Diamonds in the sea _{by Madelaine Empson}

Great Barrier Island (Summer 2025)

Just 90 kilometres from the humming city of Auckland and yet entirely off grid, Aotea – Great Barrier Island has been described as one of the last true wilderness frontiers in Aotearoa. With no mains power or streetlights, highways or traffic, you might close your eyes and imagine a natural wonderland – rugged, untamed, untouched by people or time. And you’d be right, at least in part. By the numbers, Great Barrier Island has more than 60 percent native forest coverage, with over 100 kilometres of walking tracks and 20-plus beaches. The birdsong deafens, the stars blind. By all definitions, it’s a solar-powered paradise.

But 1200 people call it home. There are schools and stations spanning radio to radar, and many residents run businesses on the island, sometimes banding together to do so. The brewery uses coffee grinds from the roastery next door, the plant nursery uses water recycled from the brewery, and the cycle continues. These aren’t random analogies, but more on that later! In everything everyone on The Barrier does, there’s a focus on sustainability and a deep, inherent respect for the land. You can feel it when you arrive as the pace of life slows, your heartbeat eases into a regular rhythm, your nervous system regulates.

I’ve been so excited to write about my trip to Great Barrier Island with my partner Dan that I’ve jumped the gun a bit – we’ve got to get there first!

After making our way from Wellington to Auckland and then into Auckland CBD, we met Chris, CEO of Island Aviation, to start the next leg of our journey across the Hauraki Gulf to Great Barrier. Our time with Chris was filled with easy conversation and laughs, and we arrived at North Shore Airport bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Dan called shotgun immediately and got to sit at the front of the plane with Hobby, a pilot he had a great time chatting with for the 30-minute smooth and scenic flight. I watched out the window, gobsmacked the whole time. When we landed, Dan told me that Hobby had referred to Great Barrier Island as Jurassic Park, emerging from the mist as if by magic. Couldn’t agree more: the sight was breathtaking.

And so we had arrived on Great Barrier Island.

We were met at Claris Airport by Aotea Car Rentals, who handed us the keys to a trusty Toyota RAV4, perfect for handling some of the roads on the island. We’d heard to trust the signs that read ‘4WD only’ – they mean it!

Then it was time to unpack and unwind at XSPOT Medlands Beach House – and holy smokes! Architecturally and artfully designed, this luxe little accommodation was built brand new in 2024 to overlook Oruawharo Medlands Bay, offering ocean views from both bedrooms and the open-plan kitchen, dining, and living room. Elevated to float into the sky for supreme sunrises, sunsets, and stargazing, we settled in for a cosy one cuddled up, watching the clouds drift by as the day slowly folded into the dappled tapestry of night.

Out of the dead quiet of the wee hours came a dawn chorus from the local avian residents – I’ll take all my coffees with this soundtrack please! Although I don’t know if I can get away with adding a dash of gin to the ritual every morning… Our first stop was the multi-award-winning Island Gin, where we met owner and distiller Andi for a tasting and tour of her boutique Tryphena distillery and its star inhabitant, Frank, the copper pot still.

Andi talked us through their classic line, featuring your “usual suspects” botanicals alongside a special signature ingredient: mānuka bush honey from just down the road for a rounded mouth feel. As well as the original (simply a perfect gin), we sampled a limited-edition feijoa liqueur – delectably sweet but with that sharp feijoa twang – and the navy strength, which, despite being 57 percent, was dangerously smooth and easy drinking! A great touch of the tasting tour was learning about Island Gin’s bottles, designed to reflect the kīna shell and made by Auckland’s Visy Glass with 70 percent recycled glass. Every design detail of these reusable beauties is carefully considered – even the way the lid pops is artful.

From gin to coffee and beer, our next stop was a hub in walking distance from our accommodation featuring a craft brewery called Aotea Brewing Co., a coffee roastery called Aotea Roast Co., a food truck called Good Neighbours Food – talk about the tastebud trifecta – and a native plant nursery called Motu Community Nursery.

We started by meeting Chris and his 23-year-old Turkish gas-fired coffee roaster. Ryan made us cups of a 50/50 Colombian and Mexican medium-dark roast – a nutty brew with a hint of caramel – before bringing us through for a peek into the brewery. Spring, the wee dog pictured here with Ryan, was an excellent tour guide and showed off her sniffing skills. We heard about the challenges of solar distilling and temperature control (from Ryan, not Spring), and then sat down at the sunny bar to try some drops. The Solar Charged APA, a robust, amber-hued number with spice and stonefruit tingling on the tongue, was a highlight. Dan enjoyed the Eagle Eggs Hazy Pale Ale, named after that scene in Nacho Libre when Jack Black eats eagle eggs for strength. Who needs spinach, right?

Then like an angel from carb heaven, Lucia appeared and offered us sandwiches from Good Neighbours, the food truck with an Argentinian flair. Dan and I gratefully demolished the Moroccan chicken and the vegetarian creations, nestled in pillowy yet perfectly crisp homemade focaccia. Lucia came to join us for chats with Bree at the retail nursery site amongst the eco-sourced natives, where we learned all about Motu’s sustainability efforts and projects. The whole village has a great atmosphere, with community spirit growing in the vines, sprinkled in the flour, fizzing in the pints, and steaming from the cups of Joe.

A nap was the only course of action we could take after consuming all that goodness, but we managed to rouse ourselves in time to catch dinner at a local institution, Currach Irish Pub. Here, we met Orla, ordered a pint from none other than Aotea Brewing, poured a glass of water out from Island Gin’s bottles, and sat down in the lively outdoor area to tuck into fish and chips followed by the highly addictive, made-to-order almond ricotta doughnuts. On the way back to the car, we unlocked a new walking style: the waddle.

A couple of hours later, we pioneered a fashion statement called the half-waddle – when half of your food has gone down – on our way to Medlands Beach to meet Hilde of Good Heavens Stargazing. What a treat! Hilde had set up chairs and cosy blankets around a beautiful beast of a telescope, which she paired with a laser pointer to talk us through the night sky in the first certified Dark Sky Sanctuary island in the world. Hilde interspersed pūrākau (Māori legends) with facts about the stars overhead, which we then spied in the telescope. Alpha Centauri A and B, the two stars that point to the Southern Cross, looked like golden nuggets! And then, Hilde caught a glimpse of the stars below and led us to the shore, where Dan and I saw a once-in-a-lifetime display of bioluminescence. Like diamonds in the sea, this phenomenon – caused in the Hauraki Gulf by microscopic, light-emitting plankton – was nothing short of magic. When we got back to our cosy spot on the beach, we wrapped up with a chocolate brownie treat and a cup of tea (what a lovely touch from Hilde) and marvelled about one of the coolest sights we’d ever seen.  

The next day, it was time to get on the water that had sparkled so the night before on a private charter with Hooked On Barrier. Friendly and knowledgeable, skipper Willie skimmed the Sundancer over the gentle turquoise waves and told us about the many bays and hideaways of the west coast, plus the flora and fauna, fowl and fishes that call its shores, seas, and skies home. On our way to and from Whangaparapara Wharf, we wandered two wonderful walks: Iona Mine and Windy Canyon, quickly learning why the latter, with its spectacular views, is one of the most popular short walks on the island. And on our drive from the wharf where we’d met Willie to the other end of Aotea, we confirmed our suspicions of the existence of ‘The Barrier Wave’, where drivers hover a couple of fingers off the wheel to simply say hello to each other. Of course, we quickly adopted this tradition ourselves!

Our final evening was spent at Glenfern Sanctuary, an 83-hectare regional park and the gateway to the predator-fenced 240-hectare Kotuku Peninsula on the north-west coastline of Aotea. We were keen to yap for yonks with Christine and Steve about everything they do at this haven for native bush, birds, and biodiversity. We heard about Tony Bouzaid, who bought Glenfern in 1990 and poured his heart into creating the sanctuary, before visiting the most stunning tribute to him up at Sunset Rock. I could write for days about everything we learned and loved about this place, where we ventured over a swing bridge and into the heart of a 600-year-old kauri tree.

Sleeping in a sanctuary is an otherworldly experience (the dawn chorus was fortissimo) and we were lucky enough to be put up in the historic Fitzroy House. We had the run of the place, built in 1901 and gorgeously cosy, with five bedrooms, a full kitchen (which begged to be cooked in), and lots of lovely little touches like a library nook and a clawfoot bath. We made ourselves a roast and wished we could stay longer at this special, must-visit eco destination.

The next morning, Island Aviation had kindly arranged to pick us up from Okiwi Airfield, just a 10-minute drive from Glenfern, rather than Claris, where we had first landed an hour away. Kaleb met us here in a four-seater Cessna plane and took us back to Auckland on an easy 30-minute flight filled with stunning panoramas and smiles.

Only when we landed in Wellington did my sadness set in. Despite my best efforts, The Barrier Wave isn’t catching on here, so I can but dream about this diamond in the sea.