Conservation dominates this Islands of The Gulf episode. Host Elisabeth Easther traces her mother Shirley Maddock's island hopping from the original 1964 TV series. Easther visits native species protection programmes across different islands. First up is Tiritiri Matangi, a native bird sanctuary boasting a healthy number of tīeke (North Island saddlebacks) — plus South Island-based takahē. The jewel in the conservation crown is Hauturu (Little Barrier) home to a huge variety of native insects, birds, bats and tuatara — New Zealand's "most intact" ecological environment. Easther writes here of following in her mother's footsteps.