There is an island in the middle of Lyttleton harbour called Quail Island.
There was a trip organised to go there by the local royal society, and I happen to be on their mailing list – so off I went. Had a nice day walking around, seeing the various efforts at pest eradication (reasonably successful, though one of the party were pretty sure they saw a rabbit – which they thought they’d cleared off)
Also heard about the leper colony which was there. Here you can see one of the dwellings and also the crockery etc. which was recently discovered down on the beach. It had all been dumped there when the colony was destroyed.
Then a wander around the rest of the island, seeing the various plants which had been brought back, even a native mistletoe carefully grafted.
Oh, you can also see the remains of the kennels and the wharf where Captain Scott got ready for his trips to Antarctica (1901 and 1910).
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