The new board of the Motu Kaikoura Trust is made up of about a dozen trustees drawn from the Great Barrier Island Charitable Trust, Ngati Rehua, the Native Forest Restoration Trust, as well as several well-known youth education groups such as Outward Bound.

It seems like there are no cats, rabbits, kiore or mice there. What is there, however, are fallow deer, pigs and ship rats. Interestingly, all three sub-species of ship rat exist on the island. Progress on obtaining funding for an eradication of these species will determine whether the island is treated (at least for the main priority – rats) this winter or next… but don’t be surprised if it occurs this winter.    If you think this sounds good, then it gets even better. Very good support from Ngati Rehua and adjacent landowners has meant a total of around 1000 hectares (including Kaikoura Island) will be eradicated. This includes Motuhaku and Nelson Islands off the NW tip of Kaikoura Island, and those islands that make up the Grey and Broken Island Groups. Some headlands on private property on the main Barrier island adjacent to Kaikoura Island will also be treated. It is indeed heart-warming to hear of such co-operation.

Already work has begun on tracks along some of the main ridges, and as time goes on, these will advance down secondary ridges, across clifftops and valleys to form loop tracks. Conservation groups from the mainland have been hard at work.

Will Scarlet is now the interim caretaker living on the island. He is contactable on 021-1158729. Vodaphone very kindly sponsored the phone.

Whereas Tiritiri-Matangi has concentrated on bird re-introductions, it is thought that the initial priorities for Kaikoura after a rat eradication could be on gekkos, skinks, and a range of invertebrates (animals without backbones) such as wetas, as well as brown teal and kakas.

Botanical surveys have shown a promising diversity of native plant species. Surveys are on-going and no doubt more will be discovered over time.