Our Other Islands | Episode 6: Kāpiti | RNZ

[G] Leaving Paraparaumu in Wellington, Troy catches a glimpse of Kāpiti Island before
making his way to the island.

Made with the support of NZ On Air.

[christinatay]

I have loved both of my trips out to Kāpiti island. Amazing manaakitanga everytime. The manu are so wonderful.

[Thebrocee]

kia ora brother troy thank you for the series brother The Mann 💯💯💯

[shaunharris]

Awesome series! Chur the brother troy!!

[shanefraser]

Lived in.Paekok as a kid the beach was always the place, always looking towards Kapiti❤

[MaliaWaits]

Thank you, for being you! I hear you and I appreciate you ❤🙏🏽

[kroadie]

Hey Troy, I like your song back in music time, elephant in the house. Rnz love the films, love the whenua.

[martinnicholls]

I visited Kapiti several times and stayed at Barnacles backpackers in Paraparaumu each time. It was always with a sense of wonderful anticipation as I looked to the hilly island off the coast, yet, despite the abundance of birdlife there, I didn't hear a single bird from the mainland. It was when I got to stay on the island, courtesy of the Maori owners, the Barretts, at the north of the island, I experienced little spotted kiwi calls for the first time. It was truly magical. There is a line of Wharariki (so-called mountain flax) on both sides of the track to the shore. They were in flower and there was an abundance of what I first took to be sparrows. No, they turned out to be female korimako (bellbirds). I've never seen so many, all of one gender too.

Also, even on the north of the island, where I'm not aware birds were released, there were plenty of tieke (saddleback) calls, and a walk to the kanuka forest past the Scientific Reserve was the experience of seeing a number of hihi (Stitchbird) - some males, most females, and there were courtship displays- a prelude to breeding perhaps. There were no hihi feeders on this part of the island, but this population of hihi seemed to be thriving.

Has any of you been bitten on the ear by a kaka that thought it was being teased? I was eating a shortbread biscuit and a kaka tried to muscle in. When I refused it, it bit me on the earlobe. I imagine it was like a really rough earpiercing! There are kaka everywhere, all scrounging for food.

On a lesser note, unlike Hauturu-o- toi, Kapiti is far from pristine, indicated by the predominance of kanuka (a special species known as Kunzea amathicola, not found naturally on the North Island mainland). There is also an absence or scarcity of many species such as kotukutuku, rimu, matai, miro or rata, and many other rainforest species that are important resources for our forest birds. Also, many species depicted on this video are not indigenous to the island (pohutukawa and tree lucerne for example) and I was on the island to see a large taraire tree being felled (this does not naturally occur south of Kawhia or East Cape near Te Kaha). Nor is the famous weka the North Island subspecies; it is a hybrid between the North Island weka and western weka of the South Island West Coast.

If there is ging to be an ongoing effort to revegetate the island, I urge the local manawhenua to stick to those species that are (or likely to have been) indigenous to kapiti. This is an aspect of reforestation where I feel we have all failed. In my early professional life, I was brought up with the concept of 'ecosourcing' deep in my psyche and feel it is vital for honest and serious indigenous reforestation. Even the word 'indigenous' is important here. It does not mean native which include all those species making up the New Zealand Botanical Region - a vast area from the Kermadec Islands to Campbell Island (in other words the now mostly drowned continent of Zealandia). For instance, kauri might be a native plant, but, if it is grown on Rakiura, it may be native, but it is not indigenous. I get picky like this because of my botany background.

All this aside, Kapiti is a great experience and well worth a visit.

[dominicluond]

Looking forward to your chatam special

[davidfentonhancock]

RNZ Documentaries with a heavy overlay of appalling virtue signalling. So very