Kiwi walk

 Kia ora My name is Jack Karetai-Barrett, and I’m a year 10 student at Whakatane High School. Today, I’m going to be writing about my experience walking the Kiwi walk with the Whakatane Kiwi Trust, and guide, Stewart Sutton. 

I’ve known Stuart for a really long time. When I was five years old, my mum was the Group Leader for Kingsley Scouts, and Stewart was the Kea leader. Stewart has held so many roles in Scouting, at a local, regional, and national level. He is one of the people in our community who makes amazing things happen for kids. 

Recently, Stewart contacted me and offered to bring me on the Kiwi Walk so I could share the experience I had through my writing. The experience was so much fun, I decided to do it again. 

On the first trip, we drove to the top of Burma Road. We got everyone set up with UV torches and headlights, and then Stewart gave a short talk about the Whakatane Kiwi Trust. The Trust is a community-led organisation, dedicated to the protection of kiwi, and other indigenous species in our rohe. As we were walking, Stewart would stop us, and share his knowledge of the bush and the animals that live there. We learned about all the different plants and insects that lived on and around the track, their lives, their habits, their predators, and their challenges.

Although we didn’t see any kiwi, we saw a lot of really cool bugs and heard a kiwi near the end. If you know where to look, you can find weta, and spiders bigger than the palm of your hand everywhere! Some people got some pretty big shocks when they saw them, but for me personally, I was so happy to see these species thriving in our bush. Did you know that a weta can jump three metres?

Stewart also told us about all the things that kill kiwi chicks; some of the most common being animals like stoats, ferrets, cats, dogs, and rats. When ever possible, Kiwi egss are brought to hatchery where the egg can successfully hatch, and the chick will get taken care of until they weigh 1 kilogram; after that, they can defend themselves against most predators in the wild, except cats and dogs. It is advised that you keep your cats and dogs away from the bush. It is also a good idea to take your dog to a kiwi avoidance training course run by the Whakatane Kiwi Trust. In the course, dogs will get to know what a kiwi smells like, and if they’re interested, they get a small, controlled shock. It usually only takes one or two shocks to stop the dog from being interested. The shocks do not harm the dog since it’s just a small zap, but it’s enough to teach the dog that kiwi are bad news for them. Even though avoidance training works, it is best to just keep dogs away from kiwi habitat. Cats are more complicated to control. The best way to stop cats from killing our native birds is to keep cats contained. In New Zealand, people just let their cats run wild, and we end up with lots of wild cats. It is normal in other parts of the world to keep cats inside. The Whakatane Kiwi Trust also has a volunteer-run trapping programme in the bush to control rats, stoats, and possums. 

On the second trip with Stewart, we started at the White Horse Drive entrance to Nga Tapuwae o Toi walkway. It was an incredible night! I thought that the insects were big on the first trip, but this one blew my mind! They were massive, and there was way more insect life. The walk felt a bit shorter than the Burma Road trip. It was a lot smoother to walk along, and there were no stairs or big roots, so it was a lot easier for people who are not confident in trail walking. On this night, we found some huge weta under an erroded bank. There were also a lot more spiders in the trees. The insect life is thriving because pests are being managed. There is so much life in the bush at night, that we don’t get to see, unless we take advantage of these opportunities. 

If you are thinking about taking a trip, I recommend that you find out the starting point for the night you are interested in. If you have mobility issues, the White Horse Drive starting point will be easier for you.

I am thankful to Stewart that I got to have this experience. It was so much so that I have now volunteered to help guide for the night walks and also on the kiwi avoidance training days, Organisations like the Whakatane Kiwi Trust do amazing work in our communities, and they can only do it when people are willing to volunteer. If you would like to help them, there are lots of different volunteer roles. Just go to www.whakatanekiwi.org.nz Let’s do everything we can to support conservation in our rohe.