he coastal drive into Wellington on State Highway 1 is undoubtedly the most spectacular approach to any major city in New Zealand. The cliffs and hills plunge steeply to the sea and except on the calmest days are relentlessly pounded by waves and buffeted by the prevailing westerly winds. Along the coast between the Manawatu and Wellington the vegetation shows the effects of the salt-laden wind, and most exposed trees and shrubs are stunted and misshapen, clinging in tiny strips and patches to the hills. Exotic trees such as macrocarpa dominate the scenery and the land birds are almost all introduced species, which is hardly surprising since Wellington Harbour was a main port for importing livestock and birds.

Clearly visible from almost any part of the coastal road is Kapiti Island, some 10 kilometres long and about two kilometres wide and one of our most important island reserves. Kapiti was once partly farmed so the original vegetation has been severely modified. It also had a very large population of possums which killed many trees and badly damaged others.

Between 1918 and 1968 more than 25,000 possums were destroyed on Kapiti and in a concerted effort between 1980 and 1982 commercial trappers removed a further 15,000. Eradication programmes have now eliminated the few remaining.

The little spotted kiwi was introduced to Kapiti early this century and this is its last stronghold - none have been seen on the mainland for about 30 years. The rare South Island brown kiwi is found here, and saddlebacks and stitchbirds have both been introduced in recent years, although neither has done very well, probably because of the voracious Norway rat. Attempts at exterminating these rodents have now been successful , so things should improve dramatically.

A number of seabirds breed on Kapiti, among them the southern fairy prion and the titi, or sooty shearwater. Other seabirds frequently visit the waters around the island. The first recorded sighting of a grey-headed mollymawk in our waters was made near Kapiti and rare visitors such as the thin-billed prion turn up occasionally.

Several wildlife luminaries have visited Kapiti, including the writer Gerald Durrell, who described his impressions in his book Two in the Bush. One of his more delightful descriptions is of a tui:

... a tui arrived, and it was quite obvious from the start that here was an artist down to the wingtips. He appeared suddenly in some bushes, casual and elegant, dressed in metallic green plumage picked out here and there with a purplish sheen. Overlying the greenish feathers on the back of his neck were fine, long, hair-like feathers in white, and at his throat he wore two small powder-puffs of white feathers that looked so exquisitely tied that even Beau Brummel might have envied it. The tui is about the size of a blackbird, but whereas the blackbird is plump and rather uncouth, the tui is slender and debonair and moves with all the ease and grace of a professional dancer.

Kapiti lies close to a major migration route for whales moving through Cook Strait and because of this the island once had a shore-based whaling station. These migrations mean that the beaches opposite the island are a 'hotspot' for whale strandings. Most of the recorded strandings of the common dolphin have been in this area and the largest stranding of orcas, a pod of 17, came ashore at Paraparatunu in 1955. Other whales have beached here too, some of them cetacean rarities - Cuvier's beaked whales, straptooth whales and minke whales.

South along the coast there is a rather unusual reserve, at Pukerua Bay, 35 kilometres north-east of Wellington. Created in 1985 for the protection of lizards, this eight-hectare reserve is one of our smallest. On the steep hillside in the scrub and scree live five species of lizards, including the very rare Whittaker's skink, a nocturnal species found only in Pukerua Bay and two small islands off the Coromandel Peninsula.

Because our lizards are generally small and inconspicuous, many people are astonished to find how many species we have. Early scientists often failed to distinguish between similar species and, instead of the 39 lizard species once believed to be here, there are actually around 60 with others still turning up. Except for the 'kawekaweau' of the totara forests, lizards have, by a great deal of good luck, managed to escape extinction. But there is certainly no room for complacency, as many are now restricted to small islands where they are susceptible to calamities such as fires or the introduction of rats.

Just outside Porirua Harbour is the small island of Mana. Here the country's first commercial farm was established by John Bell, a Scot from Dundee, who landed in 1883, along with 10 cattle and 102 sheep. His farm flourished and only a year later the Sydney Morning Herald was able to announce that Mana was 'a very convenient place to refresh at ... The anchorage is safe at all times, wood and water are both good and plentiful, and fresh beef, mutton, lamb and pork, with rabbits, poultry and vegetables, may be procured at Mr Bell’s establishment on reasonable terms.'

Mana later became a quarantine station and new breeds of sheep were imported in the hope of establishing them in New Zealand. Unfortunately, an outbreak of disease meant that the stock had to be destroyed and the project abandoned. Now Mana has been turned into a reserve for rare and endangered species. Although after years of grazing only a small area remains in bush, it is hoped that it will eventually cover Mana again. Five threatened species are found on Mana: McGregor’s skink, the gold-striped gecko, a giant weta, a fem - Anogramma leptophylla - and Cook’s scurvy grass. Other endangered animals have also been introduced as the amount of vegetation permits.