kapiti island

/ beach on kapiti island /

on sunday reuben and i went on a trip to kapiti island off the west coast a bit north of wellington. kapiti is a nature reserve managed by doc where several different bird species that are extinct on the mainland are successfully living in predator free bush. our trip was run through forest & bird as you need to have doc permits to even get on the island.

/ view from the top /

we took a boat from the mainland in the morning over the stretch of water between the islands, which is a designated marine reserve. once landed, we had a quick briefing by a ranger and then we were let on our way to climb to the top of the island. when we approached the island i was pretty surprised at how tall and steep it was! and for some reason i thought it was a good idea to take the harder trail up...

/ view over the marine reserve /

and while the hard trail reminded me how unfit i am, it was a really great hike filled with sightings of numerous tui, weka, bellbirds, whiteheads and even some saddlebacks, stitchbirds and kaka. we reached the top in about an hour and a half where several of us enjoyed our lunches and before long a begging weka showed up trying to get food scraps off of us!

/ a begging weka /

an overall fantastic day. today, however, i'm feeling the after effects of an hour and a half of scaling an incline - ouch!