingdom ` a getaway from the demands of political life. ARCHIVE: When Sir George bought Kawau in 1862, he added extensively to the original structure. This is the drawing room of Governor Sir George Grey's Mansion House on Kawau Island. And it's quite a lot different than it would have been in my mother's day in the 1960s, when she was here shooting her show. ('KAWAU MARCH') After Sir George's departure, Mansion House slowly fell to neglect. And in Mum's day, it was a careworn hotel. With the bottom of the bay so deep in brown bottles, you couldn't find purchase for your anchor. Happily, in the late 1970s, a programme of restoration began, and the property was restored to its former glory. Today, the house is filled with 19th century historic treasures. Antiques Roadshow would have a field day. And this is the Kawau March, which was composed for the occasion of Sir George Grey's 74th birthday in 1886. And the nice people here have kindly let me play the piano. ('KAWAU MARCH' PLAYS) Outside, the grounds reflect Governor Grey's influence. He was an enthusiastic horticulturalist and planted hundreds, if not thousands, of exotic trees and shrubs. ARCHIVE: At one side of the house is a grove of coconut palms he planted. (PLAYFUL MUSIC) Grey also had a penchant for exotic animals. ARCHIVE: This is the carriageway Sir George had built to the top of the island. He imported a pair of zebras to pull the carriage, but they didn't survive long. The monkeys he introduced didn't survive long either, but the descendants of his possums and wallabies still hold court. Although today, they're largely looked on as pests. (PEACEFUL MUSIC) Roughly 20km to the south of Kawau lies Tiritiri Matangi, a flourishing wildlife sanctuary with its own historic edifice, this one erected in 1864. ARCHIVE: The lighthouse on Tiritiri Matangi is the beacon at the entrance to the Rangitoto Channel. In the 1960s, three keepers and their families lived in the houses clustered around the light's base. Mum only flew over, but I'm stopping for a tour with Ray, the last lighthouse keeper. Open the door for you, and you can be first` Thank you very much. ...up the stairs. I feel like we're walking up a nautilus shell. Yeah. Standing 21m tall, the lighthouse was shipped out from England in pieces and assembled here, like a giant set of Meccano. Mind your head. Gracious! You're now in the dome. Costing �5700 in 1864, it's the oldest operational lighthouse in the country. So, what did your day look like as a lighthouse keeper? You must have had very specific` ...times. Yeah. And always the light up is 15 minutes before the sunset. And sunrise, you could turn it off. So you sat up here 10 minutes, 15 minutes before the sun come up, lean on the rail and look at the world. Then shut the light down, pull the curtains, go home and have breakfast and milk the cow. (LAUGHS) Because the island was mostly farmland, the lighthouse keepers were allowed to tend gardens and keep stock. So how does one get to join the lighthouse service? When I joined in 1956, you had to be 23 years of age, married and be of sober character. And I thought they were three great things, but the best was sober character. So lighthouse keepers never drank, but that was only a myth. Because in the lighthouse service, you're not allowed off. You go on for a year, and you stay on that island for a year. Grandma dying's not a good-enough excuse. Yeah. Break your neck, they might let you off. Did anyone go... you know? Oh, several of them. Anybody who couldn't stand it never lasted. The turnover of staff was absolutely enormous. And some might only last 12 months, two years. And the ones that couldn't stand it, within three years were gone. When did this stop being a manned lighthouse? When were you no longer`? In 1982, I got a telegram from Wellington giving me two years' notice of the termination of my... employment. In 1984, lighthouse operation was turned over to a computer in Wellington, but Ray stayed on for another 23 years, managing the mammoth replanting programme. It's all done by volunteers. And I never planted a tree on this island, but I dug a heck of a lot of holes. (BOTH LAUGH) And as day becomes night, the Tiritiri beacon lights up. Once the most powerful lighthouse in the southern hemisphere, on a clear night the beam stretches out across the Hauraki Gulf for 18 nautical miles. Next ` the international rugby coach Vern Cotter returns to the island of his infancy. What makes people able to live on an island? (DRAMATIC MUSIC) Delving into the past, I continue exploring the Hauraki Gulf, returning to an island my history-loving mother was ever so fond of. ARCHIVE: A little further out in the Gulf is Motuihe ` or 'Mot-i-he', most of us call it. It's been a farm, a quarantine station, a naval base, and it's a park of the city of Auckland. During the First World War, military prisoners were interned here, including the infamous escapee, Count von Luckner. In the Second World War, it was a naval base, but they cleared out in 1963. ARCHIVE: There are no naval craft at Motuihe now, only the signboard and the deserted village of the naval barracks. The last vestiges of military life ` this dilapidated water tower. And Motuihe is slowly being restored to its original nature. These days, there are no ferries to Motuihe, so I've hailed a water taxi. And along for the ride, some people who used to call Motuihe home. ARCHIVE: The Cotters were mainland people until they came to the island nearly three years ago. (RELAXED MUSIC) I'm not even sure how Dad got any work done here. I mean, it's such a magnificent place. Brothers Vern and Jeremy Cotter spent their early years here when their parents managed the farm on the island, and cousin Ian would visit for the summer holidays. Yeah, there used to be a real rabbit plague on the island, and I took advantage of that. Ian became quite skilled at shooting and dressing the rabbits. And then we used to take them down to the main wharf. And tourists came from Auckland in those days on the old steam ferries. And I'd set up my little stall on the wharf, and I'd sell them dressed rabbit carcasses. What did a rabbit go for back then? Well, you're back in the days before dollars and cents. So I was selling them for about half a crown, if I recall. I was earning pounds every day, so I was quite the island entrepreneur ` at least, I thought I was. Following an intensive campaign, the rampant rabbits were finally eradicated. Today, there's no farm here either, and DOC cares for the land. And the yards would've been down here, and most of the farm was back over in the background there, so... Vern Cotter was only 2 when my mum stopped by. ARCHIVE: Young Vernon just missed being a Motuihean. He arrived a little early and was nearly born on the launch on the way into town. If you look back in that old footage, you can see I was quickly drafted as a labour unit, as a 2-year-old help in the yards. And that's what you do on a farm; everybody's got to help. The Cotters left the island to return to their family farm when Vern was 4�. And while he's gone on to forge a highly successful career as an international rugby coach, he vividly remembers stories from their time on Motuihe. Dad told me some great stories, and Mum as well, about having to load stock` the challenges of loading stock off here on barges. And they said, quite often they had cattle that'd break through rails off the barge and start swimming to Motutapu and Waiheke. Did they make it? Yeah, well, I think a couple might've. But they had to round them up with boats, and it was one of those challenges you have on an island. What makes people able to live on an island? Cos I bet some people would just go, you know, bonkers and run off. Well, I think you've got to get on with each other, don't you? (CHUCKLES) But I think it's` you just gotta be resourceful, you gotta be able to adapt. And then, obviously, when you weren't doing your job and working, you were enjoying everything that the island had to offer. Another local identity I've brought back to Motuihe is Ronnie Harrison. She ran the island's restaurant and ice cream kiosk from 1984 to 2007. So, Ronnie, this is your old stamping ground, isn't it? Oh, yes, many a happy time has been spent here. So where are we? We used to come in our big wooden gates here, and just a little bit further up was the actual kiosk. But this back area had shells and stones, tables and chairs. But our property where we actually lived was here, right in this area. You lived here? Right here. From my lounge, I could look out, and I'm staring straight down there. And from my lounge ` the other side of it ` I could look out, and I'm staring straight down there. I was so lucky to live here. Motuihe is a day tripper's paradise ` close to Auckland, just 19km away, and whichever way the wind blows, you can always find a pleasant place to picnic. ARCHIVE: The Ocean Beach at Motuihe is a sheltered anchorage for waterskiers, for pleasure boats and for very small craft too. After the island became a sanctuary, the decision was made to close the kiosk and remove the house. And in 2007, Ronnie moved ashore. But I found when I left the island, I was inhibited in conversation with normal people, just because you're used to being on your own. So coming back to the island after all these years, how do you feel? As if I've come home. (CHUCKLES) It feels lovely ` really, really lovely. We're standing in your living room, aren't we? Yeah. (CHUCKLES) And it doesn't matter that it's changed, because that's life; it is change. And you can cope with it once you get your head round it. So I'm just very happy. I'm very grateful to be here. (RELAXED MUSIC) Next ` the story of Rangitoto, the Gulf's youngest island. So, they all would've been one big crust layer on here. (RELAXED MUSIC) From Motuihe, I'm making the relatively short hop across the water to the joined-at-the-hip islands of Motutapu and Rangitoto. They're separated by a narrow man-made isthmus of land ` or, to be more specific, American-made ` because this causeway was built during the Second World War, when US forces were stationed on the islands. Motutapu was one of the first islands in the Gulf to be settled by Europeans. But going back even further, it was one of the first places to be occupied by Maori. CHANTS: # A tapu wai au noku, # tapu wai ariki, # a tapu wai e au tai, # atua tihei mauri ora. # To learn more about the Maori history, I'm meeting James Brown. Tena koe, Elisabeth. Tena koe, James. Welcome. James is chairman of Ngai Tai Ki Tamaki ` an iwi with a long history on Motutapu. (RELAXED MUSIC) This area is called Hukanui. Hukanui was our largest village. Our ancestors were determined to discover fertile lands for gardening. And they found a real jewel in this wonderful place called Motutapu a Taikehu. When do you think your ancestors first arrived? We know we were here before the waka migration, and we know we are the descendants of earlier ancestors occupying this space. When Maori sold Motutapu to a European, it was quite a steal ` a few guns, 50 blankets, five hats, some fabric, five pairs of black trousers and a few empty casks. So we're at the top of Hukanui. And this village here, kainga, was intensively populated at the time of the last eruption of Rangitoto. What would this have looked like back in the day? So you would've seen rows of thatched roofing, kanuka walls in the ground ` not above ground, so there's always a step down into your floor so that it was kept dry and insulated. So Hukanui was really the` what we would call hau kainga ` the home people of not just the island, but the activities of the island. So at that time, our first commitment to the island was gardening. And so it became, certainly, our largest garden, and it remains Auckland's largest farm. (RELAXED MUSIC) As the guardians of Motutapu, Ngai Tai's aim is to continue farming the land and return it to the productivity of old. Underneath all this grass lies a thick layer of rich volcanic ash ` the legacy of Rangitoto's eruption hundreds of years earlier. And Rangitoto is where I'm heading next. I could easily thumb a lift with James, but I found another way ` the modern waka. The main marine mammal that we see is orca. They're coming in here looking for the stingray. Nic Mead runs kayaking tours of the islands and knows heaps about their history. We beach our kayaks next to the wharf where the ferry comes in. Although beached isn't quite the right word, given we're landing on scoria ` the sharply brittle rock that blanketed the entire island when the volcano erupted around 600 years ago. This is such a rugged island. Yeah, well, it's only 600 years old. Rugged and young. Yeah. So it's the only volcano in the Auckland volcanic field that erupted into the water. Lava spewed out of the volcanic cone into the sea, eventually rising above the water level, whereupon the top layer cooled quickly, forming a thin, hard crust. So, you can see, this here is about the same thickness as this piece here, as this piece here. So they all would have been one big crust layer on here. And as it cooled, the lava would've broken up into these big, round dinner-plate sizes and over the years, slowly eroded away. (RELAXED MUSIC) How different it must have been for day trippers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There definitely would've been no path up here. So one of the problems that they would've had was ripping their long dresses on the scoria when they're trying to walk up to the summit. They would've gone all the way down to the ankles, and they would've been of thick cotton, so... Yeah, not good costumes` No. And then they would've had to carry the picnic all the way to the summit as well, with the china and the tea sets. Were there no donkeys? No donkeys on Rangitoto at that time. And it would've been so incredibly hot ` all that bare rock and no shelter. There were hardly any trees back then. How did all the vegetation get started? Well, if you have a look over here, you've got a pohutukawa tree in the middle of the scoria. What would've happened is a little bit of water would've landed, a little bit of moss or algae would've formed. Then a bird would've flown over and pooed in exactly the right spot. Precision. Precision poo. It landed on that, a little bit more moisture, germinated, then over time, it would've slowly built into the forest. It's taken us about 45 minutes to climb to this halfway mark. Ah, it's gonna be beautiful. Up the Tamaki River is the narrowest part of New Zealand ` it's only about 1.2km wide. We can't film above this point, as the upper part of the volcano is tapu. Mum didn't even land on Rangitoto, but she did fly over the crater. ARCHIVE: Rangitoto's literal translation is 'bloody sky', in memory of the night three peaks pushed up from the ocean bed. (RELAXED MUSIC) Nic's gone off to prepare my dinner, bless him. And I head back to sea level to explore the old baches. No new baches can be built on Rangitoto, and the existing ones can't be modernised, which is why the few remaining feel like they're frozen in time. Hi. BOTH: Hello. Now, you must be Frances. I am. How do you do? Hello. Lovely to meet you. I'm Elisabeth. Sereena? Yes. Hello. Oh, great, wonderful. Good to meet you. I love your house. It's fabulous. Do you want to come in and have a look? I'd love to. Due to its petite dimensions, Frances' and daughter Sereena's bach is known as the Doll's House. This is the lounge-bedroom area, and that's the porch area, and that's it. It's all you need. It's just perfect. So how did your family come to own the bach? My mother thought, 'I like it at Rangitoto.' So she went into the store and said, 'Is there any baches here for sale?' And Mrs Leech, who was the queen of Rangitoto, she said, 'Yeah, well, Mrs McClain over there in that little bach, she said she'd give it up for �300.' She said, 'Yes, all right.' So it was just before they changed the tenure too, so we were just lucky. In 1957, the government decreed that all the baches should go. Legislation was put in place preventing the baches from being sold, and that legislation still applies today. So how does the bach thing work? Well, it's only the person whose name and signature is on the original lease can be a legal owner. Fortunately, she is, so we are allowed to stay here. Most of the other bachholders are caretakers. But when she dies, I can't inherit it. I'd have to be, if I'm lucky, a caretaker. So... I keep her alive as much as I can. (CHUCKLES) A very, very good idea. You're doing a very good job. Thank you. (ALL LAUGH) If the caretakers no longer want it, do they get demolished? Uh, that's what they tried to do for a while. I think now they want to keep them. Well, they're history. You don't find buildings of this era in a community. It is a marvellous view, isn't it? Mm, yeah, we love it. You've really got paradise for �300. (RELAXED MUSIC) While I've been socialising, Nic's been beavering away. (BARBECUE SIZZLES) Here we go. After a long paddle and a nice hike to the summit, we've` ...we've deserved this, haven't we? ...we've definitely deserved this. As Nic and I paddle back to the 21st century, I'm struck by how young our country is. When Mum presented Sir George Grey's Mansion on the nation's television screens in 1964, the building was only just celebrating its 100th anniversary. And then I think of the seven centuries Maori have lived on Motutapu, and how the pohutukawa trees have ever so slowly put down their roots on these scoria fields. I realise we're actually quite grown-up, a country with a rich and important history. Next week ` I'm going to discover how some of the Gulf Islands have become sanctuaries, charged with protecting our most vulnerable plants and animals. So we'll probably hear the chick when we put him back in the burrow. This is where we used to go swimming most. BOTH: Uh-huh. From this beach, because it was the best place with the smallest rocks, we used to love leaping into the waves in a storm. We call that exercise 'spa pooling'. (ALL LAUGH) I pull the leaves out first. Here he is. Great. There she goes. Beauty. Copyright Able 2018