1 I'm Kevin Biggar. And I'm Jamie Fitzgerald. Over the past 10 years, we've taken on some of the world's toughest adventures, from rowing across the Atlantic... It's the problem with this seat we've had. It's the only major concern. ...to walking unaided to the South Pole. Whoo-hoo! Now we have a new challenge ` to relive the epic journeys of NZ's early explorers. I will bloody do this thing. We'll be taking on some of the toughest terrain this country has to offer, from the hanging valleys of Fiordland to the treacherous seas of the Open Bay Islands. Each week, we'll retrace the hardest parts of pioneering NZ expeditions. It is so worth it. But we're not only following in their footsteps, we'll be experiencing some of the same conditions and dangers the original adventurers faced ` wearing the same clothing and footwear, trying the same food and using the same equipment. This week, David Loweriston and his sealing gang's remarkable story of survival as castaways on the Open Bay Islands. We'll be retracing their adventures, facing the dangerous currents of the Tasman Sea, attempting to cross a snow-swept mountain range... Good work, mate. ...and pushing to our limits... Take it slack. ...to get inside the heads of these pioneering voyagers. Keep straight! We'll show you the incredible feats they accomplished in their desperate drive to return home and reveal just how amazing Loweriston and his men's adventure actually was. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 DRAMATIC MUSIC We're 5km off the coast of the South Island, en route to the Open Bay Islands. We're in the roaring forties, near the Southern Ocean. It's OK now, but if the weather turns, this place has some of the worst seas in the world. Swells can reach up to 10m high. This stretch of water is a very dangerous place, even for fishermen in modern commercial boats. We're a long way from help, and even the sturdiest craft is no match for a rogue Tasman wave. 200 years ago, the mainland was at the very edge of the known world, and the existence of the Open Bay Islands was only known to a handful of people. Ships that brought convicts to Australia were looking for a cargo for their return journey. Captain Cook had reported seeing large numbers of seals in Dusky Sound, and so the sealing industry was born. In 1809, Captain Bader of the sealing ship the Active put an ad in the local Sydney paper. 'Wanted: able and active men for a promising and pleasant voyage.' Nobody who knew anything about sealing would have been fooled by this ad. Working on a sealing gang was only for the most desperate of men. At the very least, it meant a long and risky voyage to some rocky outcrop where you would be left to look after yourselves for months. In February 1810, 10 sealers led by David Loweriston were dropped off on a small group of windswept rocks 5km off the coast from Haast ` the Open Bay Islands. Under normal circumstances, the sealers could expect to be picked up and back in Sydney in a few months' time. But this was gonna be anything but a normal trip. Today the Open Bay Islands are an environmentally protected site. Their isolation means they are almost unchanged from the time of the sealers. The islands are a living time capsule. Well, this is as close as we get, boys. Oh, that's not too bad. We can swim from here. There many sharks around here? There many sharks around here? Yeah, there's lots. Just have to swim faster than the sharks. The water here is a nippy 10 degrees. Oh, it's freezing. 'But the talk of sharks has us on edge.' 'Especially as there is something circling beneath us.' Think there's a couple of them moving. 'It may just be a seal, but we're not gonna hang around to find out.' (WHOOPS) Once out of the water, we discover the island has a hard, rocky foreshore and steep, sharp cliffs. It is a privilege to be here. Not many people ever get the chance to be on the Open Bay Islands. Right. So we'll see what we've got to work with. Right. So we'll see what we've got to work with. Yeah. Only fragments of information about the expedition have survived down through the years. We'll do our best to piece these together to work out what obstacles Loweriston and the gang faced and how they would have overcome them. That's old school. That's old school. Sure is. So this is the old sealing boat. When the ship dropped them off at the island, this is what they had. This is all they had. And it leaked too. By the looks of it, so does this one. Let's see what we got. Oh yeah. Oh, got the old-school clothing as well. Look at that. Got the brass on it. Oh, that's fancy. This has gotta be the knives. This has gotta be the knives. Ooh! This is all they had ` just an axe, an adze, and a... Cooper's carving`? Cooper's carving`? A cooper's knife. Cooper's carving`? A cooper's knife. Yeah. It's amazing. You think you're gonna have to kill and skin a thousand seals. If I'd never seen a seal in my life, and I was asked to kill a thousand of them, and they handed me this,... It's pretty gruesome, isn't it? It's pretty gruesome, isn't it? ...I'd be scared stiff! Yeah. I'd be more scared if I was a seal. I've got one of these in the veggie garden. It's good for potatoes. You know what else is missing? You know what else is missing? What? You know what else is missing? What? Food. Oh. Oh. They had hardly any food. They were dropped off with a little pork, a little flour. They very quickly ran out. They were expected to live on seal. And there were plenty of those ` around 11,000 back in 1810, all better dressed for the conditions than Loweriston's sealers. I like your stripy scarf. I like your stripy scarf. Yeah? Your hat makes you look like Zorro. Your hat makes you look like Zorro. Yeah, I think it does too. And look at that ` baggy pants, the belt buckle and the waistcoat. You look like Crunchy the Clown. I feel like MC Hammer. I feel like MC Hammer. BOTH LAUGH And they're big too. Look how huge it is! Yeah. Maybe they were thinking they might eat a few seals and grow into it. When this gets wet, it's gonna get really cold. We're gonna be really miserable. It's OK now, but... It's OK now, but... Yeah. Hey, let's get the boat above the high tide mark and go explore. Hey, let's get the boat above the high tide mark and go explore. Yup. INTENSE MUSIC Lying 5km off the mainland, the islands are, in fact, a group of three. The main island is only 600m long and 260m wide. In 1810, the foreshore would have been swarming with seals. Look, there are some pups. A whole bunch of pups. Wow. Wow. Hey, I wouldn't get any closer. Mum and Dad might not be too far away. You know, for some of the guys in the gang, this would have been the first time they'd have seen a seal in their lives. They look so cute and gorgeous to us. But it seems very strange to think of knocking them on their heads and turning them into hats, or melting them down and using their oil for lamps. But 200 years ago, this wasn't just the ticket home for the men from the ship; it was a way to a new future. These seals were gold to them. Black, floppy gold. When the gang came through here and erased 11,000 seals from the population of the island, you can imagine it must have made the water and rocks red with blood. Ugh. We'd better give these ones a wide berth, eh. Mum and Dad's watching us. As docile as they appear, seals can move surprisingly fast on land. It's best not to approach a female with young or get between a seal and the water. They have incredibly sharp teeth, and sometimes they bite. They're not so keen on having us around. > It makes you wonder if there have been stories handed down through the generations of what happened here a couple of hundred years ago. The jagged rocks on the west side of the island finger out into the sea. The rocks are razor sharp. It's difficult and dangerous terrain to navigate. Chuck us the rope. > Chuck us the rope. > Ready? Chuck us the rope. > Ready? Yep, got it. > We're trying to find an easy route to the top of the island. But to do that safely, we're going to need to use our rope. Oh, that's just so sharp. Oh, that's just so sharp. Oh no. No, no, no! Oh, that's just so sharp. Oh no. No, no, no! Oh, no, no, no, no! Oh. DRAMATIC MUSIC Let's get down there. Let's get down there. Not rushing anything, though. Let's get down there. Not rushing anything, though. But we need to get down there. 'We need to salvage the rope quickly before it's washed away. 'But no sooner has Kevin dived in, then the sea begins to surge.' Quick. Come back, mate. > There's a little wave coming. Here it comes. You gotta get another point of purchase. Go down. 'Conditions have changed in a moment...,' Take this. Take this. Yup. '...leaving Kevin in trouble.' These are the rugged Open Bay Islands, west of the South Island. We're here reliving the epic story of David Loweriston and his sealers, who were dropped off here in 1810. Nah. Wave, wave. 'We've lost our rope and Kevin has dived in to retrieve it, 'but the tide has started to surge.' Yeah, it's gonna calm down in a minute. Yeah, you're good now. That was a big one! That was a big one! Yeah. Go, mate. Get out of there. 'It's a good reminder that although it looks idyllic, conditions out here can change in an instant.' We don't wanna do that again. We don't wanna do that again. So stupid. The top of the island is just 21m above sea level. The prevailing nor'westerly punishes this exposed island so much that tall trees can't survive here. So it's developed its own unique ecosystem. Seems the whole island's covered in flax and kiki. (GRUNTS) We're right on the edge ` the cliff. You just can't see it. It's just amazing how dense it is. You know what keeps me happy? What's that? What's that? Is that on such an isolated island, there's no blackberry. Yeah. Yeah. (GRUNTS) Yeah. (GRUNTS) (LAUGHS) There are holes, though! 'Progress is slow, and so we need to find a better strategy.' Unbelievably thick. I haven't been on the ground for about 10m. If we can't go over, we'll go under. Below the surface is a fantastical maze of vines and roots. Sometimes we're forced to crawl. But then it opens up to reveal seemingly secret passageways. For the 10 men of the sealing gang, at least for the first few months, food was not going to be an issue. But water always was. There's no spring on the island. There's natural creeks, though. As long as it rains, they're fine. But, then, sometimes it doesn't rain. You know, it's not just the men who were living on the island ` thousands of seals too. And with the water, you smell it. It smells a bit brackish. It tastes not that good. All of the seals, they don't just live on the rocks. They're up around here too. They must have had some pretty desperate times. When the seal hunt was over, they had over 8000 pelts. With their food stocks nearly exhausted, the sealers waited for the ship to return. But the days turned into weeks. With little else to do, the gang decided to improve their living conditions. We know from the records that they set up camp somewhere near the southern end of the island. It's the thickest part of the bush. Kev, I think I've found it. But then Jamie makes an amazing discovery. That's incredible. That's incredible. This is special. So, we can see some stone that's been placed, and even a little bit of mortar that's been used in the bricks to build what is clearly a hut. This is the hut they used back in 1810. And from what we know, it's one of the oldest European stone buildings in the country. Amazing. But it would have been in some sort of clearing, I think, back in the day. And now, 200 years, it's completely underneath all the forest. It's just grown over the top of it. Just got to be a little careful here. I don't wanna surprise a bull. So, this is the main rookery of the island, and you can tell there's a reason for it. There's quite a few seals all around. But the gang was no longer interested in seals. They just longed for the ship to take them to home. They waited and waited, the weeks turned into months, and the months dragged on. As it turned out, the men on this island would be the last to ever see the ship. It never came back. The ship that dropped them off is believed to have sunk in the Tasman Sea with the loss of the entire crew, only days after dropping the sealers off on the Open Bay Islands. The Australian authorities mistakenly assumed the sealing gang had perished as well. The gang had no way of knowing that they were now completely on their own. We've decided to swim the rest of the way around the island. The water is crystal clear, and the seals, who were at first a bit wary of us, have now decided to take a closer look. (LAUGHS) Dozens and dozens of seals. I'll go down. Sealing was a lucrative and secretive business. The shipowners were careful to keep the location of the seal colonies hidden. They could earn as much as four shillings for just the pelt alone. In today's value, Loweriston and the gang were sitting on over $285,000 worth of skins. Whoa! The industry was so profitable that the gangs of the early 1800s wiped out a staggering 90% of NZ's original seal population. The seals swimming with us are reassuring. If there were sharks nearby, they wouldn't be hanging around. EPIC MUSIC 'Back on the rocks, we're almost at the point where we first landed on the island.' Yeah, this is the end. It's not often you get to say you've walked all the way around an island. It's not often you get to say you've walked all the way around an island. (LAUGHS) It's a bit cheeky when the island's only 600m long. You look out there at the mainland, and it might be deceptive. It's only 5km. It looks so close. I mean, you can even see Mt Cook from here. You can imagine what was going through their minds at the chance of perhaps better resources, more food, fresh water only 5km away. That must have really played on their minds. Yeah. But the thing is if they leave here, they leave not only all their wealth, but this is where the boat's gonna pick them up. They're holding on to the chance of the boat returning. There was probably some trepidation about the mainland, cos that's where strangers were as well. Yeah. They would've heard stories. It was around this time there had been rumours of skirmishes between Europeans and the local Maori. Even rumours of cannibalism. Despite the dangers they imagined waiting for them on the mainland, Loweriston now believed it offered them their best hope of finding help. But that meant a 5km journey in a small boat that was falling apart. They had tried to fix it as much as they could, but the real problem was most of them couldn't swim. They knew how rocky it was on this coast` They knew how rocky it was on this coast` Here's a wave! But they were hoping that it was gonna be not so rocky when they arrived. Not to mention the weather changing and the currents. But by this time they were desperate, desperate men. But by this time they were desperate, desperate men. Hold it, hold it. 'The swells here are large and unpredictable.' Hold it here. Hold it here. 'It makes for a tricky launch.' Left. Yep. (WHOOPS) DRAMATIC MUSIC Once out on the open sea, things are easier. # 15 men and a dead man's chest. Yo-ho and a bottle of rum. # If it weren't for Kevin's singing, it'd almost be pleasant. But that's all about to change. It's not long before we reach the most difficult part of the crossing ` getting our ancient boat through the pounding surf to shore. How far from the shore? Less than 100yds. The plan is to try and ride the dinghy in like a surf boat. It will take all of Jamie's skill to stop our boat from being smashed in the breakers. Quick. Get out. Get out. Quick. Get out. Get out. Abandon ship! We're near the South Island's Open Bay Islands retracing the epic 1810 journey of David Loweriston and nine other stranded sealers. Like the sealing gang 200 years ago, we've rowed from the islands to the mainland. Abandon ship! Now we need to navigate the little boat through the breakers to the beach. (SHOUTS) Here's another one. Go, go, go, go! Not bad. Good work with the rowing. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. See? It's good to be here. They must've been so relieved. I know. I know. They would've known that island inside out, every square inch of it. For nine months they'd been living there. Now they were coming to a whole new land. A whole new place. New food to find, new shelter to build and one more thing ` sandflies! There's clouds of them here. sandflies! There's clouds of them here. (GRUNTS) Let's pull it up. Let's go. INTENSE MUSIC The sealers immediately began exploring their new home. What they found was a land even more rugged than the one they had left. There was no sign of Maori, but only a decade later, the reception would be quite different, with fatal, bloody skirmishes between local Maori and sealers, where vengeance knew no mercy. This being the West Coast, the first thing they had to do was to build a shelter. Fortunately, there's plenty of things to use. How high do you think we should go? How high do you think we should go? Oh, till we start to feel unsafe, I think. It's like a constant game of Tetris. No one has ever found the hut that the sealers actually built on the mainland. But you know that it would've been in a place like this ` somewhere with a view of the sea so they could keep a look out for any passing ships, but still well above the high tide, because you don't wanna get caught out by any storms that come in. We'll construct the roof from saplings, strong enough to bear weight but supple enough to bend without breaking. We'll bang our heads on the ceiling. We'll bang our heads on the ceiling. Yeah. Now we just need to cover it. So, one thing they did have was a lot of seal skin. This being the West Coast, the waterproof capabilities of our hut are soon put to the test. I feel like all we've done is make a nest for sandflies. There's thousands of them in here. At least we're out of the rain. It's raining pretty hard outside. When the rain stops, it's time to think about food. There were no seals on the mainland, but the gang knew there was one thing they could eat ` fern root. But the fern root was very hard to find. There was none near the coast. They had to walk up to 6 miles or 7 miles through swamps and bogs to find some. They could've moved their hut closer, but that would mean they wouldn't see any passing ships. So they'd rather make a 20-K round trip through this stuff. Yeah? Yeah? Oh, yeah. Yeah? Oh, yeah. Oh, right. So there was plenty of other food that they could've eaten, but they just didn't know. So this is what they walked for miles for. Mmm, yummy (!) In order to get the fern root out of the ground, it wasn't simply a matter of just grabbing it. They had to dig up to a metre below to get the entire root out. Oh well. Here's your digging instrument. Oh well. Here's your digging instrument. Cheers. Yeah, that's it. Just with more enthusiasm. It's a long time since this garden's been weeded. It's a long time since this garden's been weeded. (LAUGHS) EERIE MUSIC It certainly feels like we're living at the edge of the world. Normal weather patterns don't seem to hold true here. The red sky tonight actually signals that more bad weather is on its way. Here it comes. Here it comes. Oh, nice. One for the team. One for the team. Whoo! Oh, brilliant. Look at that. Look at that. Looks a bit like... a yam. Does a bit. Yeah, it tastes like it's come out of the ground. Yeah, it tastes like it's come out of the ground. (LAUGHS) Yeah. I read somewhere that it's meant to taste like wet stick. Oh, that's about it. Must've been a nice change after seal, though. Yeah. WATER ROARS The waves are coming right on in. If we were any lower... DRAMATIC MUSIC Oh, that's close! > So close. It's eating away at the bank. You'd feel pretty silly, having spent so much time building this, for it only to be... ...washed away. ...washed away. Yeah. It's more the water in through the front door waking me up while stones tumble round my head that I was more worried about. Mm. Mm. But I think we should be all right tonight. MAJESTIC MUSIC The next morning the bad weather shows no sign of letting up. For months and months, Loweriston and the gang had lived on the coast, hoping to be rescued. No one came. They realised that if they were to get help, they had to find it. Early maps of NZ's South Island were inaccurate. They showed the distance between the east and west coasts to be around half of what it actually is. This may have led to Loweriston's decision to head overland to look for a settlement on the east coast. They had no idea about the size of the journey they were about to take on or that these ranges are just the foothills of the Southern Alps. It's not documented how they started their journey, but it's safe to assume that they used their sealing boat to get as far up the river as they possibly could, because walking through that marsh and bush is a nightmare. Nearly all the region's rivers have a gentle flowing section near the coast. But as they wind their way into the ranges, things change. Good work. > So we haven't been able to row for a while now, but we've managed to make it up this far by towing. Yeah, that's it. That's a bit too tough, I think. We've gone as far as we can with the boat. From here on in, the journey will have to be by foot. The bush is dense and unpleasant, so Loweriston and the gang probably stayed as close to the river as they could until they spotted a climbable route up the mountains. At over 2500m, these ranges would have dwarfed anything the English-born sealers had ever seen before. They would have been quickly fatigued by the breath-sapping altitude, as well as the freezing cold. Even though we're climbing in the middle of summer, the temperature on the mountain is well below zero. Snow can fall here any time of the year. The sealers would have been completely unprepared for the cold. By now they'd been away for years. Their boots and clothing would've been falling to bits. What they did have, though, was sealskin. And they would have used every single bit of it to keep themselves warm. So, what do you think? I don't think we've got time to do too much clever. I was thinking, like, a poncho, and maybe just stitch up the sides. 'It's basic coverage, but at least it should keep us dry.' Now I know how Fred Flintstone must have felt. We're about 2500ft above the treeline. So it's just so barren, and walking through the snow, you can feel the cold just creeping into your boots. They must have wondered, though, how much worse things were gonna get. But I'm sure they were telling themselves that they just had to get across the next ridge, and there would be the east coast. The weather is deteriorating fast. You can't quite see what's under the snow, can you? You can't quite see what's under the snow, can you? No, it's hopeless. 'And the higher we climb, the colder it gets.' That's it. > Good one. > Good one. > Just trying to shake some blood into my fingers again. With just sealskin for added warmth, Loweriston was leading his men toward disaster. We're in the Southern Alps of the South Island, retracing the epic journey of David Loweriston and nine other sealers. Good work, mate. Good work, mate. So much water in this rock. We're attempting to relive the sealing gang's climb up the foothills of the Southern Alps. Take up slack! 'This was part of their attempt to find civilisation and food.' Let us know when you got somewhere to anchor, dude. 'But the conditions were a lot tougher than they were expecting.' It's just so cold. Just trying to shake some warm blood into my fingers again. 'As we near the summit, the weather begins to change.' Right. Come round to the crack, mate. Jump in. Come round to the crack, mate. Jump in. You've got a great little spot here. A little staircase right to the top. OK. We'd better head up. OK. We'd better head up. OK. Let's get there quick before the weather changes. 'For Loweriston and his sealers, the last few steps must have been filled with optimism. 'They were sure salvation lay just beyond the ridgeline.' Oh, Kev. Check it out. Take your hat off too. It's pretty windy. 'In reality, they were still around 190km from the east coast.' (GASPING) Amazing. 'And standing in their way were some of the toughest mountain terrain on the planet.' It's been completely exhausting to come this far. For the sealers, I can only imagine what it must have been like without proper food and equipment. We know that they expected to see either flat grassy plains leading out to the coast or maybe smoke in the distance that meant some help. Instead they came to the top of a ridge, and all they saw was ridge after snow-capped ridge leading off into the distance. They knew at this point that as far as they'd come, it was only a fraction of the distance they needed to go to get to the coast. 'Devastated, Loweriston and the sealers decided they could not carry on.' 'Their only choice was to head back down the mountain.' How cold are you? How cold are you? Freezing. This wind is just biting into my face. We've gotta get back down. Yeah. As they made their way back to the river, the sealers devised a new plan. They would take their little leaky boat on an ocean voyage. They would set a course south in the hope of coming across another sealing gang. But first they had to make their way back down the river. The flow's really come up. The flow's really come up. Sure has. Pretty dodgy, taking the boat back. It's gonna save us a long walk. It's gonna save us a long walk. We have to think carefully about this. I mean, it's a boat not designed to go down rapids and rivers like this. So, should we go side by side, like dragon-boat style, or what? Or row? How about one of us rows, the other stays at maybe the other end? FAST-PACED MUSIC Yep, yep! This way. 'While Maori had been canoeing on these rivers for generations,...' OK, here we go, here we go. '...getting our leaky boat through the rapids is a completely different challenge.' That's it. That's it there. Good one. Keep it straight. That's good. That's good. Good right there. Keep it straight. Keep it straight. 'Not surprisingly, something eventually breaks.' Grab it! 'But by now we're out of the worst of the rapids.' Good job! Nearly there. Keep going. Let's get to the beach. Nearly there. Keep going. Let's get to the beach. Yep. Loweriston and the gang returned to their West Coast camp and began to prepare their battered boat for the sea voyage ahead. The leaky sealing boat that got them here to the mainland had only just made it. They knew that if they were to head further south, they would have to work on it and make it seaworthy. So they spent weeks and weeks repairing it until finally they believed it was OK. Then, the day before they were due to leave, a huge storm came in and destroyed it. The only way they were going to get out of this was to be rescued. Of course, if a ship came looking for them, they'd search for them where they were last seen. And that was out on the Open Bay Islands. Their only choice was to start from scratch and build another boat. A return to the Open Bay Islands offered them more food, in the form of seals, and an escape from the maddening sandflies and mosquitoes. With the meagre tools on hand, the sealers decided to construct a coracle, an ancient craft generally used in rivers for fishing. So, just like any other boat, it's built upside down. The difference here is I've been banging holes about every 6 inches around the shape of the boat. We use these holes to hold in place the flexible poles that we've cut from the bush, and these poles will be bent into the shape of the hull. 'You build a coracle by threading saplings through one another, then tying them together with flax.' Can we tighten it up a little bit? Can we tighten it up a little bit? That one? OK. 'You basically weave yourself a boat. It takes less than an hour to build a basic structure.' The real test is to see if it can take my weight. Wanna stand back, Jamie? How about that? How about that? That's good. All that's left is to add a few floorboards and cover it with skin. It looks solid enough, but the real test is still to come. Can it make it across the unpredictable stretch of water between the mainland and the Open Bay Islands? OK. Choose your weapon. BOTH TALK TOGETHER DRAMATIC MUSIC It's soon clear that just getting through the rollers is going to be tough. Picking just the right moment between sets of waves is crucial. But we're sitting too close to the stern, and our coracle begins to fill with water. Go, go, go, go, go! We have to make it back to the beach. Fellas! Oh! Danny C! Nonu, Nonu, Nonu! Boom! Richie. Register and use your MasterCard before September 15 and you could go on tour with the All Blacks. Yeah, mate. Yeah, mate. So, who am I rooming with? Choose your weapon. We are near the South Island's Open Bay Islands recreating the epic 1810 journey of David Loweriston and nine other marooned sealers. Like the brave castaways, we've battled the dense bush, strong swells, snow-covered mountain ranges... Just so cold. OK, here we go, here we go. ...and menacing rapids. Go! Go, go, go, go, go! Now we're once again facing down the wild West Coast surf. We're just taking on too much water. We have to make it back to the beach. It's crucial we stop the coracle being wrecked in the breakers. (GRUNTS) That's pretty gnarly. Started off pretty good. Things were going well. We got out through the first set. The boat floats well, eh? The boat floats well, eh? It does. We're nearly there, though. The boat floats well, eh? It does. We're nearly there, though. So close. What do you think? What do you think? I think we gotta try again just somewhere a bit further down the beach where the waves are a bit smaller. This time we'll position our body weight in the middle of the boat. We won't ride over the waves as easily, but this should give us more freeboard and stop us taking on water. It seems to work, and soon we're out of danger. It's a lot better out of the surf. It's a lot better out of the surf. It's a lot better. Ooh. Ooh. Still got a bit to go, eh? Ooh. Still got a bit to go, eh? Long way to go. (LAUGHS) Desperate, tired and starving, the sealers eventually made it back to the Open Bay Islands. Their expedition to the mainland had taken over a year. They now believed that the seals here offered the best source of food. But where previously there were thousands, now the island appeared deserted. Can you see round the corner? Can you see round the corner? Yep, there's definitely a way through. As we try to land, we find a chasm where the island seems to have been ripped apart. Maybe there'll be a place to stop. Hold on a second. We have to make sure we're on the right-hand side. In the middle we hit a patch of violent water where the two opposing currents meet. Keep going. It's a real test for our coracle. It's like we're in a washing machine here. It's much more sheltered on this side. We should pull into that little beach. When Loweriston and the others explored the island, they found only one solitary seal. So thoroughly had they culled the population, there was now nothing left for them to eat. By now the sealers had been waiting for rescue for nearly three years and 10 months. Their health was almost shattered. Thousands and thousands of times they'd have looked out on the ocean and prayed to have seen a ship, but seen nothing. Then one day, one summer's afternoon, one of them looked out to the horizon, and in the distance they could see a sail. They'd been preparing for this moment for years. It's a safe bet that they had a signal fire just like this ready to go. As they did everything they could to signal the ship, there was still one last danger facing them. This was the time of the Napoleonic wars. If the ship they were signalling was French, then they could expect to be abandoned or taken away in chains. Now, this was the worst time, as the men held their breath and waited to see if the ship would change course. It did. And not just any ship, an English ship, who were very surprised to see 10 very very happy men jumping up and down on the beach. On the 19th of December 1813, a schooner called Governor Bligh docked in Sydney with David Loweriston and the nine other sealers on board. Incredibly, they had all survived as castaways for three years and 10 months. This trip's been incredible. We've seen so many amazing things. Fantastic. We've seen so much of the Open Bay Islands. We've seen the old hut that the men used to live in. We've taken the whaleboat out and back through the surf. And on the mainland, we built and slept in the stone wall like they would have. We had to bash our way through the bush and the swamp to find the fern root for dinner. And we went up the ridges and saw out over the Southern Alps. We built a coracle and took it out through the surf and over to the island. The thing that has to stand out for me, from everything that we've done, has to be the seals. Their puppy-dog eyes really stood out. It must have been such a nasty job. 11,000 seals that were killed with clubs. It was such a brutal, brutal job. That's right. The slaughter must have been awful. I think the only way to understand it is to think about the men and what lives they were escaping and how desperate their situation must have been. We've had the opportunity to recreate some of the challenges those men went through. But the impact that it must have had for those men individually must have lasted a lifetime. Absolutely. They were rock stars when they arrived in Sydney. They were front-page news. There was even a song written about them. And possibly that song was the first one ever written by Europeans about NZ. That's right. I think NZ got a reputation as being a really tough place to live in, and so far a while it attracted only the toughest and most self-reliant of people. And that really affected our national psyche and probably still affects our identity even now. Yeah. Hey, speaking of massacre ` we're at the West Coast. Let's go murder a few whitebait fritters. Great idea.