From farmland to forest: Waitomo couple restore native habitat

Wednesday, 22 July 2026

Down to Earth Waitomo Eco Cave Tours owners Michelle and Stefan Boddie are on a mission to restore their property to native bush.

A Waitomo couple are on a mission to restore their slice of land to native bush and create a wildlife sanctuary.

Michelle and Stefan Boddie were never nature enthusiasts in their youth, but the couple say embarking on their Pākehō Crag Restoration project has been one of the most satisfying things they’ve done yet.

The couple own and run Down to Earth Eco Cave Tours in Waitomo, where visitors can explore a stretch of native bush, streams and glowworm caves over about two hours.

Michelle Boddie says the regeneration in the bush since fencing it off and introducing new plantings is rewarding to see.

The couple have extensive cave systems across their property and run a tourism business in Waitomo.

Conservation has become a focus point for them over the last few years and have planted over 15,000 natives across their 13ha property. This month, they planted a further 6500 natives.

The couple have planted three areas over the last eight or so years.

“We’re getting a bit older and all of a sudden, we’re paying more attention to the birds and trees. I spent a lot of time messing around in this bush when I was a kid and now it’s changed a lot. The sheep could just sleep under the trees and it was just grass with no fencing, but since we planted and fenced it, the bush is just regenerating itself,” Stefan said.

Stefan’s family had been farming the property since 1912 and, although they decided to sell the farm when his father retired, they retained the section the caves were on. Keen to do something with the land, the couple decided to take a punt on the tour business just over ten years ago and haven’t looked back.

Stefan Boddie’s family has been farming on the property since 1912, but sold most of the family farm after his father retired.

Michelle Boddie says tourists are excited to learn about their conservation works.

A couple of years into their business, they decided to continue some existing conservation works and plant the gullies with natives. Now, the goal was to return the majority of the property back to bush.

The couple have several traps and bait lines throughout the property and kill about 60 possums and rats a month.

“For many years, we’ve dreamed of restoring this special landscape to native forest and creating a permanent sanctuary for New Zealand wildlife. This land has been part of our family’s farming story for generations, and we’re proud of that history. We now see this restoration project as the next chapter,” Michelle said.

The latest block is the third area they have planted in the last eight years. The works have been funded by the Waikato Regional Council, with profits from the tourism business and donations from people using the Pākehō Climbing Crag area on their property.

Stefan Boddie says anyone can learn about pest control online to get started.

Michelle and Stefan Boddie received funding from Regen Waikato to plant their most recent block.

Most recently, they also received $22,897 from Regen Waikato, supported by Mercury’s Community Fund, to plant another section.

“Normal people that don’t know much about conservation can qualify for the Regen funding, if that’s something they want to do. Whether that’s farmers, or people like us, who have areas like steep banks that they might not want stock on, this can help retire it.”

Alongside planting, they do pest control. Across the property, they have 14 traps and 15 bait stations to target possums and rats. Currently, they are killing about 30 of each a month and have set up three trail cameras to monitor pest activity.

Pest control was expensive with their possum traps costing around $600 each and requiring a lot of time to check them, but they felt it was worth it.

“So we have lizards and maybe even some bats here, but the main thing we are seeing is a lot more birds coming back. We see Kererū and Tūi on a daily basis. When we were kids, we used to hardly see them at all,” Stefan said.

They had noticed that they had more glowworms that looked healthier since the trees around the caves had become established, creating an ideal damp ecosystem for the bugs.

Since launching their restoration project page, they have started to get a following on social media, where people were sharing advice on conservation practices. They hoped to see more community discussion in the future to support more people giving conservation a go.

“I think we live in an information age, which is nice, so you don’t have to grow up and be an expert on pest control. You can find everything you need to know online,” Stefan said.

The couple run their own tech company as well as the tourism business. They are able to keep the profits of the caves circulating back into the conservation works, and said tourists were pleased to be contributing to their efforts and were eager to learn more about the realities of conservation.