Matiu or Somes Island was on my bucket list since we arrived in Wellington. It is the largest of three islands in the Wellington Harbor and you can get there easily by boat. This is what Mary and I did a few weeks back.
The legend has it that the island received its Māori name from Kupe, the first navigator to reach New Zealand. Apparently he named two of the three Islands after his daughters, Matiu and Makaro, when he first entered the harbour ~1000 years ago.
Nowadays you can get there right from Queens Wharf in Wellington with the east west ferry. On the island you get a little introduction to help keeping the island free of invasive species. Besides a variety of birds, there are a few sheep on the island as lawn mower and supposedly a bunch of blue penguins, that we sadly didn’t see. It is worth a trip, and a nice place to spend an afternoon.
