In the middle of Wellington Harbour, formed long ago, before the time of Kupe, when Te Ika-a-Māui was just fished from the depths of the ocean, lived two taniwha, Ngake and Whātaita, lies Matui or Somes Island.
Somes Island served pretty much the same role as Ellis Island in New York, just off Manhattan. While New Zealand never really screened immigrants to the same extension, the local farmers were worried about diseases and so Somes Island had one of (and at several times THE) the worlds most secure animal health checkpoint. One feature being that noone ever wrote notes, instead notes were recorded with a microphone on an external tape recorder outside the security zone. Quite clever.
There was more than animals out there, or so they say: During WW2 Italians were held prisoner on the island because their weird language made them spies. Thick accent+gibberish=spy. Good thing security was low and the Italians could go swimming, make money creating sea-shell jewellery and meet their families 2 times a month. Italians were imprisoned on Matui for 2-4 years, many never found out why.
In 1956, a chinese man was put in detention on a small rock (calling it an island is really an overstatement!) just north of Matui. He was believed to have leprocy and was put there for that reason. When possible, the lighthouse keeper would row out with food, and apparently more. After the chinese man had died 3 months later, they found furniture made from shipping crates and more. They never found out why died, but today the small island goes by the name Leper Island.
Now, this place is beautiful! Just look at the picture, enough history!
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