Then I sense it; a swift, loping movement at about knee height. It's hard to make out at first. My eyes are still adjusting to the darkness, and this creature is bobbing erratically back and forth along the ground. But then I see it - a beautiful, round-bummed, pointy-nosed kiwi.
This one's called Ti. Ti is the boyfriend of Mahuru, another kiwi that is currently housed here at Kiwi Encounter Rotorua, the world's largest kiwi-rearing facility. Peering through the blackness, Ti becomes brilliantly clear to me. The short fence surrounding his enclosure only reaches my thighs and as I lean in for a closer look of his sleek, fur-like feathers, he looks up, waving his thin beak at me, picking up my scent. I could reach out and touch him. But as Ti turns and begins his jerky scratching motions again, loping back and forth, throwing bark and peat up from the ground with his beak, I recall our guide Rachael's explanation: "That's just his way of saying, 'if you cross this line, I'll stosh ya!'."
The quiet dark of the nocturnal kiwi enclosure is the starkest contrast to Rachael. Vivacious, bright and sprightly, she gesticulates her way through an enthusiastic tour of the Kiwi Encounter facilities. Her passion for the birds and their welfare is obvious in her empathetic facial expressions and kindly words.
"Only about 40-50% of kiwi eggs that are laid naturally will hatch," she explains, detailing the purpose of Kiwi Encounter's work. "This is largely because of predation and bacterial infection. So the poor kiwis don't have a very good run, do they? They don't have much luck. "By bringing the eggs in here, they have a 91% success rate when it comes to hatching. So not only are we hatching more, but we're able to raise more babies than would be raised naturally."
One hundred and sixteen in the last year, to be exact. This new record for Kiwi Encounter is a long way from the facility's first year of kiwi conservation, in 1995, when a single kiwi was hatched. This first step was undertaken at Rainbow Springs Nature Park - now the home of Kiwi Encounter.
"The year after that we learnt from the first year and managed to double our numbers: two babies," giggles Rachael.
"Over the next few years, as we learnt more, we figured we could work to a larger extent but we didn't have the space. So in April 2004 we opened Kiwi Encounter as we are today."
As it is today, Kiwi Encounter could be called state of the art. Although primed for tourists - evident in the sleek design and spectacular information displays - the priority of this non-profit enterprise is to conserve New Zealand's endangered and iconic national bird. Kiwi eggs are brought here by the Department of Conservation from a number of North Island forests. They're incubated to hatching and the chicks are then raised to six months of age and one kilogram in weight before they're returned to whence they came. As Rachael talks us through Kiwi Encounter's inner workings, we look through glass walls into incubation rooms, egg repair operations, the birds' food preparation area and 'brooder' rooms. The pristine whiteness behind the glass conveys a sterile, scientific atmosphere, enhanced by the space-suit type outfits hanging by the door, and the obscure metal tools lined up on the benches.
Rachael throws an assortment of astounding kiwi facts and figures our way, but one in particular makes my eyebrows jump toward my hairline and my mouth drop open in empathetic horror: a kiwi can lay an egg that will take up 20% of its body mass.
"Now, if you'd like me to translate this into human terms," adds Rachael, "this would be like giving birth to a 35 pound baby, or a four year old toddler!" She pauses long enough for the mums in our group to cringe and the dads to give a short whistle of wonderment.
As unappealing as it sounds, the result is undeniably lovely. "We have a brand new baby here at the moment, only a couple of days old," says Rachael excitedly. Our small group jostles in front of the glass wall, vying for the perfect view into the baby's small incubator. Tucked into the corner, beneath the full glare of a mini heat lamp, the baby kiwi looks like a large, tightly bound ball of delicate brown yarn. His face is curled away, hidden behind his round rump and mass of delicate new feathers. He's still; probably sleeping, says Rachael. But then suddenly, he moves. Ever so slightly at first, like he's trying to get comfortable, but then he begins awkwardly uncurling. The jerky movements hint at an unfamiliarity with his newly formed body. He lifts his head and looks at the wall, still hiding. Rolling onto his round side, his disproportionately large feet kick out simultaneously and waggle in the air. He rolls around some more, trying to figure out how to put his feet flat. Managing, he rises up slowly and finally we get a glimpse of his tiny face. Black, shiny eyes blink in concentration as he tries to toddle forward. He masters half a step before tumbling comically to one side and giving up, curling back up in his favourite warm corner.
"They can take up to four or five days to walk, depending on how weak they are when they hatch," explains Rachael. At that time, the kiwi is moved from its incubator to its brooder box - a larger container with a warm, forest-like environment inside. After fattening up in the brooder boxes, the kiwi are transferred to a purpose built, predator free outdoor run: their last stop before they're taken back into the wild.
After visiting Ti's dark home, we emerge, blinking into the brightness of the outdoor run. "Unfortunately, they won't all survive in the wild," says Rachael, the sadness in her voice reflected on the faces of us - the newest kiwi devotees in town. "But we do everything we can to help out these special wee birds."
On the way out I empty my change into the donation box and pick up a kiwi adoption form: Kiwi Encounter is doing a brilliant job, but with the fragile kiwi population halving in size every 10 years - and facing near extinction by 2015 - these amazing little birds need all the help they can get.
Amelia visited Kiwi Encounter courtesy of Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing.
