So, this is not Kawau Island! But, it looks just like an island one might be shipwrecked on. Very small and would probably not support even one person.

We took the mail boat to the island traveling to different locations and dropping off and picking up mail. This is not the mail ferry!

Collecting the outgoing mail.

Kawau Island was originally settled by early migrations of Maori people. From time to time tribes contested for the right to live on the island, which was eventually abandoned in the 1820s after a particularly bloody skirmish during the musket wars. A manganese mine was established on the island in the 1840s; shortly after, copper was discovered by accident. Fascinating ruins of the underground seashore copper mine, a pumping engine house and a small smelter remain today.

My friends, Marion and Kerry Manson! Gorgeous weather that day!