History of the Nelson Region, New Zealand region and named the sea between the North and South Island as "Cook Strait". They landed at Queen Charlotte Sound and Ship Cove, both names of which were named by the British explorer. There, they spent several weeks repairing their ship "The Endeavour" and reloading food and water supplies. Captain Cook's and his crew were to enter the "Ship Cove" in their subsequent voyages to New Zealand in 1773 and 1777 respectively. On 22 January 1827, the French explorer Dumont d'Urville along with French crew on the ship "Astrolabe " entered the Tasman Bay into what is now known today
Stoats in New Zealand Stoats in New Zealand Stoats ("Mustela erminea") were introduced into New Zealand to control introduced rabbits and hares, but are now a major threat to the native bird population. The natural range of the stoat is limited to parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Immediately before human settlement, New Zealand did not have any land-based mammals apart from bats, but Polynesian and European settlers introduced a wide variety of animals. The rabbit was introduced by European settlers as a food and game animal, and by the 1870s it was becoming a serious threat to the newly developed farming economy. Farmers began