Heartland - Chatham Islands

Television (Full Length Episode) – 1993

Gary McCormick travels to the furthest corner of New Zealand to hang out with fishermen, farmers, and ghosts. McCormick reads the weather report for the local radio station (the forecast is more rain), explores the vibrant nightlife, endures a ministerial speech at the opening of a new wharf facility, and goes hunting at night for a local delicacy: weka. Living so remotely has made Chatham Islanders self reliant but some take independence to new levels by carrying out their own surgery. This instalment of the series is notable for some especially beautiful location photography by Swami Hansa.

It lasts about a week, and then you want to come home. I stayed out for two months and when I came home, boom. Everything was bliss. You get out there and you think, wow, I really do have the good life.
– Celestine Lanauze on returning home from mainland New Zealand