b'Feature There are miles of land-based spots for keen rock hoppers.Brent packed up on the quadIS HERE!bike with light tackle to exploreSpring means snapperthe inlets and rocks for fishing. are on the bite!I always tell people theis the mix of unique wildlife,how the Preece name threaded Chatham Islands are likehaunting scenery and layeredthrough my dads memories of Stewart Island on steroidshuman histories that still seem tofriends from the Chathams.- bigger creatures, wilderremain in the soil and salty air. I brought an inflatable kayak with coastline and marine lifeme because I wanted to slip past that feels almost Jurassic- KP BUSH RETREAT the blasted rocks and the forests of like. Walk the shoreline andI had visited before, but thisbull kelp, to escape the swells and you find yourself suspendedtime I decided to go on my ownto see the coastline the way only a between two timesthe presenttimetable and treat the islands assmall boat can. Theres something day with its screeching gulls, quirkythe last frontier of outdoor fishingirreverent about paddling through inlets and fishing boats, and thenadventures beyond the more well- a kelp highway waving ribbons that a deeper, weather-scoured past ofknown crayfish and paua fisheries.shelter tiny and gigantic worlds. the Moriori as the first settlers ofI stayed with long-lost friends JohnThe water here has a clarity and the islands and then the Europeanand Bridget Preece at the incrediblea coldness that bites your fingers sealers and whalers who followed. Kp Bush Retreat, tucked intothrough neoprene. As you pushIf your bottom bashing for pannies There is an atmosphere therefoothills that are hunting and fishingoff a black rock platform and glideor moochers, weve got you that you cant quite put intonirvana. John is a hard, wild spiritinto the open, the land recedes words, a hush thats broken by a perfect mix of Moriori, Ngtiinto a living map of coves, cliffs,covered - with our legendarythe wind, the slap of a swell onMutunga and Welsh, and over theand teeth-like reefs. The horizonSnapper Snatcher and Snack range!basalt and the distant caw of shaglast few years weve become goodlurches away and suddenly youre colonies. What makes it specialmates. Through them I learnedthe only moving thing for miles.the best by test.20FISHING IN GODZONE MAGAZINE'