Substance Over Style

The Guardian’s Simon Mills is the latest travel writer to fall for Great Barrier Island’s rustic charms. Home to just 800 people, the island has no mains electricity or centralised plumbing system and once famously refused a property application by Paul McCartney for fear he’d draw too much publicity. Guardian: “[What] Great Barrier Island lacks in plush amenities, Michelin-starred restaurants, LaStone massage spas and rowdy nightlife, it makes up for with topological spectacle; rock bluffs, windy canyons, sand dunes and white beaches that go on like Utah salt flats (Harataonga Bay is the most idyllic, Robinson Crusoe beach this reporter has ever seen).” Great Barrier Island is the setting for the latest series of BBC reality show Castaway.