Rampart around Ripapa Island

Fort Jervois, Ripapa Island, in Lyttelton Harbour NZ has a long and intriguing history. As well as having been, in early times, a prison for many captives and also a place where people with serious inflections were banished, it was a stronghold during World Wars 1 and 2, harbouring the notorious German Captain Von Luckner. His escape from a detention centre in Auckland, to his incarceration for the rest of the war in Ripapa Island, makes for riveting reading. It's now off-limits for visiting, due to the June 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and is mostly frequented by seagulls and kayakers.