Massey Memorial and Somes Island

Boxing Day - a leisurely start and then Harry and I took a picnic lunch and headed towards the Massey Memorial (aim was to find an uncrowded picnic spot around the harbour) and then a gentle walk somewhere. We found both - ate left overs and then wandered up to the Memorial - a huge marble structure on the top of a hill over looking the harbour. The only memorial of that size we can think of in Wellington. It was built in memory of William Ferguson Massey (and his wife), the Irishman who started the Reform Party and became New Zealands 19th Prime Minister in 1912. In those tumultous years he became well known for quoting "All we are and all we have is at the disposal of the British Government". Besides that he is remembered for his interests in our rural economy probably as his parents were tenant farmers who also owned a small property. They moved to New Zealand in 1869, although Bill stayed in Ireland for a bit longer to finish his studies. Although the bush walk up to the memorial and the structure itself is well looked after the walk up to the gun emplacements above was very overgrown and weedy. We agree with Peter Jackson - it is time to return the land to the people of Wellington so we can make it into a natural reserve for everyone to enjoy (we think it is owned by the Ministry of Defence like the buildings in Shelley Bay which seem to be falling into disrepair).

The next day I waved goodbye to Harry, Jim and Margot as they drove off to the ferry to begin their walk.  The floods had closed the first hut but they had managed to get a campsite at Marahau for the first night and so the walk started just a day late.  I had come to the decision just before Christmas that to walk the track would not be a sensible decision for me due to its condition (lots of slips), and catching the water taxi every day wouldn't be much fun - so in the last week I booked an appointment with the knee specialist for January and some later ferry tickets so I can meet up a bit later on and go to Farewell Spit. So, Harry will do a separate blog of his travels when he returns... It was another stunning day and I decided to go to Matiu-Somes Island (named originally by Kupe after one of his daughters Matiu more than 1000 years ago, and then renamed after the Deputy Governor of the New Zealand Company, Joseph Somes). Just a few years ago it was given the double barrelled name in recognition of its bicultural heritage. It is now a scientific and historic reserve and a regular visit is a must for me.  The island was made a reserve in 1995 and about 14 years later was included in the Treaty of Waitangi cultural redress for Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika A Maui - three inner harbour islands were returned to iwi. The island is still protected by reserve status, accessible to the public, and managed by DOC. It has heaps of history and I remember a little bit more each time I go.  The island has been:

• a human quarantine station - where many immigrants arriving on ships were cleared or hospitalised here and either recuperated or were buried. The little hospital is now a visitors centre where before it nursed those with typhoid, smallpox and scarlet fever.  One of the first things immigrants had to do was to sit in a smoke house, in chlorine, potassium nitrate and sulphur fumes, for 10 minutes to get rid of lice.  What a welcome!! One of the saddest stories is of a Chinese fruiterer, Kim Lee who they thought had leprosy.  He was isolated on Mokopuna Island, just north of Somes in 1903 and lived in the cave on the little island using packing cases for furniture and shelter. The lighthouse keeper delivered food and water to him by boat, or by flying fox when the sea was too rough. Lee died in 1904 after six months of exile and it is now thought he did not suffer from leprosy after all. 
• an animal quarantine station from 1889 - where animals lived their first couple of months in Kiwiland. They were quarantined on the island for 30-60 days to check they were free of disease. In the early 1970's a new maximum security animal quarantine station was completed and for the first time exotic breeds such as elk, red deer, alpaca and llama where imported from a range of countries rather than the standard sheep and cows from Britain, Australia and Canada. As the need for quarantine stations declined (due to importing of ova and embryos rather than live animals) the station eventually closed.
• an internment camp - and a memorial now stands looking across to Wellington in remembrance of the Italians interred there during the second world war - around 300 enemy aliens were shipped to the island together with their families and businesses.  
• a military defence position - where sheep now graze amongst the gun emplacements. 

The little lighthouse stands proudly on the south coast of the island - lighting the path for ships coming into the harbour since 1865 (well the old one was removed and is now in Timaru so it is nearly the original). I enjoyed the walk around the island, sitting watching the kakariki flit around, the gulls squawking and the lizards scuttling away as they heard my footsteps. The red and yellow flax were flowering and so was the toetoe (which is native to NZ - the larger pampas grass which is very similar was imported and we saw lots of it in Europe) and the blue gum hebe (which is actually purple). I am still yet to see a tuatara bathe in the sunshine, but did see some wetas in their manmade motels.

In the evening Sharon and Aaron came around to tidy up the rabbit hutch. We did a great job, until we lifted the floor and discovered a nest of bumble bees. I must admit I had never thought where a bumble bee lived - it is always wasps nests one finds. So, Astro isn't using that for her holiday home and after reading more about bumble bees we might follow the advice I found on http://www.bumblebee.org/faqNests.htm

"What do you do if you find a bumblebee nest? Really the best answer to this question is Do nothing! You can, of course, look forward to enjoying watching the bees come and go. The farmers who grow tomatoes under glass pay a fortune for bumblebee nests, yours is free, and at the end of the nesting period you will have a bumblebee nest to look at and examine. You can try following the bees to see if they all visit similar shape and colour flowers. In fact you should consider yourself quite lucky. However I realise that you may be worried about where the nest is located and what might happen. You may not feel lucky after all. Firstly I must reassure you that bumblebee nests are not like honey bee hives, they last only a few months, and are usually small enough to hold, and bumblebees are not as ferocious as wasps. The bees are fairly placid and are unlikely to sting unless they feel their nest is threatened. So if the nest is under the house or shed it is best just to leave it...Some of the bumblebees which make smaller nests, do sometimes chose strange places to nest. Their nests are small and in the case of B. pratorum are usually very short lived. So again, I would say leave the nest alone. If this is impossible, for example if the nest is under your rotary lawnmower that you forgot to clean last year, or in the pocket of your gardening jacket that you left in the shed at the end of last summer. You may feel that you have no choice. Well you can try to move the nest to somewhere more suitable, or even better, remove the lawnmower." If the bees are the ground nesting kind things are more difficult. The tunnel to a nest can be two metres long. This calls for quite a lot of digging, and really they are best left alone."
Sharon went and bought a new holiday home for Astro and we are taking the advice for the good of the bumble bees (and cos we don't want to get stung). And just because - here is a poem by CJ Heck who I think might be youngish. 

Today I saw a bumblebee. 
He was on a pretty rose. 
I leaned in to look at him, 
and he stung me on my nose! 
I wasn’t gonna squish him, 
only watch and see … 
but I’ll never get THAT close again 
to a grouchy grumble-bee. 

The next day we went to see the bridesmaid dress material, I had lunch with Mike and then after a bit of a lazy afternoon said goodbye to everyone before they head over to Sydney for new year.  Thursday was a trip to Otaki to take a look at the shops (in case I see something to wear for the wedding - which I didn't) and in the evening I went to see The Iron Lady - although a good movie I found it was a bit disappointing as the life of this great lady was seen through the eyes of an old person - which is an interesting story but always entwined with sadness.  Though, I guess old age comes to all of us lucky enough to see it.  The weather turned wet, windy and cold on Thursday evening (just like the weather forecasters predicted) and so I didn't get up early on Friday and only ventured out to do a bit of last minute shopping and to feed Astro.