Quail Island/ōtamahua

Quail Island is a small nature reserve South East of Christchurch in Lyttelton Harbour.

Otamahua, in English, means ‘the place where the tamariki (children) collect seabirds because, in the early 19th century, it was used as a food collecting place. Later in the 19th century, it became a quarantine station. People who came in from Europe would go to the island for about 2 weeks before
coming over to Lyttleton. The island later became a place for people diagnosed with leprosy.

The idea of our trip was to show us how humans and our activities have an impact on our world and how we, as the “future” of our country, could make a change now, so that the next generation can have what we have now. It's all about conservation.

The D.O.C is currently, along with volunteers, trying to restore the island to its natural state. They are currently working to get these native birds; South Island tomtit/miromiro, brown creeper/pïpipi, rifleman/tïtitipounamu, Tui, Fernbird/mätä, South Island robin/kakariki Yellowhead/mohua, South Island saddleback/tïeke and possibly the Parakeet/käkäriki back onto the island. At the moment, the island is predator-free but there is a problem. Animals like mice and rats can run across the mud flats during low tide.

I love the idea of being able to recreate how it was centuries ago. I tried to learn as much as possible during the trip, though I was distracted. This kind of stuff is interesting to me.

Here are a few pictures I took. (Mainly of my friends)