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. (ALL SCREAM FAINTLY) Welcome to my 'Islands of the Gulf'. Copyright Able 2018 This episode, I'm looking at how some of the islands have become life rafts for many of our rarest native species. The Gulf contains many conservation areas, but perhaps the best place to start is the open scientific sanctuary of Tiritiri Matangi. The lighthouse on Tiritiri Matangi is the beacon at the entrance to the Rangitoto Channel. Back in my Mum's day, Tiritiri Matangi was an island farm with a manned lighthouse and not a lot else. Maybe that's why she simply flew over it and never landed. We dipped down over the little settlement and then headed on north. Much easier to make a clean sweep than it is to try and do frantic little... (BOAT HORN BLOWS) Preserving Tiritiri Matangi's pristine nature is a responsibility for every one of the 30,000 people who make the 30km trip from downtown Auckland each year. Ka tangi te tui, ka tangi te korimako, ka tangi hoki ahau. Tihei mauri ora. Tiritiri Matangi isn't large, just 220ha, but it's home to an amazing array of native birds. Takahe. Hihi. Kokako. And tieke. With the tui as prolific as the pigeons in Trafalgar Square. Of all your birds in this sanctuary, do you have a favourite? It changes just about every day. (BOTH LAUGH) Mary-Ann manages the volunteer guides on the island. There's a kereru just over there. Oh my gosh. See? Big fat one. That is a very plump fella. Yeah. It's hard not to think about eating them when you see them. (LAUGHS) Is that wrong? That's very wrong. OK, sorry. Very wrong, indeed. I'll scratch that from the record. Can you` (LAUGHS) Talking of conservation, how does it run? Cos it's a large place, and it's beautifully looked after. Volunteers. We've got about 400 volunteers, and they come` some come every week. Some come twice a week. Some come and stay over the summer. And what do you love most about your work here? The people. You see people get off the ferry, and they're kinda really concentrated, and they're... you know, rushing like 'this is`' you know, 'we're busy. We're coming to see Tiri. 'This is really important.' And then you see them at the end of the day, and they've got these great big grins on their faces, and they're really relaxed and really happy, and they've just seen things that they didn't even know existed in New Zealand. (BIRDSONG) Oh, here he go. Tieke, look at that. It's a juvenile tieke, I think. See, it's got almost no wattles. They are fearless. He's gone. The tieke, or North Island saddleback, was almost extinct in the early 1900s. Not great pilots, they spend a lot of time on the forest floor, which makes them easy targets for predators. First released on Tiritiri Matangi in 1984, today their prospects are looking up. Back on the mainland, Ian is a bona fide builder. And here volunteers with skills like his don't go to waste. It's pretty good. Yep. All right, if we can screw that one down. It's nice to see that somebody's doing some work in the bush today. Oh, yes, I think it's probably one of my favourite bridges on the island. I really love the shape. It's got these lovely angles. I think it was just the fact that it` this was the narrowest point of the creek. And of course, with that lovely big tree sitting there, we couldn't go much further down, cos it actually drops off quite steeply. It feels sturdy. Coming along. Yeah. Good. What colour are you gonna paint it? No, we're not painting it. (ALL CHUCKLE) No, this is it. Right. It may silver up over the years, but that will be the only change. Probably just as well I'm not in charge of decorating, because it's the natural world that draws people to Tiritiri. It's unusual to see people welcomed to and island that's also a wildlife sanctuary. And that makes Tiritiri Matangi pretty special. John Craig was one of a handful of scientists conducting research here in the 1970s. When the Parks Board declared the island a scientific reserve, they proposed closing it to the public. And I was the belief the reverse was more important, that we needed to bring people here and show them the joys of New Zealand wildlife. Many people were against it. There was a very strong belief that people and rare species didn't mix. Their plans were also hampered by people who believed the climate and size of the island wouldn't suit the variety of bird species John and his colleagues wanted to introduce. No one believed takahes should come here. They believed they were a South Island bird from high alpine areas, whereas in early Maori times, they were throughout New Zealand. So, I ended up having to go and have a meeting with the minister of conservation, who decided he would counter his advice from his officials and say that we could have a breeding population. Cos officials said you couldn't? Exactly, yep. So they then gave us two males to set up the breeding population. Oh! As a biological rules, two chaps on their own charged with saving their species are doomed to failure. But not the omnisexual takahe. A lot of New Zealand birds don't worry about the gender of their partner, so the two males` Good on them. ...mated with each other. They built a nest. They were then given a fertilised egg to nurture. They hatched a female chick, and the rest is history, really. That's so beautiful. They should have been the spokespeople for the marriage equality bill. They should've, shouldn't they? First. I like it a lot. (CHUCKLES) Now there are seven takahe on the island, along with 70 other species, many of them rare or endangered. Next ` conservation on the Gulf's most distant island. I think we've got one. * Following the map Mum unwittingly left for me, my exploration into conservation takes me to Aotea Great Barrier. 93km from Auckland, Aotea is the largest island in the Gulf, at 285km2. But not too many people live there. The birds here are amazing today. The birds. Yeah. They don't mind the rain, do they? They don't go into their nests for the day. No. It will be lovely to hear the kokako come back too. Cara has traditional links to Aotea. So it's fitting she's one of the island's DOC rangers. Cos your family have been here` I mean, you are` Yeah. ...mana whenua, yeah. I am mana whenua of the island. 60% of the island is administered by DOC, and much of that land is covered in regenerating native bush. Sadly, the original forests were heavily milled for the kauri, which covered large parts of the island. Milling continued here until about 1941, long after most of the mainland kauri forests were finished. When my mum visited the Barrier, ranger Fuller took her to see a grove of young kauri trees. In this grove, they're not the seeded plants which spring by their thousands in the leaf mould. They're raised in nurseries and then brought back to the bush. Those young trees were part of a replanting programme happening on the island at the time. Cara is taking me to see that same grove. Kauri are very slow-growing, but it's been more than 50 years since Mum saw them, so I'm expecting to see quite a change. Oh my gosh, is this... the kauri grove that mum would've visited? Yes, it is. Isn't it devastating? That's kauri dieback. This is not what I was expecting. Yeah. It's so sad. So it starts of the base of the trunk, but then it dies from the top down. Ugh. Kauri dieback is caused by a specific fungus, which only attacks kauri trees. When Mum came to this spot, it's unlikely to have been here, because it wasn't until the 1970s when the first case was recorded, and it was here on Great Barrier. (SOMBRE MUSIC) I just wanted to see big healthy trees. This wasn't the only area. It's pretty much spread throughout the northern end of the island anyway. And is there any hope for them? No. Once they've got it, they've got it. Oh. OK, that's kinda broken my heart. Yeah. Come on. With no known cure, DOC try to isolate the outbreaks. The fungal spores of kauri dieback attack a tree by going down through the soil and entering its root system. And it's thought that humans helped spread the disease by carrying it on the soles of our shoes. Up on the higher reaches of Aotea, I find a more heartening conservation story. Tim Higham is a champion of the area, on behalf of the Hauraki Gulf forum. He's taken me up to Windy Canyon to meet Jo and Brook. Gidday. How you going? Hey, Tim. How are you? Good. They help to monitor the world's biggest black petrel breeding colony, with able assistance from Rua, the petrel-sniffing dog. How many years have you been doing this? I've been doing black petrels for almost 20 years. So, have you formed quite a relationship with some of these petrel families? You know who they are. Well, we do call it Coronation Street, because it's been such a long-term study with these burrows that they come back to every year, and then sometimes the bird won't come back and they might get a new mate, so that's why we call it Coronation Street. Rua's been trained to sniff out the petrels in their burrows. Show us what you know, Rua. And we're tagging along thanks to the camera we've attached to his collar. We've got one. Within minutes, Rua hits the avian jackpot. Rua's indicating on the burrow. And he's sort of standing on it. I'll just check. Oh, yep. There's definitely a bird. Good boy, Rua. Last time I was up here, they had the eggs, so it's neat to come back and see the next stage. Good boy, Rua. The black petrel, or taiko, ventures all the way to Central and South America during the non-breeding season. But to breed, they make the long journey back to Aotea and its neighbouring island Hauturu, or Little Barrier. The male and female bird share nesting duties as well as catering. This is the dad, and he's clearly not very happy. Shall we just hold that bill closed? It's estimated about a thousand nesting pairs nest on Aotea and another hundred on Hauturu. So, we'll probably hear the chick when we put him back in the burrow. And mum's in there too? No. Well, I don't think so. It's quite a small burrow. Maybe she's off down the shop. She's gone` Yeah, getting squid. Yeah. Black petrels often follow fishing vessels in the hope of being fed, which puts them at risk of being caught in nets or on lines. Uh-uh. That's partly why they're endangered and this research is so important. Not unlike John Craig's open sanctuary approach on Tiritiri, Tim sees a benefit to making these creatures more accessible. This is the fourth trip that I've made up here. The ones trips that I've been on, we've brought up fishermen, and learning how special they are really motivates them to go back on to their boats and work out how they can fish and not capture those birds. They've now turned their mind to what they can do, and they've become, you know, seabird-smart fishermen. Next ` an island with a totally different approach to protecting wildlife ` splendid isolation. There she goes. There she goes. She's in. (CHUCKLES) * To complete my tour of conservation sanctuaries in the Gulf, I'm off to Hauturu, or Little Barrier, roughly 38km from Sandspit, north of Auckland. Unlike the other islands, Hauturu is a closed sanctuary. All visits are strictly controlled by DOC, and all our gear has been inspected and cleaned, and this is a specially approved boat. Today I have travelling companions ` a pod of dolphins and a pair of humans, Susi and David. That's the new boat shed, about where our one was. Yeah. And they're understandably excited about where we're going. The present ranger is Roger Blanshard. He and his wife, Anne, and their four children are the sole inhabitants of Little Barrier. There's the new house there. Yeah. Gosh, what a change. It's almost 50 years since Susi and David were last on Hauturu. The only safe landing is at Titoki Point. The currents make it hard at most times, and impossible in the Gulf's fierce southwesters. Mum was right. It's not an easy island to land on, and if the wind had been blowing any harder, we'd have been turned away. Whoa! (INDISTINCT CONVERSATION) OK, lovely. Thank you. Rangers Leigh and Richard Walle and their two children, Liam and Mahina, are the modern-day equivalents of the Blanshard family. I'll just ring out my dress. Being so isolated, life for the Walles is very much about self-reliance and being resourceful. A big part of the year, it's maintenance and upkeep on the island. So, anything that breaks down, it's good to have somebody with, sort of, a broad range of skills. Solar panels provide power, and supplies are brought in every few weeks. People think you're actually quite isolated, and we've had people say, 'Oh, you're turning into hermits. You know, what are you doing out there?' But it's actually very social. We get a lot of researchers coming out to the island, a lot of volunteers. For entertainment, they have almost 3000ha of bush to explore. Hauturu-Little Barrier has been a reserve since 1894 and has been described as the most intact ecosystem in the country. As rangers, Leigh and Richard play a vital part in preserving the island's flora and fauna. See if I can find him here. Ah, look at that. Tuatara used to be widespread, but when early Maori introduced the kiore rat and later Europeans brought more pests, their numbers dropped, first on the mainland, then the islands. About there? Snout end ` 1-2-2. A 1991 survey counted only eight adult tuatara on Hauturu-Little Barrier, but pest eradication and a breeding programme have seen the population increase to around 300. This is a skinny one, this one. Leigh and Richard help incubate and hatch the tuatara eggs. Then the young go into these enclosures until they're old enough to be released. Hi, guys. Here, Liam, can I carry that for you? Yes, please. While Leigh and Richard work, the island's former residents, Susi and David, compare their childhood experiences with Liam and Mahina. This is where we used to go swimming most. Uh-huh. From this beach, cos 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. (LAUGHS) Yeah. I like that term, and are you going to go for the great scallop hunt this afternoon for us? Definitely, and we try and catch a crayfish. Wonderful. Where's your secret crayfish spot? It shall not be mentioned on television. (ALL LAUGH) Well, that's fair enough. Every man's gotta have a secret. (CHUCKLES) The boulders haven't gotten any smaller. (LAUGHS) No. I take David and Susi off for a spot of beachcombing. I'm curious to know how the island has changed for their perspective. One of the things that's really nice to see ` the birdlife so much closer to the house and such a big variety, and the bush has encroached a lot closer to the house. Modern technology has caught up with the island too with the solar panels. Yes. And I mean, they've got gas. Gas, yeah. And they've got a tractor to actually move stuff around now. That's quite something. Poor old Mum and Dad had to carry everything. Can you imagine Mum picking up drums of diesel. Most people say 'what do we do with our spare time'. Well, they don't realise just how much there is to do just existing on an island. And there's still lots to do. Run into a tuatara. The Walles have invited us to help them release two tuatara. If you had any doubts about Hauturu-Little Barrier being our most intact ecosystem, this cacophony clears them up. (BIRDSONG) How about somewhere in here, Richard? We could go... Yeah, that looks a good spot. Maybe... That rock looks` Yeah. We're releasing two females. Each one gets her own architecturally designed burrow. We need to have a place where they can come out and sit in front and just notice if any food's going past. And what's the favourite food? Anything that walks past. (LAUGHS) We've called this one Annie in honour of your mum. I'll just have to pull the leaves out first. We put the leaves in so she doesn't hurt her snout against the end of the tube. There she is. Great. There she goes. Beauty. Perfect. She's run straight into her little house. Oh, it's a nice one. Gorgeous. And I think if we get another male, we'll see if we can get a Roger out there as well. Fantastic. And we'll try and release Roger somewhere close to Annie and Susi. That's be wonderful. Yeah. The tuatara is just one of 14 different kinds of reptile on the island. There are also two types of bat, loads of insects including the giant weta, and 40 species of bird. Together, they make up the most diverse array of fauna on any of our offshore islands. As the sun goes down, the Walles take us on a hunt for one of Hauturu-Little Barrier's more elusive inhabitants ` the kiwi. The trick is to listen for the rustle, so look out for the rustle and the movement in the grass, guys, and that's hopefully` might just see a bum. If we're lucky, we might hear them calling. And the males sound quite fierce. Like this. (IMITATES KIWI WHISTLE) As the females sound more like this. (GRUNTS) That was great, Liam. That was very good. Nice work. If only the kiwi were as easy to spot as tuatara. (MALE KIWI CALLS) (FEMALE KIWI GRUNTS) There's one there. There's one. There's one there. We're in luck. There's the bum. There he is. If you're nice and quiet, you hear it. And there's the unique beak of our national symbol. (BIRDSONG) When Mum made her programmes in 1964, conservation wasn't quite as fashionable as it is today. Although I know Mum cared deeply for our flora and fauna. And I know she'd be heartened to see how her beloved islands have become sanctuaries for so many of our vulnerable animals and plants. In the next episode ` finding work on the islands of the Hauraki Gulf isn't always easy. But some people are finding new and exciting ways to make an island living. In the wintertime, do you have to go back to digging? Is there enough ferry action? Oh, no, it's seven days a week. We originally thought of a yurt as something that we can live in for a couple of years while we designed and built our dream house. When we first started, we didn't know anything about wine or growing grapes. You're going to catch something quite big with that, aren't you? Of course. (CHUCKLES) Copyright Able 2018