Takapoto Tours
A working estate — over eight hundred thousand native trees, planted since 2007. Streams fenced from cattle. A predator-trapping network that connects to the predator-free Maungatautari beyond.
A tour is how visitors come to know the place. It begins at the Cabana and ends with an optional wine tasting — by way of bird, bush, lake and bee. By foot, or by BYO e-Bike, with a knowledgeable guide.
What you'll see depends on the morning. Tūī almost always. Kererū often. Kākā when the rewarewa is in flower. Kōkako, on the very best days, calling across from the mountain.
The two tour formats.
Three hours over farmland, through bush, and river side. Bring good shoes and water. Includes hills — moderate fitness level required.
The walking eco-tour.
3 hours, excluding optional wine tasting · $45, includes morning tea 02 — By e-BikeTraverse the estate by biking along the inner pathways and roads — includes hills and regular stops. Features a stop at the Market Garden to discuss organic gardening practices.
BYO e-Bike tour.
2 hours, excluding optional wine tasting · $45, includes morning teaA flight path from the mountain.
Maungatautari sits three kilometres away — a fully predator-fenced ecological island. As the bird populations inside have grown, they've begun spilling out: tūī, kākā, robins, tomtits, saddlebacks, and (recently) kōkako.
Robins and tomtits don't fly far — fifty to a hundred metres at a time — which is why the connected bush corridor we plant matters. Saddlebacks and kōkako are similar. The work, in other words, is mid-canopy as much as it is earth.
Where the kitchen begins.
Learn more about our no-dig raised garden beds on a BYO e-Bike tour. Established fifteen years ago — pea straw as the growing medium, worms doing the cultivation, a year of composted horse manure feeding it all back. No sprays.
The chef picks for the kitchen here. What's in surplus becomes pickles, preserves, the weekly produce boxes that go to local families and guests of the estate. The olive grove is pressed for oil. The hives feed bloom and table both.
The numbers.
Pest Control.
Trapping, bait, and monitoring across the estate and onto the neighbouring properties — connecting to the predator-free Maungatautari.
Tours run on a schedule throughout the year — check out our event calendar for what's on.