Great Barrier - Our own treasure island

COLIN MOORE gets away to Great Barrier and slips into Crusoe mode with the help of some colourful island hands.

Did you hear the one about the farmer from a Hauraki Gulf island who, flying with the legendary Fred Ladd, precision-bombed his prize bull with parts needed for a tractor stranded in the same paddock?

Or the well-lubricated bloke who blasted away at his wife's turkeys ravaging his vege garden and caused an armed offenders squad turnout?

And then there was the ... no, best you hear that one from Tusitala himself. Bob Whitmore is the teller of tales of Great Barrier Island, a natural raconteur who can turn a day in a mini-bus traversing the island's often tortuous roads into hours of delightful entertainment, together with many photo opportunities.

Mine hosts, Michael and Penny Gardiner of Oasis Lodge, say they could show me around this island, which lies as a barrier to the Hauraki Gulf, but Whitmore, of Bob's Island Tours, can do it so much better.

Bob Whitmore is part of Barrier lore himself. He first visited the island on a pheasant-shooting and fishing trip in 1957, when the boat journey took seven hours and - as the stories go and the photos prove - you could pluck seafood out of the Barrier waters at will.

He camped next to the old council chambers so he could use the water from the building's rain tank. This was on the island's main road but he safely set up his kitchen in the middle of it because it was flat ground.

Whitmore became a Barrier convert and, with a mate who had a Tiger Moth, made regular fishing sorties until deciding, 40 years ago, that there was no point going back to Auckland. So he bought a boat and became a commercial fisherman for 17 years, riding the gulf snapper boom.

His wife Tipi took in guests to keep her company while he was at sea. When he sold his fishing quotas and came ashore, their home on the Tryphena Harbour waterfront had become Tipi and Bob's Holiday Lodge, the only motel on Great Barrier Island.

The motel is now half-owned and half-run by his stepson and daughter-in-law, Peter and Margery Harris. Its courtesy coach became Bob's Tours, which now comprises a small fleet of vehicles.

At Medlands Beach we stop to visit the pioneering Medland family's museum. It's in the old wash-house, a collection of bric-a-brac and memorabilia saved and stored by Alan and Grace (nee Medland) Benson.

In true Barrier style, where a single telephone call with five rings was all it took to invite everyone on the island to a party, Alan, Bob and I find we all went to the same school, and reminisce about a few abominable teachers and the words of the school motto.

Michael Gardiner is an old Barrier hand, too. Back in the 1950s he went AWOL from his pharmacy studies and persuaded a few surfing mates to spend eight months on the island exploring its surf beaches.

They lived off the land, or, more precisely, the sea. It was like a fully stocked larder. Gardiner shows us the photographs.

My son is staggered by the surf and envious of a time when there were no other surfers to drop in on you.

I'm staggered by the fish. They're still there, although Gardiner now uses scuba gear to get them. He'd picked up a good feed the day before.

Gardiner surfed and sailed the Pacific. His wife Penny soaked up Hemingway's Spain. Eventually they came home and built a bach at Medlands Beach in the days when more than one person on the foreshore constituted a crowd.

Seven years ago they ran away to the island for good, trading in their beachside bach for a 5ha property with views of Tryphena Harbour and room for a small vineyard, a lodge and two boisterous dogs (plus two others who prefer to sleep.)

Their island oasis, 30 minutes by air or 90 minutes by ferry from Auckland, reflects their former lifestyles - a duster's nightmare of Pacific Island carvings and Spanish ceramics.

Michael Gardiner has opened the island's first pharmacy, but the dried shells of a couple of huge crayfish tacked to the lodge wall tell of his true passion.

The kitchen duties are fairly evenly shared.

He cooks us a huge breakfast, Penny prepares the evening meal. I choose creamy chowder of Barrier mussels cooked with garlic, basil, onions and chilli, finished with sour cream, followed by fresh Barrier snapper coated with gremolata, served with tartare sauce, sauteed potatoes, fresh green beans, julienned carrots, with fresh basil and "The Priest Faints Again" - sauteed eggplant baked in the oven with a homemade tomato sauce.

To finish there are mini coconut pavlovas with passionfruit, kiwi, whipped cream and vanilla ice cream.

Some oasis. And I can even watch the Super 12 on television.

It becomes clear that Great Barrier is inhabited by converts when next day the Gardiners take me for morning drinks to fellow lodge owners and friends, Sandy and Richard Lintott, of Foromor Lodge at Medlands Beach.

Richard decided he was too young to retire after he pocketed the proceeds from the sale of his business, so the couple built a lodge on the holiday property they owned on the beach front.

The lodge is designed like a group of tents, which is how the Lintott family had enjoyed Barrier summers for many years. It means that each of the two guest rooms has its own privacy.

The Lintotts provide everything for their guests, including taking them fishing or guiding them on various walks.

Come back for the surfing, says Michael Gardiner to my son.

Come back for some fishing, suggests Richard Lintott.

Come back and escape, say Penny and Sandy, and bring your wife.

How does next week sound?

CASENOTES

GETTING THERE: Great Barrier Airlines, daily from Auckland and North Shore, from $139 return; children $99. Ph: (09) 256 6500, Website www.gbair.co.nz


Fullers Ferries, Friday, Sunday ex-Auckland, $70 return; children $35. Ph: (09) 367 9111, www.fullers.co.nz

WHERE TO STAY: Barrier Oasis Lodge, Tryphena, $230/couple b&b, $360 all meals. Ph: (09) 429 0021. barrieroasislodge@xtra.co.nz

Tipi and Bob's Holiday Lodge, Tryphena, from $120 a couple/night. Ph: (09) 429 0550.

Foromor Lodge, Medlands Beach, $300 p.p. including ferry and airport transfers, meals and fishing and guiding. Ph: (09) 529 9225. E-mail: rlintott@clear.net.nz

WHAT TO DO: Bob's Island Tours. Ph: (09) 429 0988. E-mail: bobstours@islands.co.nz

MORE INFO: www.outandabout.co.nz

* Colin Moore visited Great Barrier courtesy of Great Barrier Airlines, Fullers Auckland, Bob's Island Tours and Oasis Lodge.