About
I'm Paul and I've set up Takahē Adventures to show visitors the Auckland most people miss.
A perfect Auckland weekend day, for me, starts early — watching the sun rise from a kayak at Tāwharanui or an early-morning trail run at Zion Hill or elsewhere in the Waitākere Ranges. Breakfast might be a bacon butty at the Matakana market and a flat white from Matakana Coffee Roasters or brunch at Deco in Titirangi. After that, it's time to relax and hopefully watch an Auckland FC or Warriors victory. To close out the day, I’ll check out that new restaurant on K Road or Ponsonby for dinner.
I’m very experienced in the outdoors and have hiked all of Aotearoa’s great walks, sailed throughout the Hauraki Gulf and spent dozens of nights in tents. I hold a current Level 2 first aid qualification, a concession from Auckland Council to run the tours and all necessary commercial driving permits and licences.
The Takahē
In 1898, the takahē, a New Zealand native bird, was declared extinct. Fifty years later, a small population was found alive in a remote Fiordland valley, in the South Island. The takahē was hidden until the right person knew where to look.
That's the idea behind Takahē Adventures. Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland has always had a black-sand coast, ancient rainforests, waterfalls but most visitors miss these as they head off to better publicised attractions. Takahē Adventures will take you to the hidden spots — at around one hour from downtown Auckland.
Conservation
We are proud to be able to support the Tāwharanui Open Sanctuary Society Inc and make a donation to them for every one of our Rua tours ($50 per tour for every Rua day tour and $50 per adult and $20 per child for every Rua afternoon/evening tour).
This donation will be used to help their ambitious, multi-year project to revive wetland areas in Tāwharanui, a vital habitat for the takahē, among other birds.
We try to minimise our negative impact and maximise our positive impact on nature. We follow best practice in terms of kauri dieback protocols and have a strict ‘leave no trace’ policy on all of our tours.
