To the Is-land (Lauren)

Islands are cool! Nature reserve islands are even cooler.

Lured by the coolness of islands, Tane and I went to visit Matiu Somes Island about a month ago. Matiu Somes sits plonk in the middle of Wellington Harbour and used to be where people were quarantined. Except for in the World Wars, when lots of Italians, Germans, and Japanese were sent there to live. These poor people weren’t aware of it themselves, but apparently they were a national threat. Matiu Somes was very cool– you can see gun enplacements (in case Wellington got invaded), woolly sheep (the current inhabitants) and giant seagulls (very scary when they want your lunch). Apparently you can see tuatara there too, but we only saw their weta body part-filled poo. Given that the boats only come every few hours, going to Matiu Somes was a great way to catch up on some reading as well.

One of the gun enplacements on Matiu Somes island

On the general island theme, Tane and I went to Kapiti Island last weekend as well. For those of you from far-flung lands, Kapiti Island is a large nature reserve off the coast north of Wellington. It's large and lumpy, and when I was little I thought it looked like a crocodile sleeping.

We went with Bonnie, Ash and Ed, after booking the trip months ago. The Island is amazing – native birds completely dominate it, and I have never heard so many of them singing in one place. The sound of them is so overwhelming most people were walking around in silence as if respecting the birds’ space.

Kapiti is well worth a trip. You can climb to the top, be harassed by weka, and get a neat boat trip to boot.

You can also delete the entire memory card of your digital camera at the end of the day too, eh Tane?

Being stalked by weka while eating

lunch at Kapiti

(photo courtesy of Bonnie)