Kapiti Island Walks

K?piti Island Trails and Walks

Listen to and observe poultry on walks in two publicly accessible areas of the island: Rangatira, half way along the east bank and the north end of the island. You can also take the path to T?teremoana, the highest point on the island K?piti at 521m above sealevel with a view of the maritime reservation.

It' a 90-minute drive back. Check out the ancient artifacts of the island's ancient catching of whales. That'?s a two-hour stroll. Hike to Tuteremoana on a well-developed path with a continuous ascent. It is an excellent course for all age groups and physical abilities. That'?s a two-hour stroll.

It is a more demanding hike to T?teremoana with small, bumpy outcrops. It'?s only ascending. It' a 90-minute drive back. It' a 45-minute drive back. The route is close from October to March to prevent annoying sea birds that nest. It'?s a five-minute stroll.

Day's march: Island Kapiti, from Rangatira Point to Tuteremoana Trigg

Komiti Island was sunshiny and charming. On Sunday mornings we went early to the Kapiti Boating Club, from where both ferries depart, and took our boat to the island. Turneremoana Trig. to Tuteremoana Trig and back. Me and stacey. Komiti Island has a rich and sometimes even violence-stricken past.

This was the basis from which Te Rauparaha dominated much of the lower North Island and the higher South Island of New Zealand. Being relatively centrally located and open to the Cook Straight, he used its strategically important position to gain trade possibilities with sailboats, giving it a major edge over other Maori strains and giving it a higher state.

It has been a nature reserve for more than a hundred years, but contradictory priority, administrative problems, disputes over its own destiny and landholding have led to long delays in making it possible to work effectively. In 1998 the last of the island’ rivals were definitively exterminated.

From then on, the traps that once covered the island may be covered again, threatened types are brought back to the island, and the whole place is reserved for the indigenous fauna. Kapiti Island in its present state is one of New Zealand's most important island conservation areas.

From the two places where tourists are permitted to end up on the island, Stacey and I went to Rangatira Point. The Tuteremoana Trigg can be reached from here. It is the highest point of the island at 521 meters, and when you stand there, you can look over the wind-blasted rocks on the west side.

However, we did not really go to Kapiti Island to get to the top and then walked very slow to savour the landscape and the birdlife. Although we were not there in the early mornings or evenings, it is still the case that birdsongs are very common on Kapiti Island. We had North Island Robins in front of us on several opportunities, which I am not used to in other places.

The Kapiti Tours ship arrives on the island around 9.30 a.m. for the hike detail (which I am trying to record in these notes). At about 10 a.m. after the Shrine of the Island we began the ascent to the Mount Trig Track. It is possible to make a bend to the trigger by following both the trigger track and the Wilkinson track, and we did.

But the Trigg Tracks are quite precipitous, full of trees and often slick. I' d just dropped my hiking shoes at home on that occassion, but I think they would have been very advantageous on the trigger rail. It is no more serious than a common hiking trail in many parts of New Zealand, but between the two it is much harder and much more steeply to get down, especially where it is probably simpler to stumble over.

WIlkinson has a lot more points and a flatter slope with less flex. Halfway up the trigger bar. At a crossroads (with a picknick table), the loops of the two major railway lines are closed from above by about 100 meters before they join again to form a path to the top.

As we climbed the Trig Trail to this point, we stayed for a while at one of the three aviaries. The Wilkinson Tracks crossed at about 11 o'clock. 40'ish, then to the top, and on the way we saw the first of many Weka who sat calmly and tame at the side of the road, pretending she would rather sleep.

Over the turnoff the route becomes much better again with many points, and shortly after noon we arrived at the Tuteremoana Trig, where we encountered a group of other folks having lunches and taking pictures of some more energetic Weka who waddled around to get into people's din.

There is a step leading up to an observation deck that extends just above the tree line and allows a view back to the mainland in the south. The LINZ topographic chart shows a rocky path leading northwards from here, but there was no trace of it. We' ve seen a whole bunch more Weka scrubbing around in the tree on the way down - I'm not sure if that's because they're more frequent on the Wilkinson Tracks, or if it's just because we were more attuned to their attendance at the moment, or maybe it was a daytime thing.

We followed the alternate detour around the coastline (only a small part of the coast), which lasts about 10 min. and spend a long while in the bright light while we were waiting for the ship to come and pick us up open, near the water.

And Kereru on the island of Kapiti is no different. In order to round it off, our 3pm boating was retarded to about 3. 3. 3pm, due to some kind of machine trouble Stacey noted the bloke fixed with a twistie latch. But in many ways it was a great way to end the days sitting 30 min longer on the Kapiti Island shore in the outdoors.