Motuora Island New Zealand Auckland trips tours

Motuora Auckland NZ.

Motuora Island Auckland New Zealand

Motuora Island is a medium sized island and has several small secluded beaches and one large main beach with a camp site. Motuora is around 15 minutes from our location with any of our vessels. The Island is a major restoration project, so far there has been re-establishing native forest cover on the island. Approximately 30,000 native seedlings are raised in the island nursery each year and planted out by volunteers during the winter months. Weed control has also been important and an ongoing weed control programme is in place. Motuora is special, not just for its secluded picnic spots and clear waters, but for the fact that it has remained free of mammalian predators despite the island's long history of occupation and farming. There are no rats, mice, mustelids (stoats, ferrets or weasels) or feral cats. This makes Motuora ideal for native ecosystem restoration and for the creation of a safe habitat for endangered species. Since 1999 Motuora has been used as a "kiwi creche“ by Operation Nest Egg , and in 2006 Duvaucels geckos and shore skinks were released on the island. These releases mark the start of a new phase in the island restoration and many more species introductions are planned over the next decade.