From here, I headed to Catchpool, a Doc site at the southern end of the Rimutaka range, west of the hills and just east of Wellington harbour. I spent two peaceful nights here, with a pleasant walk. The site has lots of these Californian quails leading their chicks out to explore the grass.
It's a harsh environment, battered by cold, salty southerly gales, badly damaged both by logging and introduced species such as possum and goats as well as being geologically unstable. Lots of work is being done to revive the bush, and there are successes. At night you can hear the shrill kiwi that are once again breeding in the area.