They are legend, as the few who ever venture there are legend.
As far south as you can sail and still be in New Zealand waters, the Snares, Auckland, Campbell, Antipodes and Bounty sub-Antarctic island groups have spawned thrilling sailors’ yarns and chilling castaway tales since ships first encountered their wild beauty hundreds of years ago.
A rare find in today’s world, they are nature’s alone and alone enough to have evolved the rarest of nature. Alone, that is, until summer when millions of birds and hundreds of thousands of marine mammals arrive – and a few fortunate cruise ship passengers arrive to watch them.
This summer, three luxury expedition cruise lines offer those lucky few a variety of sub-Antarctic itineraries to choose from. As you would expect of sumptuous travel to a remote destination, none comes cheap, so it pays to learn a little about the island groups before selecting the best cruise itinerary for you.
READ MORE:
* The couple who have travelled the world to see every species of penguin
* Second expedition cruise for southerners on the way
* Expedition cruise organised ‘especially’ for southerners
* Now could be the time for that once-in-lifetime Antarctic trip
* Why a voyage to New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands should be your next adventure
While each group has its distinct historical and geological significance, it is for the outstanding flora and fauna that most visitors come. Collectively, the islands host more than 40 seabird species, many rare and endemic land bird and invertebrate species, migrating great whales, and multiple sea lion, seal and Southern elephant seal populations. Some are found nowhere else in the world, as are many of the plant species, most notably the spectacular sub-Antarctic megaherbs.
Sadly, the islands’ fragile ecologies all but collapsed in the 1800s and 1900s at the rapacious hands of whalers and sealers and as humans brought exotic species ashore. The only ones to remain relatively unscathed were the Snares, likely because sea captains gave them a wide berth.
Their perceived threat to shipping was how the Snares got their cautionary English name. However, at a day’s sail from Stewart Island/Rakiura, they still present the most accessible option for those wanting a tiny taste of the sub-Antarctics.
Home to more seabirds than the entire British Isles, the Snares’ skies are dense with them, especially in the breeding season when around 4 million sooty shearwaters commute between their nests and ocean feeding grounds.
Shore landings are prohibited here, but that doesn’t impact viewing. The Snares’ steep granite cliffs plummet deep below the sea surface, allowing ships to sail close enough to observe the penguin, seal and bird activity. And, be ready for full immersion in the action when weather conditions permit launching of the ship’s inflatable zodiacs.
Some 940km east of the Snares sits another bountiful island group – by name and by nature.
The 20 granite islets comprising the Bounty Islands were discovered by the ill-fated Captain Bligh and named for his infamous ship. In total, they measure just 1.35 hectares, yet summer sees every cliff crammed with nesting birds, and the lower slopes heaving with squabbling penguins and seals.
That’s good news for the seals. Two centuries ago only a handful remained, sealers having taken more than 50,000. Thankfully, a zodiac trip around the accessible Bounty islands today reveals varietal and recovered ecosystems, above and below the water.
More remote still are the Antipodes Islands, a 20-square hectare archipelago 860km southeast of Stewart Island/Rakiura. First sighted in 1800, the next 212 years would see a sorry tale of mice and men.
Sealers, whalers, shipwrecks and attempts to farm brought habitat destruction and pests, most notably mice. The little critters numbered a staggering 200,000-plus by the time the Million Dollar Mouse programme kickstarted in 2012, eradicating every last rodent and giving the penguin, albatross, petrel and parakeet populations space to recover.
That’s what visitors now come for, unless they are mad dog Englishmen seeking inclusion on the elite list of those who have stood on the Earth position most diametrically opposed to London – the Antipodes.
Sail southwest from the Antipodes and you’ll eventually bump into the Auckland Islands. Sadly, many a hapless ship has, ferocious storms and inaccurate early maps accounting for most Auckland Islands’ wrecks, perhaps the most famous being the reputedly gold-laden General Grant in 1866. Numerous expeditions have sought her location and bullion since, with none having admitted to finding either.
However, most Auckland Islands’ visitors now come seeking their natural wealth. Expedition cruises commonly land at Enderby Island in the north of the group, where crew members ward off frisky sea lions while passengers navigate the island walks through twisted rata forest, fields of megaherbs, line-ups of yellow-eyed penguins and nesting albatross.
Southern right whales, seals and New Zealand sea lions are another summer drawcard here, and the reason the surrounding waters have been declared a marine sanctuary and marine reserve.
Southeast of the Auckland Islands, Campbell Island is the largest of the Campbell group, at over 11,000 hectares. It rises 500m at its highest point above Perseverance Harbour, another favoured shore landing location and the site of a World War Two signal station, the grave of the mythical Lady of the Heather, and the loneliest tree in the world.
Rare native teal and immature sea lion bulls often greet passengers as they come ashore at the wharf, beyond which a well-maintained boardwalk passes an active scientific station, megaherb gardens and nesting albatross to reach the summit of Beeman Hill and its expansive island views.
While the Campbells are New Zealand’s most southern sub-Antarctic islands, anyone venturing that far should also consider Australia’s amazing Macquarie Island, to the southwest.
Its wildlife matched in ‘wow’ factor only by the unique geology, torrid history and incredible conservation success story, to land on Macquarie during breeding season is to become instantly one with its colonies of basking and battling elephant seals and millions-strong assemblies of king and royal penguins.
It is in the breeding, birthing and plant blooming months of December to February that all sub-Antarctic islands are best visited. Of the three expedition cruise companies voyaging there this summer, New Zealand’s homegrown Heritage Expeditions leaves port first on 23 November, 2022. Their stellar summer line-up of six further sub-Antarctic cruises ranges in length from eight to 17 days and features anything from one island group to all of them, plus Chatham and Macquarie Islands.
Also sailing our sub-Antarctic seas this season is international adventure cruise company, Lindblad Expeditions. In collaboration with National Geographic, their 20-day New Zealand-specific voyage stops at our mainland coastal hot spots, Macquarie Island and all our sub-Antarctic island groups except Bounty and the Antipodes.
Lindblad/National Geographic also takes polar adventuring to new heights this summer with a magnificent 34-day, semi-circumnavigation of Antarctica, starting and ending at Argentina’s Ushaia and Dunedin, and visiting Macquarie and the Auckland Islands along the way.
Enterprising and experienced French expedition cruise company, Ponant, also teams with National Geographic this summer for two 14-day New Zealand sub-Antarctic voyages, calling at all the island groups except Bounty, but including Macquarie.
While these voyages aren’t for everyone, to venture to New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands is to go where few will ever go and see what few will ever see. But, you must love wild oceans, wildlife, wrapping up warm and returning with remarkable stories to tell, stories that grow the legend that is New Zealand’s wild south, the legend that now includes you.
To learn more about New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic Islands, go doc.govt.nz/nature/habitats/offshore-islands/new-zealands-subantarctic-islands/
To learn more about Lindblad/ National Geographic cruise itineraries: au.expeditions.com
To learn more about Ponant cruise itineraries, go to: en.ponant.com
To learn more about Heritage Expeditions’ cruise itineraries, go to: heritage-expeditions.com
Sue Halliwell is a Whangārei-based travel writer who spent 15 years as an expedition crew member on cruise ships touring New Zealand, its sub-Antarctic Islands and Macquarie Island.
© 2022 Stuff Limited