Page 22 - 2008 NZ SUB ANTARCTIC ISLANDS - SMARTPHONE

With statistics whirling around in our anxious minds and mixed with the warnings staff were
giving us that many times it is impossible to make a landing on Campbell because of the weather,
we all stood alert and apprehensive as the Clipper Odyssey made its way through the long fjord
up to the beautiful harbor. The scenery was wild and magnificent with huge cliffs decorated with
columnar basalt and madly slashing tussock grasses. What a magnanimous gift Mother Nature
bestowed on us. We easily clambered aboard the Zodiacs to speed to shore over a calm sea with
bright blue sunshine showering down on the island and on us, its grateful visitors.

We were greeted by a feisty Hooker’s sea lion as we made our way from the landing site to the
beginning of the boardwalk. He was not really aggressive and did not impede our progress as we
walked on the iron sections of the pathway through the very dense bushes and onto the meadow
with its whitewashed wooden portion. The path was about 18 inches wide and we had been
warned not to step off the pathway unless absolutely necessary. The boardwalk made our walk
very easy despite the fact that it occasionally “stepped up” little hills. We really appreciated the
work of DOC personnel who had put it in when we reached its ending about midway towards our
destination.

Then our way became more laborious as we tussled our through the tussocks and the other
splendid megaherbs (see below). The walk up to the ridge of Mount Lyall took about an hour and
all the while we were in awe at the superb scenery, sharply outlined by the continuing blessed
sunshine.

Our understanding of the early human history on this island would never have prepared our
senses for the pristine glory of the rocky and lonely outpost just above the Southern Ocean. In
the early 1800s the island was the scene of seal hunting (until the fur seals were nearly
exterminated there) and whaling (until overhunting reduced their numbers to near extinction in
that locale).

The slaughter continued until the early 1840s. Afterwards, the island was left pretty much
undisturbed and might have recovered on its own until 1896 when it was leased out for sheep and
cattle husbandry. That almost fatal attack on the vegetation continued until 1931 when the lease
ran out and the government decided not to reissue such rental agreements. An automated weather
station was placed on the island that had to be checked infrequently. In 1954, the government
gave all the islands of the Campbell group National Reserve status. All feral cattle and sheep
were finally removed by 1984.

When DOC was given jurisdiction over the parks, reserves and forestlands, the agency also
became responsible for these Subantarctic land bits. A massive eradication program was begun
to clear this island of Norway rats that had been present for 200 years. Campbell was declared
rat-free in 2003! It was and is the largest rat eradication success story in the world.

Since that time, the native invertebrates, vegetation and seabirds have been steadily returning and
re-establishing themselves much more quickly than scientists dared wish. The Hooker’s sea lion
is still endangered for reasons the researchers are even now struggling to understand. In the
interim, they are protected and monitored on all these islands. The fur seals rebounded with a
huge success, probably due to lessened competition with whales for food. Whales are also
increasing their numbers now that hunting is prohibited in these waters and their numbers are
slowly but surely rising as well. Campbell Island teals (a native duck) have been successfully
relocated from the smaller rocky outpost islands and they too are making a steady comeback from
local extinction. DOC is justly proud of the success it has attained in all these islands and on
Campbell in particular.

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