Ex-mayor Monique 'NOTHING IS EASY!'

Living on remote Chatham Island, you need to wear many hats to survive

- Elisabeth Easther

My grandmother on Mum’s side was Ngāti Mutunga. She was born on the Chathams and lived on Wharekauri or Rēkohu – as the main island has three names – until she was 16. She moved to Auckland aged 30 and when I was about eight, my grandmother and my mum went back for a visit. That’s when Mum decided we should move here to have an adventure – even though our grandmother was sad we were leaving.

Mum and Dad bought a Kombi van, which we drove to Lyttleton, then we flew over on an old Bristol freighter from Christchurch, which took about five hours. The plane landed on a grass airstrip, then we took a bus to Waitangi and the Kombi came by sea. I was nine.

It was meant to be for a year, but after six months, Dad’s council job ended and he was offered the chance to run thecrayfish factory on Pitt Island. A fishing boat was part of the deal. We shifted to Pitt, which is even more remote. We were reliant on the cargo ship that came every six months and fi shing boats brought supplies in between. From a child’s perspective, Pitt was fantastic. We rode horses and our house was on a cliff looking back across Pitt Strait towards Chatham Island. You could watch the sea all day and be completely captivated.

The school on Pitt was tiny, with just one teacher and about 15 kids. Our teacher used to sit at his desk rolling cigarettes, then he’d send us off for runs. We were always training for cross country, but I realise now he just wanted to smoke, and have some peace and quiet.