quail island

Quail Island is in Charteris Bay in Canterbury across Lyttelton Harbour.  It is now a nature reserve for the protection of native animals, trees and plants.

The Maori first used Quail island as a place to gather food.  The Maori name for Quail Island is Otamahua which means "where children collect seabird eggs'.  When the settlers arrived it was then used for farming.  As more people arrived in New Zealand by ship people often arrived with sicknesses and Quail island was used to quarantine them until they were clear of sickness to live on the mainland.  It was also used as a leprosy colony, where people with Leprosy were isolated from others.  It was also used for training the animals and people before they completed expeditions to Antarctica.

This was part of our Kaitiakitanga kete where we are learning the importance of looking after our native birds, trees, animals and plants so that they are still around for future generations.  They are trying to do this on Quail Island.

The Department of Conservation and the Ecological Restoration Trust have worked hard to get rid of pests on the island and it is now nearly pest free.  They still have a problem with mice and deer.
Some native birds are now returning to the island due to the planting of more native trees.

I reslly enjoyed the trip out to Quail Island.  My favourite part was seeing the dog kennels.  The beach was my least favourite part because I got nipped by a crab.