Kapiti Island 1

To go Kiwi-spotting we had to be on the island at night so we arranged to stay at the lodge which is at one end, on what is the only privately owned land there.
Thanks to some far-sighted people the island was designated as a reserve as long ago as 1897 but by then it had already been  cleared of most of its forest for agricultural purposes and it wasn't until the 1960's that the leases of those who had been working the land expired and DoC began in earnest the task of allowing the forest to regenerate and dispatching (with poison, trapping and shooting) the animals regarded as pests because they preyed upon native birds or ate the native vegetation.
The number of visitors allowed on the island each day is strictly limited and we had to obtain a permit to go there. Early on Monday 10 March we went to the Boat Club in Paraparaumu, and after being given a talk about the importance of Kapiti and having our luggage searched to make sure there were no stoats or rats in it, we were taken across by boat.

We were dropped off at first in the middle of the island where some tracks have been created to enable visitors to walk through the bush and climb to the highest point. As soon as we arrived the birdsong was noticeably more than we'd heard on the mainland. However, most of the noise was being made by birds we'd already seen and which, although beautiful and melodious, are not in danger - like the Bellbird and the Tui, both of which have an incredible range of calls and song.

Tui eating Flax seed

We were told that one reason for the noise was that the young Tui born last spring were learning and practising their songs.
We did see some rare birds though; such as the Saddleback (a small black bird with a orange/red stripe around its middle like a saddle. And we were 99% sure we'd seen the top of the head of an even rarer bird called  the Takehe!
After our packed lunch it was time to go back to the beach and be taken by boat to the private land at the north end.There were just 6 other people in the boat; a Dutch couple, an Englishman who lives in Holland and his Dutch wife and an Englishwoman spending some time with her daughter who had been working in Wellington for 3 years and doubted she would return to Britain because she was enjoying NZ so much. It was a very select party but twice as big as the one at Shearwater Lodge at the start of our NZ adventure.