Exploring Whakatāne BY FOOT, BOAT AND KAYAK
It pays to keep your eyes trained to the ground when stepping onto the golden sands of wildlife sanctuary Moutohorā Island, because you never know whose tracks you may be about to step on.
Prior to becoming a pest-free sanctuary, Moutohorā Island was home to introduced rabbits so it has plenty of burrows for its current resident population: kiwi, little blue penguins and grey-faced petrels (northern mutton bird)–it's the breeding ground for 84,000 petrels.
As the first human visitors to the island for the day we were astonished to find kiwi footprints on the beach. Kiwi are not usually beachgoers, nor are they endemic to Moutohorā, though many kiwi now call the island home, so perhaps that’s why they’ve taken to doing beach walks, and it is delightful to
