Pest-free island reopens

Motutapu - a pest-free adventure island in the Hauraki Gulf - has reopened.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) closed the island to the public in April due to widespread storm damage.

DOC’s Auckland inner islands operations manager Keith Gell said Motutapu was ‘‘now safe’’.

The island reopened to the public on October 21.

‘‘The roads, camp ground and most of the tracks are open and the risk of further slips has eased,’’ Gell said.

Cyclone Debbie ripped through Motutapu Island in April, destroying roads, tracks and a third of the 16,000 trees planted last year.

Two tracks — the Rotary Centennial and Mullet Bay — remain closed, as does the toilet block at Home Bay, which was hit by a landslide.

Four fibreglass ‘‘wilderness toilets’’ have been set up at the site for campers to use instead, said Gell.

Motutapu Island is connected by a causeway to Rangitoto Island, in the Hauraki Gulf.

It was declared pest-free in 2011 and is a popular destination for bird watchers and hikers.

The Motutapu Restoration Trust site is one of New Zealand’s largest ecological restoration projects.

The trust has planted almost half a million native trees on the island.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Motutapu Island is home to Kiwi and many other native birds.