Top Attractions in the Chatham Islands

Chatham Islands Essentials

The Chatham Islands offer a look into a remote landscape shaped by Moriori heritage and volcanic activity. This selection highlights the Rakau Momori tree carvings at Hapupu, the hexagonal basalt columns at Ohira, and the wreckage of the Sunderland NZ4111 flying boat. Visitors can explore 19th-century German mission ruins, the historic Flower Pot Jail on Pitt Island, and the museum in Waitangi, which details the islands' unique natural and cultural history.

Nunuku's Cave

Ancient limestone cave featuring Moriori rock carvings of seals. It is historically associated with Nunuku-whenua, the Moriori chief who established the covenant of peace.

Chatham Islands Museum

Located in Waitangi, this museum displays Moriori artifacts, early European settler history, and exhibits on the islands' unique flora, fauna, and maritime heritage.

Sunderland NZ4111

The remains of a Royal New Zealand Air Force flying boat that crashed in Te Whanga Lagoon in 1959. A dedicated hangar houses the ongoing restoration of the fuselage.

Moriori tree carvings

Known as Rakau Momori, these ancestral carvings on living kopi trees are located within the Hapupu National Historic Reserve. They represent Moriori ancestors and the natural world.

Basalt Columns

Distinctive hexagonal volcanic rock formations located at Ohira. These columns were formed by the slow cooling of lava flows approximately 80 million years ago.

Mission Station Ruins

Stone remains of a mid-19th-century German mission established by the Gossner Mission society. The site is located near the base of Mount Maunganui.

Cathedral Rocks

Dramatic coastal rock formations and sea stacks located on the northern coast, visible from the shoreline near Maunganui.

Maunganui Beach

A remote sandy beach on the northern coast of Chatham Island, situated near the historic stone mission ruins and volcanic peaks.

Flower Pot Jail

A small, historic stone jail cell located at Flower Pot Bay on Pitt Island, used during the 19th century.

Abandoned flying boat base

Former Royal New Zealand Air Force base on the edge of Te Whanga Lagoon, used for Short Sunderland flying boat operations during the mid-20th century.