As soon as we crossed into the North Island, it started to rain. And then it rained some more. We spent two boring days in Wellington, the capital, waiting for the weather to pick up, as we wanted to visit the nearby Kapiti Island, a nature reserve and an important bird sanctuary, home to birds that are nearly extinct in the mainland, including kiwis. The problem with the birds in New Zealand is that they are not used to predators, as there were none before the Europeans arrived. This makes them too trusting for their own good, so when predators such as stoats from England and possums from Australia were introduced, the local bird life’s would often find that their last words were "Oh hello, you look interesting, what are you?". Possums in particular must have
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