Animals make it into our lounges

The stars of a popular DOC show are the animals

Conservation Department worker Nic Vallance has swapped flat white coffees in the city for a thermos and tramping boots, spending a year meeting some of our most interesting native species.

She's been bitten by a giant weta, cuddled a kakapo, held a baby New Zealand falcon, and clasped an albatross egg while it hatched.

"I met every kind of local you could imagine."

It was a hectic 12 months as Ms Vallance and a TVNZ film crew flew all over the country filming 152 episodes for the television series Meet the Locals.

Already a huge fan of the outdoors, the DOC media manager says the experience gave her a new appreciation of New Zealand's natural treasures.

"I've become a zealot and a bore. If you see me at at party and I start saying `Did you know that the giant weta' ... it's time to head for the hills!"

Meet the Locals has become the theme for Conservation Week, which starts tomorrow.

"It's a great theme because it can apply to anyone no matter where they live. It doesn't have to mean you go on a five-day tramp to the back of beyond. You could just throw the kids in the car and go and see a waterfall."

Ms Vallance starts every morning by checking out the locals in a kowhai tree in her backyard.

"This morning I saw a kereru [wood pigeon] and a tui."

A trip to Codfish Island, off the bottom of the South Island, to meet the endangered kakapo was a highlight for Ms Vallance, who can happily chat for hours about New Zealand's wildlife.

"I've always been a bit of a nature nerd so that was kind of a Holy Grail for me. I always get really mad when I hear people say our animals are boring, we don't have bears for example. But you only have to go into the bush and lift up a rock and it's amazing what you find."

Ms Vallance has been a wildlife nut all her life, and has a zoology degree after studying Adelie penguins chicks on the Antarctic Peninsula.

She says one depressing aspect of the assignment was realising how much of our native wildlife has fallen victim to introduced pests.

In areas where there is no pest control, 95 per cent of kiwi chicks don't make it to adulthood.

"Stoats and possums operate at night so we don't see them doing the damage they do."

The upside was the efforts local communities were making to preserve native species.

In Arthur's Pass in the South Island, virtually every local was involved in kiwi conservation, from helping with kiwi call surveys to laying stoat traps.

"And that was despite the fact I didn't meet a single person who had ever seen a kiwi!"

Meet the Locals can be found on doc.govt.nz and and on tvnzondemand.co.nz.

MEET THE LOCALS

Kiwis are being invited to get outside and meet the locals during Conservation Week, with hundreds of events happening all over the country.

In Wellington, Conservation Week will include tomorrow's official opening of the Taputeranga Marine Reserve off the south coast.

The closing event at Wellington Zoo on Sunday, September 14, will be another chance for encounters with some of New Zealand's special creatures.

People in Hawke's Bay can take a behind-the-scenes look at how kiwi chicks are monitored once they are released.

In Taranaki, DOC and the New Plymouth Tramping Club have arranged a Father's Day tramp.

In the Taupo region today, local railway enthusiast Errol Vincent will lead two walks to the historic Hapuawhenua Viaduct.

For more information on events in your region see conservationweek.org.nz