Kawau Island

Kawau Island is another island in the Hauraki Gulf.  The island is named after the Māori word for the shag (cormorant) bird. 

Copper was mined on the island after discovery in the 1842, in the first years of European ownership. With imported miners and their families from Wales and Cornwall, the mining settlement finally reached a maximum of around 300 people, before problems with shipping and mine flooding (despite the construction of a pump house) closed the mine again in 1885. The island was bought a few years later by Sir George Grey, Governor of New Zealand, in 1862 as a private retreat. In 1856 a large quantity of gunpowder was stolen by Hauraki Maori from the Island. Grey extended the original copper mine manager's house (built 1845) to create the Mansion House, which still stands, and made the surrounding land into a botanical and zoological park, importing many plants and animals. The house changed hands several times after Gray, and decayed increasingly, but has been restored and furnished in the period of Governor Grey and is now in public ownership in the Kawau Island Historic Reserve, administered by the New Zealand Department of Conservation. The reserve is public land and covers 10% of the Island, and includes the old copper mine.

 

We pulled into Mansion Bay and anchored in calm waters 200 meters in front of the Mansion House.  We went ashore and met the park rangers and looked over the grounds and found the trail heads that we would later walk.  We also drove our dingy around to another bay to see the Kawau Island Yacht Club.  They had a nice dock and offered breakfast, lunch and dinners if you check ahead.

The island is home to kiwi and two thirds of the entire population of North Island weka (a ground bird). Among the animals that Grey introduced were five species of wallabies. Three of the six introduced wallaby species remain and do considerable damage to the native vegetation, thus harming the habitat for these flightless birds and other native fauna. The wallabies destroy all emerging seedlings which means that the present native trees are the last generation. The usual understorey forest species are absent due to wallaby browsing and in many cases the ground is bare.

 

The next morning we got up early and hiked the Lady’s bay and Coppermine tracks to see the old copper mine.  There is not much left except a large chimney and a few mines that go in about 25 feet before that have been sealed off for safety. 

 

 

We returned to the anchorage by the Redwood Track which goes through a grove of these mighty trees.  We got up early since both the Kiwi and Wallaby are nocturnal and we hoped to see them.  Sure enough we saw two wallabies ahead on the trail and got close enough for some good pictures of these and two more we saw later in the day.  No Kiwis were spotted but we saw many of the weka birds, some Paradise Ducks and more Oyster Catchers.

 

After doing all the park trails, we moved the boat over to Schoolhouse Bay and enjoyed that area.  We made the short dingy ride to the Yacht Club, had some meals there and bought a few items at their small store.  This is where we were anchored when the Japan earthquake and resultant tsunami washed into the bay.  Other than some swirling currents caused by the waves rushing in and out and some discolored water from stirred up sediment, we were unaffected.  We spent a few lazy days enjoying the calm anchorage and whittling away at home school lessons.

Tom