Ponui Island

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Ponui Island, also known as Chamberlin's Island, is located in the Hauraki Gulf, to the east of the city of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located to the southeast of Waiheke Island, at the eastern end of the Tamaki Strait, which separates the island from the Hunua Ranges on the mainland to the south.

The island is virtually uninhabited (the population was nine in 2001), and has an area of 18 km². The island is broken into three blocks of farmland under separate titles, with sheep being the main product. The Chamberlin family has farmed Ponui for five generations.^{[citation needed]}

The island is a popular site for youth camps for organisations such as Scouts. Crusader camps (now under the banner of Scripture Union) started on the island in 1932. The camps continue, and 2007 marked the 75th anniversary of Scripture Union camping on Ponui.

The island is the home of New Zealand's only feral donkey breed, the Ponui donkey and also New Zealand's national bird, the kiwi ^[1]. There is a natural spring on the island which is the endpoint of an aquifer originating in the Coromandel peninsula. There is a small wind farm on the northern tip.

[edit] Camps

Ponui is legendary for the many camps held there, mostly scripture union camps including 'Ponui Junior', 'Ponui Senior', 'Ponui Extreme' and 'Family Camp'. Campers and leaders alike name Ponui as their favourite place to be, with its beautiful sunsets, Jesus experiences and legendary camps, and massive hillside-waterslide.