Visiting Matiu/Somes Island, Wellington
It is bitterly, bitterly cold in Wellington today – it even snowed a little bit, which is extremely unusual in the capitol. It’s not going to be a great deal better for the next few days either, so I’m thinking longingly of summertime, and warm days. That, and all the blogging I’ve been doing about visiting other places, reminded me that I have a local visit from this summer which I’ve never covered. This is Wellington, centred around Wellington Harbour (Port Nicholson, or, to be even more accurate, Te Whanganui a Tara): Right in the middle of the harbour is an island: Matiu/Somes Island.* Prior to Western contact, Maori used Matiu Island as a place of refuge during war. Post-Western contact, the New Zealand Company took possession of the island. In 1866 the first harbour lighthouse in NZ was built there, and it was home to the lighthouse keeper and his family. The 1866 lighthouse was replaced circa 1900, and its replacement still stands on the island. In the 1870s the island was used as …