Spent the day on Matiu/Somes Island yesterday, out in Wellington Harbour - it’s great to be able to catch the ferry right from Seatoun Wharf (just down the hill from home) and get dropped back off there a few hours later. The island has an interesting history - quarantine station, internment camp, anti-aircraft battery (and that’s just the 20th century!) - but it’s also crawling with wildlife.
No, seriously - you can’t walk a yard without skinks skittering across your path, and you may well get buzzed by a kakariki or two while you’re looking at lizards - but we also saw a tuatara in the wild, the first one I’ve seen myself. (They tend to sit very still, and blend in with the rocks & trees around them, so they’re hard to spot!) Sorry, I can’t show him to you - he was off the path a bit, and it was more important not to disturb him than to get close with my little rangefinder…