Category: Orokonui

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Orokonui

Join Our Team – Café

The Horopito Café at Orokonui Ecosanctuary is looking for two people to join our team, delivering a high quality café experience in a truly unique nature setting.

The Horopito Cafe at Orokonui supports the work of the sanctuary through showing manaaki to guests with delicious food and beverages, while also helping wildlife thrive with revenue going towards conservation at Orokonui.

Currently we are looking to fill two roles:

Café Assistant (Permanent Part-Time – Saturdays)

We’re looking for a friendly and reliable Café Assistant to join our team for a permanent part-time role, working Saturdays (minimum 4-hour shifts).

This is a great opportunity for someone looking to gain experience in hospitality, upskill, or step into their first café role in a supportive and welcoming environment.

About the role:

You’ll be part of a small, positive team delivering great service to visitors of the ecosanctuary. Tasks will include:

  • Serving customers with warmth and professionalism 
  • Preparing cabinet food and basic café items 
  • Handling cash and EFTPOS transactions 
  • Supporting general café operations and cleanliness 

What we’re looking for:

  • A positive attitude and willingness to learn 
  • Good communication skills 
  • Reliability and punctuality 
  • Ability to work in a team and follow direction 

No prior experience is required – just a great attitude and eagerness to learn.

Why join us?

  • Supportive team environment 
  • Opportunity to build hospitality skills 
  • Unique workplace surrounded by nature

Senior Café Team Member (Permanent Part-Time)

We’re seeking an experienced hospitality professional to join our team in a permanent part-time Senior Café role.

This position involves working a minimum of Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays, with the option to pick up additional shifts on Thursdays and Fridays. Shifts are a minimum of 5 hours, with weekday hours potentially aligning with school hours.

About the role:

This is a hands-on position suited to someone confident across all areas of café operations. You’ll play a key role in delivering a high-quality customer experience while supporting and stepping up within the team when needed.

Responsibilities include:

  • Providing excellent customer service 
  • Preparing and serving espresso coffee 
  • Food preparation, including cabinet food and baking 
  • Supporting day-to-day café operations across front and back of house 
  • Leading shifts when required and supporting junior team members 
  • Stepping into a 2IC role during periods of leave 
  • Maintaining high standards of cleanliness and efficiency 

What we’re looking for:

  • Proven experience in hospitality or café environments 
  • Confidence in making espresso coffee 
  • Strong food preparation and baking skills 
  • Leadership capability or readiness to step into leadership responsibilities 
  • A proactive, team-focused attitude 
  • Ability to jump into all areas of the café as needed 

Bonus points for:

  • Catering experience 
  • An interest in the values and mission of Orokonui Ecosanctuary 
  • A desire for long-term employment 

Why join us?

  • Work in a unique, purpose-driven environment 
  • Be part of a close-knit and supportive team 
  • Opportunities to contribute to catering and events

Sounds like you – get in touch

To apply or for more info about the role please email Horopito Café Manager Louise via louise@orokonui.nz

We are looking to fill these roles as soon as possible so don’t hesitate to apply. Applications will be considered as they are received.

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Orokonui

New Zealand String Quartet returns to Orokonui

After sold out shows in 2024 and 2025 we are excited to announce that the New Zealand String quartet are returning to Orokonui as part of their 2026 season.


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Orokonui

Holiday Open Hours

Explore Orokonui this holiday season. We will be open our regular open days apart from Christmas day. This means you can visit us on Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, and and Day After New Year’s.

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Orokonui

Locals Welcome Weekend

Orokonui Locals Welcome Weekend

Local conservation relies on local community so join us at Orokonui this weekend for another Locals Welcome Weekend.

Visit Orokonui over Labour weekend 25th-27th October to celebrate the role that locals play in helping wildlife thrive at Orokonui and across Dunedin.

Otago locals will get discounted entry over the weekend $10 for adults and $5 for kids. There will also be a bunch of talks and activities in the visitor centre and sanctuary to keep the whole whānau entertained.

Bring the kids along from 10am-2pm to make some free wildlife themed craft masks to bring out their wild side.

Head out into the sanctuary to learn more about our wildlife with free talks. Saturday, Sunday, & Monday.

11am – Takahē talk at the takahē pond
12pm – Kākā talk at the platform feeder

Explore the sanctuary from 9:30am-4:30pm and enjoy specials from the cafe 10am-3pm.

See you there!

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Orokonui

Join our team – Café Allrounder

The Horopito cafe is looking for at least two people to become part of our Orokonui team.  

The cafe is an important part of the manaaki that we show to visitors, serving them delicious food and drink while looking out at the best views in Ōtepoti Dunedin 🌿

Horopito café sits at within the Orokonui visitor centre at the top of the Orokonui valley. It looks out across the 307 hectares of the Orokonui Ecosanctuary where thanks to its 9km predator resistant fence native wildlife thrives.  This includes many species uncommon or absent from the surrounding landscape such as takahē, kākā, tuatara, kiwi, and Tīeke (SI saddleback). The sanctuary is an important place for visitors of all ages to experience nature including thousands of school children who visit each year, and international visitors who travel from around the world.

Horopito Café provides a thoughtful dining experience for visitors to the ecosanctuary, and caters for business meetings, weddings, retreats, and all other functions held on site. Our team strives to lead by example: in our everyday operations, we minimise packaging, compost organic waste, use UV treated rainwater, recycle wastewater, and have solar heated hot water. We are committed to sourcing and serving local produce reflective of regenerative practice, and we are committed to creating opportunities for collaboration and innovation with the wider community. By constantly questioning how we can do better, we hope to inspire others to do better too! 

Alongside tours, shop, admissions and events the café also plays a crucial role in creating revenue that supports the conservation and wildlife advocacy work of the sanctuary.

As visitor numbers continue to grow we are looking for at least two people to join our teams in the following roles.

Café assistant

Primary role:  Our perfect fit will have existing experience working in a fast-paced cafe environment – a skilled barista, able to deliver consistently high-quality beverages, at speed, over our busy summer season. This is a part-time permanent role, which includes weekend work: two shifts are available, Friday and Saturday. Additional hours, to service the delivery of events outside of normal opening hours, and to cover shifts for other team members on leave, will also be available.

Adaptable team member, comfortable in both Front of House and Back of House, working as part of a fast-paced team. Duties include barista service, cash handling, customer service, food preparation (including some baking – training provided), clearing tables, washing dishes, and cleaning. 

Hours: Horopito Café is open from 9:30am to 3pm, five days per week, Thursday to Monday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday). Rostered shifts are between 5 – 7 hours, worked between the hours of 8:30am and 4:30pm.

See full role description here

Senior Café all rounder

Our perfect fit will have existing experience working in a fast-paced cafe environment, with strong barista skills, experience in the preparation and service of simple cafe-style food (preferably with sound backing skills), and the ability to help lead a small team.

This is a part-time permanent role, which includes weekend work: three shifts are available, on Monday, Thursday and Sunday. Additional hours, to service the delivery of events outside of normal opening hours, and to cover shifts for other team members on leave, will also be available.

Description of Duties:

  • Leading beverage service, delivering consistently high-quality beverages at speed; taking responsibility for the coffee machine and equipment, and notifying the Café Manger of any issues or needs.
  • Delivering consistently high-quality dining experiences: preparing simple café-style food, for both café and all in-house functions and events; leading the team during service.
  • Assisting the Chef – Café Manager and Second In Charge with some management tasks, sharing weekend rostering, leading the kitchen in their absence, and maintaining a positive and supportive workplace culture.
  • Complying with all food safety policies and procedures, to ensure that the kitchen’s A-grade status is maintained.

Hours :

Horopito Café is open from 9:30am to 3pm, five days per week, Thursday to Monday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday). Rostered shifts are between 5 – 7 hours, worked between the hours of 8:30am and 4:30pm.

See full role description here

For more information and to apply:

Email cafe manager Louise Havill louise@orokonui.nz We will assess all applications as they are received so don’t hesitate to apply.

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Orokonui Uncategorized

Tracking change with pictures

Orokonui is a long term project. With a 1,000 year plan ahead of you it can be easy to forget where you have been. Luckily there are photographs, these records of our past allow us to see just how much this place has changed in a relatively short period of time.

A group stands in front of the visitor’s centre site in 2007
The same view capture in 2024

The visitor’s centre was built in 2010, one clear marker of it’s position is the large tī kōuka/cabbage tree out the front. This tī kōuka also marked the entry to the Swain farmhouse, the image below from the 1920’s shows two tī kōuka either side of the door. We don’t know which one of these trees is the one now in front of the visitor’s centre, only that one of them survived to welcome visitors to the sanctuary more than 100 years on. It was the Swain’s who also farmed this land wth cows. The historic stone byre who’s foundations are still present near the visitor’s centre was where milk was collected before being taken by horse and cart to the roadside for collection. 

The Swain homestead circa 1920. Note the tī kōuka/cabbage trees out the front

When built, one key features of the visitor centre is the wetland area in front of the deck. Not only an important part of the view, these ponds help process water from the building and carpark, ensuring it is in the best quality possible before continuing down the Orokonui stream. 

The change in this area is phenomenal, each year a great display of toetoe and harakeke occurs. Many birds now use this area, including kakaruai/robins and titipounamu/rifleman which have been seen hopping through the bushes. Keep an eye out on a warm day because this area has also become popular with tussock skinks. Most recently this area has become home to a moa, or at least a carved wooded sculpture, providing guests with an opportunity to consider those birds lost before being wowed by those that remain. 

View of the ponds from the ramp just after construction in 2010
The same view showing huge plant growth in 2024

Planting for the rare plants garden began in 2010. This has become a great asset to the sanctuary with many examples of plants rare or uncommon in the surrounding landscape. Inside the sanctuary with no grazing pressure from goats, deer, rabbits or possums plant growth has been at its most extreme. Many of the plants in the garden have taken very well to their environment, and the display of flowers such as the daisy Celmisia hookeri at the right time of year is truly remarkable. If you haven’t spent time slowly wondering this area you should. As well as the large flashy and unusual. There is also a suite of smaller equally as incredible plants amongst this collection. 

The rare plants garden not long after establishment in 2010
The rare plants garden in 2024

Looking from the other end of the garden you can get a sense of how much this part of the sanctuary has grown. So much in some places that tracking tunnels that were once out in the open have been swamped by native plants. Where gorse once dominated a future forest has pushed up to take its place. 

Interestedly where once planting was a focus, control of this vegetation is now a major task for our team. To ensure we can carry out our conservation activities we must keep clear our 60+km of monitoring tracks and to avoid incursions or fence damage we must keep trees off both sides of the fence.

View towards Mihiwaka showing grass
and gorse in 2010
Mihiwaka is now only barely visible above the growing vegetation in 2024

Most excitingly in terms of plant growth we are now also seeing a proliferation of young podocarps like tōtara, miro, and rimu emerging. These are the future of our forest, and their return to this landscape is a big part of the sanctuaries 1000 year vision. We may not be around to see them get big, but we can we can be happy that we got to experience and enjoy Orokonui, and that others will as well for generations to come. 

The best way to ensure we can continue our work for another set of progress pics is by donating, becoming a member, or setting up a bequest. To donate, or read more about donating head here.

This story was first featured in the September edition of Birdcall our online newsletter. Sign up to it on our homepage to stay up to date!

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Orokonui Wildlife

2024 Sanctuaries Conference at Orokonui

Orokonui Ecosanctuary – Te Korowai o Mihiwaka is excited to be hosting the 2024 Sanctuaries of New Zealand (SONZI) conference in August 2024. This annual meeting is a great opportunity for conservationists around the motu to come together to discuss shared wins, challenges, and aspirations.

The meeting will be held over three days from 13th-15th August 2024, with the venue being the Orokonui visitor’s centre.

Tuesday 13th August: Science Day – A curated collection of talks of sanctuary relevant conservation science.

Wednesday 14th August: SONZI Day – Presentations and discussions on governance, finance, relationships, and sanctuaries. As well as soapbox sessions from those working in the sanctuary space.

Thursday 15th August: SONZI AGM & Field trips – Fields trips at Orokonui to support a range of interests and fitness.

The programme and other details including a link to register can be found here

To register use this link

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Orokonui Wildlife

Help Count Kākā this Feb

Hundreds of hours of staff and volunteer time go towards caring for kākā at Orokonui. From keeping the sanctuary mammalian predator free, checking nest boxes, filling and cleaning feeders, banding and surveying, and educating people. It’s suffice to say these charismatic taoka keep us busy. But is all this mahi working? Are kākā numbers on the increase? We need your help to learn more about the population.

For the week of the 26th February to 3rd March we are asking anyone and everyone around Ōtepoti/Dunedin to report all kākā they see, every day this week to the kākā database. Whether you see it in your backyard, the sanctuary, or local park we want to know when, where and the bands(if possible) of every kākā spotted.

Why is this so important?

South island kākā are classed as threatened – nationally vulnerable. Meaning they are vulnerable to further decline if nothing is done. A small population of kākā were established at Orokonui, starting in 2008. Before this kākā were lost from this area for around 150 years. While this population is thought to be growing, surveying kākā can be tricky as they are highly mobile. By getting everyone involved for a week we will get a better understanding of how many kākā are in the population, and how far from the sanctuary they are being sighted. This information will help us at Orokonui manage their population better, but will also help guide predator control and habitat enhancement efforts outside the sanctuary.

What to do if you see or hear a kākā

Whenever you see or hear a kākā during the count you can report it straight away to the kākā database here. Or write down the details somewhere and report it later. Photos and videos can be really useful if you have a camera nearby. They can be especially useful for helping to read leg bands.

If you have any trouble reporting kākā, or identifying individuals send through any photos or videos to kaka@orokonui.nz

How do I know if it’s a kākā?

Most of the time kākā are quite obvious but their can be times where they can be a bit more tricky. The easiest time to confuse kākā for other birds is in flight. You can see in the image below the characteristic red can be hard to make out against the light from above. Kākā have shorter wings and flap more than a kāhu/harrier, their wings don’t come to a sharp point like a kārearea/falcon, and their undersides do not appear pale like a kererū.

South island kākā from below. Oscar Thomas.

Another give away of a kākā in any situation are their calls, they are vocal and social birds. So listening out for their calls can be a great way to tell where they are, especially at dawn and dusk when they tend to be most vocal. You can listen to a variety of calls on the birds NZ website

If you want to confirm what you heard, or saw are kākā you can always send a photo, video, or audio recording through to kaka@orokonui.nz

How to read leg bands?

To help us gain more knowledge and manage this population, most of the kākā are banded. Each banded kākā will have a series of bands that create a unique colour combination for that individual. To read the leg bands start on the left leg (from the kākā’s perspective) and read top to bottom, then the same on the right leg. Reading leg bands can be tricky but provides great information

I saw a kākā with no leg bands!

There are always a few kākā in the population without leg bands. They may not have been banded as chicks in the sanctuary because the nest was inaccessible, or they may have been born in a nest outside the sanctuary. Recording unbanded kākā is just as important as recording banded ones, just select the unbanded category when reporting the sighting.

I am not in Dunedin but I saw a kākā

Awesome! It is always special to see a kākā wherever you are in Aotearoa/NZ. However, this project is focused on the kākā found around Dunedin. You can still help scientists in other parts of the country by making an observation of your kākā sighting using iNaturalist or eBird.

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Orokonui

Orokonui #ValleyCam now live

Wherever you are in the world you can now see whats happening in the Orokonui valley using our new live #ValleyCam. This feed looks across the Orokonui valley towards one our our mauka/mountains Māpounui.

This live camera looks across the Orokonui valley to Māpounui, from it we will be able to watch birds fly, plants flower, and the valley change with the seasons.

Kā mihi a huge thanks to Port Otago for sponsoring, setting up, and providing technical support for this camera. A massive mihi to Unifone NZ as well for providing our connection free to allow us to stream the Orokonui valley to the world.

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Orokonui

Walking towards our conservation goals

The name Orokonui is used for the sanctuary but for hundreds of years before it has been the name of the valley our reserve nestles into. Given this the best way to explore all of Orokonui would be to travel from the top of the valley to the bottom (and back again), and that is exactly what participants of the 2023 Orokonui Walk for Wildlife did on Sunday October 1st.

With promise of a sunny day around 50 walkers from 8 to 80 years old gathered at the Orokonui visitor’s centre before opening, to venture down the valley. Trickling out in groups, walkers began their adventure from mountains to sea. Our trails follow the valley centre, and the stream. Winding through regenerating bush, ancient forest giants like rimu, totarā and miro, and through the tallest forest canopy in Aotearoa New Zealand thanks to the eucalypts.

After reaching the valley floor guided by the calls of our native birds. Walkers exited the sanctuary to head further towards the sea looping around the Orokonui estuary. This part of the walk took participants, along boardwalks, past mudflats and right to sea level enjoying a different suite of wildlife that inhabits these parts.

After circumnavigating the inlet, it was time for walkers to head back through the fence to climb up the robin valley track towards the visitor’s centre and lunch. After some amazing efforts up the hill by all, but particularly those with youngest legs. Everyone arrived back at the top of the valley to be re-fuelled by a specially prepared lunch from our café team and with support of Bidfood and Goodman Fielder to supply the ingredients needed to cater everyone with delicious kai. Given the hot day we were also glad we also had some great drinks kindly supplied by Phoenix Organics and StrangeLove Soda on hand for those that took part.

Before everyone carried on further exploring or recovering, we were able to reward the efforts of participants with some great spot prizes from Bivouac Outdoor Dunedin, Night ‘n Day, Four Square Port Chalmers, Anytime Fitness, and Tea Total.

Thanks to everyone who took part we had a great time and were able to raise some funds towards supporting conservation at Orokonui and helping to help wildlife thrive!

Another enormous thanks to all the business who supported us to run this great event. Bidfood, Phoenix Organics, StrangeLove Soda, Goodman Fielder, Bivouac Outdoor Dunedin, Night ‘n Day, Four Square Port Chalmers, Anytime Fitness, and Tea Total.

If you missed out this year, we will bring back the walk in 2024. But we also have the Orokonui challenge coming up, our 18.7km running race is the ultimate way you can support conservation while challenging yourself. Learn more about it here.