When my good buddy and filmmaker Ross Mackay mentioned he was coming to Wellington to film a short documentary on the Capital Kiwi Project for Cactus, I wasted no time asking if they needed stills too. One short email later, and I was joining Ross on the ground in Makara Village and along Wellington’s south coast to capture the groundbreaking work of the Capital Kiwi Project.
The Capital Kiwi Project is the vision of former film producer Paul Kelly. At its core, it’s about bringing kiwi back to Wellington’s hills and changing the way New Zealanders interact with this treasured taonga. The goal isn’t to visit kiwi in a dark room at the zoo, but to share our trails and hills with them.
And in a relatively short time, that vision has become reality. Kiwi are regularly spotted at Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park. They’re heard at night by residents in Ngaio and Khandallah, and have even shown up on front door cameras in Broadmeadows.
I’m definitely simplifying things here. Before Paul and his team could even think about releasing kiwi, they had to tackle the massive job of predator control across the south coast hills. Today, 10 years since the first trap was laid, the Capital Kiwi Project now spans over 24,000 hectares, with more than 5,300 traps maintained by staff, volunteers, farmers, landowners, and everyday Wellingtonians.
Ross was in Wellington to help shine a light on the project through an episode of Cactus’ Uncommon Threads film series. The Christchurch-designed gear felt right at home in Wellington’s steep, rugged terrain, pushing through gorse, barberry, and mānuka.
Following the team out into the hills really brought the scale of the project into focus. This isn’t something happening quietly in the background. It’s constant, hands-on work. Checking trap lines, moving through thick scrub, and covering ground that most people would never think twice about. It gave me a real appreciation for just how much effort goes in behind the scenes to make something like this possible.
But the real moment, the one that sticks with you, was seeing kiwi in the wild. Not in an enclosure, not behind glass, but out there in the hills of Wellington where they belong. It’s hard to explain just how special that felt. One of those moments you know you won’t forget.
What really hit me was how close we are to this becoming normal. Not a rare sighting or a lucky encounter, but something every Wellingtonian gets to experience. Hearing kiwi at night, spotting them out on the trails, sharing the same spaces. If Paul and the team at Capital Kiwi keep building on what they’ve started, that future doesn’t feel far off at all.
Huge thanks to Paul, Jeff, Pete and Rawiri for having us out, and to Ross for bringing me along for the ride. And of course, Ash the good girl, who may or may not have stolen the show.
