Ripapa Island and the remaining pile

Ripapa Island was set up as a navel base in the Second World War with Armstrong Disappearing Guns. Never needed fortunately. You can cross over to it at low tide. For a while it was a picnic destination, then the sea scouts used it, and now its a naval museum.

The other bit of history is the pile. Once there were three or four piles, and the boats used to go and tie up between the piles to "swing" or adjust their compasses. Obviously before GSP.
Each boat had quite a bit of metal and steel that affected the magnetic reading, and using these piles they set the boats compasses to the true north allowing for the magnetic effects within the boat.

Soon after this shot the dark clouds over Lyttelton disappeared and the sun came out. Still a cool Southerly.