The sub-Antarctic islands.  Not so much on our doorstep but definitely in our hood.  Of all the nature freaks I know and love only a few possess an intimate knowledge of this far-flung, incredibly wild place.  As for the regular town folk in my life, the ones who drive their cars to the gym where they can ride bikes indoors, safely tucked away from those pesky, unpredictable elements, well they know nothing of these places.  I hope this trip will change that.

We are the caretakers of a place that’s hard to describe without sounding like a lonely planet travel writer on ecstasy.  It is incredibly beautiful here, surreal in its isolation and wildness.  But it’s not just the lonely landscapes and deep, amazingly clear, full oceans that make it special. It’s the creatures that call this Worl... Read more >

We’ve been at anchor in Port Ross at the northern end of Auckland Island for two days now. For most of that time our documentary team has been off the ship walking the islands or puttering around the coast in a small inflatable boat. They’ve been to Enderby Island, Rose Island and the main Auckland Island.

The rest of us have been mostly ship-bound but we did get the opportunity to go to the old Hardwicke Settlement briefly yesterday, and today walked the track from Sandy Bay up to the lookout and back. It was A M A Z I N G – a word that is suffering some serious over-use here at the moment. This is among the wildest places on Earth. Some of the islands are close to pristine as you can get and being here feels a little like we’ve stepped into Jurassic Park.

It’s the middle of summer -... Read more >

For close to two years we’ve been asking Sealord, New Zealand’s largest brand of canned tuna, to stop selling tuna which is caught using a method that destroys countless marine creatures, including sharks, baby tuna and turtles.

Yesterday Sealord took a small step in the right direction but it’s still quite a few paces behind the growing number of brands, here and overseas, that are phasing out tuna caught using the destructive fishing method which combines fish aggregating devices (FADs) and purse seine nets.

Sealord has just signed a pledge with WWF to try and reduce the bycatch levels in its supply chain. In other words it realises it’s not a good look to be buying tuna from vessels which are also hauling in the cast of Nemo and throwing most of them back into the ocean dead or dying. ... Read more >

Today we passed to the east of Stewart Island and continued sailing south towards an area of sea known to be amongst the wildest on the planet. So far it’s been relatively calm, which is a relief, but also, if dare I say so, slightly disappointing. I’ve heard tales of 10 metre swells and part of me wants to feel what that’s like!

When we think of New Zealand we mainly think of the two or three biggest islands but there is more to New Zealand than meets the eye. If you look at this region on a map you can see a line of small islands running in a long curve starting 600 kms south of Stewart Island, starting with Campbell Island running through the Auckland Islands and up to the Chatham Islands. This line of islands is in fact the peaks of the highest mountains of the sunken continent known... Read more >

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and only five Minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently.” - Warren Buffet

Yesterday we spoke about the 70% of export revenue that is directly attributable to New Zealand’s clean green principled reputation - worth $36.7 Billion to our economy each year.

Today, before we really get into this, I just want to say a quick word about the timing of big oil coming to New Zealand…2012 brought Hurricane Sandy to New York, Floods to the U.K., and saw Australia burn.  In short 2012 brought climate change to the front doors of the developed World.  Obama even talked about it in his recent inauguration speech.

“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and futu... Read more >