Kawau Island

 The weather looked as if it would be a bit inclement today but it only rained while we were on the ferry going out to the island.
There was copper mining on the island in the 1840's and the mansion has a copper roof and down pipes. It was the home of the copper mine manager in the 1840's. The mine was opened in 1849 and produced about 2500 tonnes of copper. One mine went under the land and another one went under the sea - about 36 metres out.

remains of copper mine chimney.

 Kawau was the home on Governor Grey in the 1860's. He planted lots of exotic plants and imported exotic animals too. Like zebras, that he used to pull his carriage.He bought the house from the copper mine manager and made the house bigger than it was. His niece and family lived on the top floor.

The approach to the house from the wharf.

School House Bay

There was a school at this bay for the children living on the island. One rough day, the boat bringing the children to school capsized and a lot of the children drowned. After that the school was closed and the children either went to boarding school or were home schooled.
We did the mail run, so we went into quite a few of bays. The mansion house itself was closed for the winter so we will have to come back one day to see inside. We peeped through some windows and it looked impressive. We ate our lunch and had a wander around the grounds until the ferry came to pick us up at 2 pm.