Oh wow! Where do I even start? Maybe by saying that I did not want to leave this incredible place when it was time to go home. Even now, just thinking about it makes me want to pack my bags and head straight back. Mayor Island is like hidden paradise.
Why do I say hidden? Because when the trip came up I signed up for two reasons. One, I absolutely fell in love with hiking (as you might all have noticed) and as a result I sign up for all the overnight trips; and two, because it had the word “island” in the description. But somehow I thought it was White Island I was going to (don’t ask me how I came to that conclusion). It wasn’t until closer to the time, when people started to ask where I was going for the weekend, that I decided to Google it and, oh my gosh, I couldn’t believe what I discovered!
For starters, you need a boat to get there. Okay, not such a surprise because it is an island, but you also need to get a permission to land as it’s a privately owned island and rodent free.
The first thing that happened on landing—well, after Viki the caretaker personally welcomed us—was to go through quarantine, mainly to check for any seeds that could be stuck in our gear.
Viki, who lives on the island permanently with her partner, made the whole quarantine check very easy and simple, and even told us that she really likes tramping groups because they’re organised, everyone comes with one bag and not multiple bags like other visitors, along with their heaps of food and crates of beer.
The accommodation was pretty basic, but it didn’t take me long to realise it was actually more like a five-star hotel. Why do I say that? Well, no overnight trips are permitted on the island, meaning you can go out and explore for a whole day but you need to return each night to the base in South East Bay, which is also the only bay that permits prearranged landings.
This means that you can leave all your overnight gear in the hut (or tent, if you choose to camp) and explore with just a daypack.
How wonderful is that? You get to trot around with just a light pack all day, and in the evening come back to all your gear. And if that’s not enough, there are flushing toilets and hot showers!
The showers had a wetback operating in the afternoon, so as soon as the fire was on, the hot showers started flowing. Even if we needed a shower before then, it was no problem. The cold water was nice and refreshing, too, and at the end of the day it was still a shower. What luxury.
What’s the island itself like? Well, when the boat was turning into South East Bay I thought we were on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean; all that was missing was Johnny Depp and a bottle of rum. The sun was shining, without a cloud in the sky. It looked like paradise to me.
Our shoes came off and we had to jump straight into water to get to the shore, which just added to the magic. After settling in we all put our boots on and headed uphill to the trig, the highest point on the island, with Opuahau sitting at 354 metres. Some people went back to South East Bay for a swim, while others explored a little more of the island before heading back.
The next day, Saturday, our three groups all decided to walk around the entire island. The walk was amazing, with plenty of stops for friendly fantails and the sound of kaka.
The island is volcanic, with Green and Black Lake in its crater. Our route took us past Green Lake and up to Devil’s Staircase, which turned out to be a ladder and not a staircase at all—a little scary, but amazing. Just before the ladder, we stopped for a group photo in front of a magnificent piece of obsidian rock wall, with a cathedral shape that opened up to the most stunning view of Green Lake. The Maori name for the island is tuhua, which means obsidian, a jet-black glassy stone that’s formed by the rapid cooling of silica-rich lava. The early Maori used it for cutting and scraping tools and weapons. These days taking obsidian from the island is forbidden. At first I didn’t even notice it, but after it was pointed out to me I could see it everywhere. The deeper into the island we went, the bigger the obsidian rocks seemed to be.
After conquering the ladder, it was a nice gentle walk back to the base for a swim, hot shower and dinner.
On the last day, the boat wasn’t due to leave until about four o’clock. I’d missed seeing Black Lake so, me being me, I wanted to go back into the crater. But there was one little glitch: everyone else wanted to stay in the bay and enjoy the last day. I couldn’t blame them, but I really wanted to go.
I was lucky. Garry offered to go back with me, even reassuring me that we had enough time to do the round trip and get back by lunchtime. I was ready and determined. I would walk fast and take no photos (unlike half of the previous day).
The walk was fantastic. Going down the Devil’s Staircase wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined and we were down at Green Lake in no time, even with a bit of spare time to walk the whole length of it. Then it was time for Black Lake. Yay!
Once we got there, Garry came up with the crazy idea of having a swim.
“What?” I said. “No way! Are you serious?” He was.
I started analysing the lake, checking the depth of the mud, the smell of the dark yellowy-orange water. I decided it couldn’t be worse than swimming in the muddy carp pond where I grew up in Europe. With only a tiny bit of hesitation, I went in.
Oh my gosh! The water was amazingly warm. Our arms looked dark orange and when we put them underwater they disappeared in the darkness altogether.
We were swimming in the middle of the crater. Wow! With the high rim of the crater all around us, it was the most amazing, crazy thing I’ve done and something that will stay with me forever. So thank you, Garry.
Our stay on the island was made even more magical when we spotted a seal that had called the bay its home. It seemed to enjoy the attention, posing for the cameras and swimming from one end of the bay to the other. It also performed tricks, like standing on its head in the water with just its tail showing, and swimming sideways with its flipper poking above the water.
The sunrise in the bay was also magical, showing the most amazing colours. And if all this wasn’t already enough, on the way back to the mainland the skipper spotted two pods of dolphins. Oh my. I really did not want to go back to civilisation and day-to-day reality.
Thank you, Katy, for organising such a wonderful trip.