Kiwi Guardian site in Rodney

Seaweed forests, sponge gardens and schools of fish are some of the attractions at the Cape Rodney-Okakari Point Marine Reserve (Goat Island) Toyota Kiwi Guardian site 80km north of Auckland, and just south of Mangawhai.

Getting kids more connected to nature with free family-friendly, treasure hunt-style activities at specific Department of Conservation sites encourages them to engage with the outdoors, and even earn themselves a medal for their efforts.

Goat Island is on the east coast accessible from Leigh and has numerous rock pools to explore and a glass bottom boat to see the fish life.

There are 49 other sites nationwide with a variety of activities, wildlife to see and native fauna and flora to be discovered.

Toyota Kiwi Guardians is a joint initiative between the Department of Conservation and Toyota New Zealand.

The goal of the conservation programme is to turn Kiwi kids into guardians of the land and sea.

Families can get started on their Kiwi Guardians adventure by downloading the appropriate “treasure hunt” map from kiwiguardians.co.nz.