By Alison Ballance
Raoul Island is the most well-known and most frequently visited island in the Kermadec group, and we have featured the botany and insects of the island during this radio series. Opportunities to get ashore on the smaller, more southern islands in the group are rare, and landings are often difficult if not impossible. During the Kermadec Biodiscovery expedition, however, the ‘extra terrestrials’, as the two terrestrial biologists were dubbed, managed to get ashore on every island and just about every islet, with the exception of Curtis Island. Alison Ballance caught up with Department of Conservation entomologist Warren Chinn and botanist Peter de Lange on their return to the Braveheart after visits on Macauley and Cheeseman islands (pictured above) and L'Esperance Rock (pictured below) to hear their impressions of these remote and rugged islands.
