OurNewZealandAdventure: Kapiti Island

Some million years ago, Kapiti Island was part of a land mass that connected the North and South Islands, but is now an island. The Maori lived here for a time, commercial whalers came and hunted the whales almost to extinction, the Europeans came, land was cleared for farming, farm animals came, and the ecology of the island was being destroyed - the story of much of New Zealand. In 1897 the land was dedicated as a reserve and much work was done to eradicate the introduced pests and make the island a sanctuary for birds.

This twenty kilometer square island is just off the coast in the Tasman Sea, about an hour north of Wellington and an hour south of Palmerston North. Only about fifty people are allowed on the island each day, so we obtained our DOC permits and scheduled the fifteen minute boat ride for our day on the island.

We went to the middle part of the island and took a 2 hour hike pretty much straight up the top (we even opted for the difficult trail!) and then a slightly less steep walk down. With careful watching and listening, we saw and heard several birds that we wouldn’t easily find on the mainland. It was an incredibly peaceful experience.

Some of the birds we were able to see were weka, kaka, bellbird, tui, and kereru. If we had a better camera or were more skilled there might have been some great bird photos! Actually Jim is a good photographer, so he would only need the better camera.