Chatham Islanders

The Chatham Island archipelago is 45 minutes ahead and 800 kilometres east of Aotearoa. The land, the sea and the people are ruggedly beautiful - and there's more to these islands than what you see.

These remote islands have a profoundly beautiful and devastatingly sad history that is still felt today. A history so very rich, and so very dark.

Living on a rock in the middle of the ocean, 800 kilometres from Aotearoa, means the islanders have to be resilient, and over the years looking out for each other has become a way of life.

The main Chatham Island is the big smoke for the 46 inhabitants of Pitt Island. There are no shops, no petrol stations and it's a whole different world.

The land and the sea is everything on the Chatham Islands. Looking after the land and the sea, and also each other, is an essential part of life on this isolated archipelago.

As tourists flock to this 'undiscovered paradise' the locals wonder how tourism will change the lives they've always lived

Today is the beginning of a new story as Moriori rebuild their cultural traditions, language, identity and whakapapa, piecing it back together for future generations.