in the beginning was the bird. the bird was with god. the bird was god. no predators, no people. and the last undiscovered eden. but even far away islands eventually get discovered. and when man showed up things

changed. when white men showed up, they changed even faster. and the land of the bird became the land of human flight. >> welcome to new zealand. woo! . it became a nation of endless thrills, amid endless views. and for years their biggest problem was getting people to stay. but now the secret is out. and they are fighting the changes, turning back time. and you won't believe how far a kiwi will go to give it all back to the birds. my name is bill weir, and i'm a story teller. i've reported from all over the world. and i have seen so much change. so i made a list of the most

wonderful places to explore right before they change forever. this is the wonder list." when captain cook was first exploring the south pacific, he told his crew that the first man to spot land would get two gallons of rum. so imagine the thrill for a 12-year-old surgeon boy named nicholas as he shouted land ahoi. now record of how young nick handled the hangover. but a few centuries later i'm here to testify that you don't need a rum reward to get excited the first time you see new zealand. in terms of land mass and population this little nation

tucked way at the bottom of the world may be a fraction the size of neighboring australia. but when it comes to beauty, they have an embarrassment of riches. in recent years it's been hollywood location scouts yelling land abahoi. because if you need a middle earth, or a narnia, or a pandora, this is the place. new zealand is the last spot on earth to be discovered and inhabited by human beings. it happened sometime in the 13th century or so when some incredibly talented sailors came south south from polynesia hundreds of years before the european showed pup and the legend is that the dog of the

maori hunters chase add kiwi into the bush and came back soaking wet. the maori discovered this a geothermal land of sulfur springs. the saerkd waters. and it is a rancid smelling reminder that new zealand is among the most volcanic spots on earth. but while mag mas forms mountains rivers cut valleys it is people who shape the character of a country. and the tidy society on this cosmic island holds a passion for conservation unlike anyplace else in the world. it's part of a radical plan to preserve natural wildlife and preserve landscapes as a crush of new commers discover new

zealand. so this is a quest to understand the mind of the kiwi uniquely formed by nature and adventure. and we should start on the scenic south island around queens town and winnaca, arguably the thrill seeking mecca of the world. thank you for having us in your home. it's a pleasure to meet you. >> you too. >> meet stacey. >> how would you describe the outlook of a nulzlander. >> there is no one that lives here that just is happy working in an office 9 to 5 within washing the car and going to church sunday. it draws people into being adventurous and doing fun things getting the most out of life. >> her proof can be found in the family photo album. >> four boys that means you must have been trying for a girl. >> because stacey raised and home schooled four boys.

all of them are among the best in the world at this. jossy is a olympian and exgames gold medallist. the the youngstown is jackson who recently became the first person ever who became the first ever to land a quadruple cork. and so it goes without saying that snow boarding doors by me are have no business sharing the snow. they've been dodging the slow pokes since they were tots. >> we came over here and i got a job on the ski patrol. >> that's bruce, the dad. >> this was their backyard, the

playground. you know from the age of about three they were just out having a blast out there. >> that's the thing about learning to ski when you're three your center of gravity is about there. >> still there bro. >> the u.s. team does the summer training in this summer resort. small by north american standards but they make the most of it. every bump, rail swarming with the next generation of kiwi fun hogs all ready to take on the world. . it's an tooud that applies to surfers and sailors and beloved rugby players. all among the very best. >> we have done pretty well as far as the olympic game,s the medals per capita we do well. that's the culture bred down here we got something to prove let's get out and prove it. >> watch this. >> exactly.

>> part of it too is you had to be innovators pb you had to fix something with chicken wire. >> kiwi engine ut. >> they are constantly looking for new ways to thumb their noses at gravity. sometimes this involves a mountain. sometimes it's a bridge. >> adrenalin is a heck of a drug. >> it is. >> and that's why people come to new zealand to do things like this. >> this is torrey she is a tas main yan dare devil. >> when did you start throwing yourself off things. >> i started about 15 years ago skiing off things as fast as i could, riding my bike driving my car it's an afflict shun. >> what's the pull here. >> it's physically stunning you can get away with pushing the limits and pursuing your boundaries as a human seeing what's possible what's not and having fun doing it. >> exhibit a, the karawa bridge.

>> this is the birth place of the budgee jump. >> it's iconic, spiritual home. >> it's the equivalent of jumping off a 14 story building. so what better place to lose one's bunginity. >> like penguins. >> i'm bill. >> i'm torrey. >> oh my god. >> all right this just hit me what i'm about to do. >> all right. >> on three, two, one. ...who have built their website using gocentral, did it in... ...under an hour, and you can too. type in your business or idea. pick your favourite design. personalize it with beautiful images. and...you're done! and now business is booming.

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all right in three, two, one, bungee. ♪ >> thanks for inventing this. this was amazing. >> that is henry van ash, one of the founding fathers of bungee jumping. >> i feel like i'm meeting one of the writing brothers. >> aj would have been here too but he is around the world

somewhere. >> back in the 80s he was another kiwi ski bump when his buddy said i have an idea. he had seen a tribunal ritual called land diving. instead of vines in a tree he wanted to duplicate that with rubber bands and a bridge. >> we tested with a bag of potatoes. we brought our friends into it. we saw this transformation and people with absolutely terrified then they came out of it into a state of elation. that you know is pretty regard to copy. >> after experiment wg higher and higher jumps. they decided to make at international splash with ajs's plunge off the tower in paris. >> that jump brought love and money. because in the years since they

have sold 3 million jumps. and at $200 a pop their crazy idea has made this region richer than anyone imagined by luring a certain kind of tourist. >> there was if you jump naked you can jump for he free introduced by some of the crew in the early years. it did carry on foor a while but became a safety issue. because we want the guys focused on safety. >> the last new zealand invention to go global is the human sized hamsters ball known as a zorb just another branch on the kiwi family tree. including edward hillary, the this jet boat which can go 50 miles an hour in three inches of water. >> i've always wondered how you managed to pull it off and don't slam into trees or rocks or people.

>> because we're not allowed to. it's in the paperwork. >> after you. >> accidents do happen. back in late will 90s a another company was running in dangerously high water. the boat flipped and japanese tourist was killed. >> lay out on the furniture. >> but we climb aboard with the insurance that the thrill seeker industrial complex has learned its lesson. >> this is awesome. >> captain andy flips a switch and the world becomes a blur. >> good day. >> lots of adrenalin. >> but you were telling me at lunch that that comes with a price. >> in does come with a pris especially with a female body i've found you can't run your system into that fight or flight

mode constantly eventually the body breaks down. i put myself into adrenal fatigue. >> it's a real medical thing. >> it's emerging thing. and so my end ocrine hormonal can't take it anymore process. i had to learn calm and find thrills in other areas of life and balance is the key to everything. >> how has this place change since you've been coming here and what do you think is happening in the future. >> it's changed in that the rest of the world has caught on to how amazing it is. it used to be our private playground. more change. hopefully not the environment. new zealand has been in a privileged position to have be able to deal with the intake of tourism but not have a impact on the reason people come here. >> roaring jet boats don't seem the greenest pass time. but new zealands like to be known for their deep love of

nature. the landscapes are the play grounds and their temples. >> it's so deeply ingrained in us that kiwi tend to work together be clabtive not adversarial towards the planet but sort of almost collegele with the activity. you say we defy gravity we don't. we sort of harness it momentarily for our own use with respect. >> but if they have such respect for nature, why are they so determined to kill every fury wild creature they can find?

because of its distant isolation, anyone who ventures to new zealand must possess a certain bold determination, strength, smarts, grit. and this was especially true of the first ones to find it. polynesian explorers who crossed thousands of miles of open ocean

in canoe, usings stars as their gps. strangers in a strange land. . they created an entirely new culture. they are the maori. >> yeah let's do it zbloon this is watini. and this is greet going called the hangy, the handshake to share the breath of life. >> we acknowledge those second time you and i greet each other. physical descendants of those who have passed on. >> i'm just glad i had a mint before i met you. >> his particular iwi or tribe has turned the industry into a

cottage industry giving tourists a taste of how things used to be. >> this sort of thing here is only a hunting village. >> i see. >> they wouldn't spend all the time in this area. there is another village somewhere else. >> back when they survived on their wits on the bounty of the land. >> the silver finish unlike the rest is silver underneath. and there is this. at night they would turn it upside down if they were traveling to find their way back to camp. this is a wood paigen. >> that's a trap. >> that's a trap. they've got to drink here. >> oh. we haven't set these up to catch anything so they don't catch anything but there are one or two wood paigen flying around. >> they became bird hunters extraordinaria. because when they arrived there was nothing but birds aside from

a couple of tiny species of bats nulzland has no gnatsive land ma'am als with no furry predators to eat them many like the kiwi never learned to fly. >> when they first aarrived there were the big boards. >> moa. >> how would they hunt them. >> spears. >> trapping and then spears. >> while gir of as and elephants evolved in africa. the moa was the giant here. 120 oh pound. the predator was the hass eagle. the maori hunted both to extinction. then the european ships arrived infested with rats and mice. they introduced weasels to control the rodents and australian possums to harvest fur you are. suddenly the kiwi and fine feathered friends were in deep trouble. today a quarter of new zealand

native birds are exinstinct. almost 4,000 species are threatened or at risk. and that is where this fence and in the capital city of wellington comes in. it's five miles long and designed to undo centuries of human mistakes. >> this is very jur assic park. >> and here we are. >> it's called zealandia, a predator free park devoted to the birds. >> this is to experience a slice of new zealand the way it used to be. >> nick is with the department of conservation. and she explains that this place is an extension of new zealand's unique nack for removing bird killing pests from small islands. >> this is a version of an island because it has a fence. we take the predators out the wildlife just goes into overdrive. >> it does. >> even in a little pocket in an

urban city like wellington it can happen. >> yeah. >> incredible. here is a tui. listen to that song. it's so beautiful. oh didn't like that. . he is telling me off. >> what's this guy? this is a pretty special opportunity. this is a takahe. they were only discovered high in the mountains in 1948. they're one of our most endangered birds. there is only 280 left on the planet. >> it's just not the birds on the brink here. the tuatara is the most iconic represent tile native. looks like a lizard but the sole survivor of a order going back to the dinosaurs. >> the problem for these guys is

again they evolved in the presence of avian predators not mammals. their response when threatened from from above threatened at all is to freeze. if you freeze and you've got a rat or stoet or cat behind you it's game over. >> zealandia is one of the last few places these animals can relax. but kiwis are not content with predator free parks. they want to make new zealand a predator-free country. >> it's a plan so audacious in scope it's been skauld new zealand's apollo project, that is wipe out every rat, every mouse, every possum, every weasel, hundreds of millions of predatory mammals by the year 2050. to pull off they have to spread millions of tons of poison all over this incredibly beautiful

country. but as much as kiwis love the kiwi, not everyone thinks this is a great idea. hi, guys. i'm back. time to slay! heals, heals, heals! yes! youuuu! no, i have a long time girlfriend. mom! i need my macaroni!!! you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. pick a domain name. choose a design. you can build a website in under an hour. yeah! whoo! yes! get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour.

so this is your diesed ox heart. this is the artificial diet. doesn't look too bad. >> ox heart. >> new zealanders are known as kiwis. but with fewer 70,000 of their name sake birds in the wild most kiwis have never seen a kiwi. so the best way to get a glimpse is to show up at breakfast time at a place called rainbow springs. waky waky eggs and baky. adorable look at you. hi. >> good morning. >> a little vocalization. >> a little yawn. >> he is tired. >> i know the feeling. can i get you a cap pacino. >> this is how old. >> seven days old. >> first solid food. >> these birds lay the biggest eggs relative to mom's weight.

the equivalent of a human giving birth to a 35-pound baby. then dad sits on the egg two and a half months. >> very femist. >> absolutely. >> the upside of the incubation is that they are ready to explore the world just a few days after hatching. look at that he shotgunned it. very good. >> that is fantastic for the first feed. they've got a special sense at the tip of the bill basically lots of nerve endings that pick up of the movements in the invert brats. he is more interested in the pulse in my fingers thap that's the sense for finding the invert brats in the soil. >> once he puts on a couple of poupd he can take care of himself. here is one going chuck norris

on a possum. >> cuddly but now. >> not ideal for the air force because they don't fly. >> predators kill on ample about 20 per week. and 95% of baby kiwis don't make it past six months. >> so if you guys want to head through there are a lot of doors it's not for people. it's for pests. >> so for the last decade or so anyone who found an egg in the wild would bring it here where it hatched and stay long enough to grow a fighting chance. >> there we go. >> wow. that's a big one. hey, croucher what's going on. >> croucher is ready for release. and as a testament to the trusting nature of human kiwis, they've asked me to give her a ride. >> thank you for trusting us with this. this is -- nerve-racking. >> i haven't been this nervouses

is since i brought my baby home from the hospital. >> and you're driving on the other side of the road. maybe you should give us a call wle you get there. >> but rearing and releasing is just one front if in the war for survival. the predator-free new zealand projects hopes everyone takes care of killing just about everything with fur and four legs. if my local guide is alicia is any indication that's not a hard sell. >> we learned to drive in rural back roads. i swerved to miss a bunny in. my dad says no you just mow them down and squash them flat. you see a possum or rabbit on the road you kill that thing. >> because it doesn't belong. >> it doesn't belong here. and they harm our environment. >> rabbits don't eat birds obviously but they damage enough farmland that every easter one new zealand town molds a easter

bunny hunt. one new zealand team shot 900 in a day. imagine how much they hate pests like this. >> you've got faded stoet up here and you can see the sharp pointy teeth. >> can i pull him down do you mind. >> absolutely have a lack at this guy. >> this is james. he is a conservation biologists and when it comes to whacking predators he is a an assassin. >> the stoat are the medium and the weasel are the little ones we have all three. they are introduced to control the rodeants but the critical mistake is these guys hunt during the day and the rats are active at night. and so it was much easier to go for tasty birds which didn't know how to hide from them. >> the law of unintended consequences. >> you've come on a good day i have to go refill up the bait station. woe to any creditor warneding into his backyard. >> the animal comes in once they

step on the plate they're going to know process it. >> all right. >> that's part of our broad view on biodiversity it makes new zealand in unique when you go to france you want to see the love eiffel tower. >> if we can't protect this we're going to be just a mcdonald's stop in the world to say rock pigeons and spare os. we have armies of volunteers in new zealand which are doing this every week. it's a new sense of community. >> is that right? people say yeah this is an opportunity for me to get together with neighbors. >> but the government thinks teams of rat trapping neighbors aren't enough. so they drop poison from the sky. each year helicopters spread tons of cereal bait or carrot chunk laced with 1080 a toxin so

deadly it's banned in most countries and tightly controlled in the u.s. new zealand uses 80% of the entire global supply. >> putting 1080 a broad spectrum metabolic poison that kills everything. it's bad. it's bad stuff. it really is. >> feona is a professor of rheumatology and since her husband found poison deer and native birds on a hunting trip they she joined the small vocal ranks of 1080 opponents. >> you can't plafter is all over the place because it's poisonous to people and livestock and domestic animals. >> she points to the anti-1080 movements own video clips ofs suffering cow and poison deer as proof of the damage. but most of the countrymen shrug and her ideas are considered

fringe. >> it's very hard to get into the mainstream media in new zealand because of the pervading perception that if you're anti-1080 then you're sort of off the wall. >> virtually every politician in the country is pro 1080. >> great to meet you including the man at the very top, prime minister john key. >> dropping poise fibrin the ski seems a really. >> sounds radical. >> crazy thing what do you say to the folks who have a problem with that. >> it's not really a controversy because there are some people who say i don't like that. it's a means to an end. 1080 is effective it kills rats and possums but the issue has been it kills birds but the bird life comes back restrainingly. it's been supported by the environmental groups in new zealand. >> you guys pord a live kiwi. >> in a nation of such passionate nature lovers in attitude seems so curious. so let's keep digging. and let's meet those devoted to

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the snow was still nick in the southern alps. and we touched down near a gorgeous alpine lake. as soon as the racket of the engine goes quiet we get company. they are kia, the world's only mountain parrot and one of the most clever with the sharp beak and claws they've been known to attack lambs which is why they were hunted to the brink in new zealand. they are protected now but opponents of the 1080 say that the use of the poise isn't indiscriminate killer >> the kia die. but the rats and stoat will kill the kia anyway. we choose the least damaging method. we have to do something. >> the most recent we lost four

kia in a 1080 operation. but to keep in perspective in areas where we don't do the pest control we lose 60 to 95% depending on the area of the nests. while the loss of individual birds is not nice. obviously we work for conservation. we don't like losing individual birds. the benefit to the entire population far outweighs that loss. >> that's the line. but i don't think that's correct. i don't think that's true. i think they believe it because i think that this is a culture that has developed in the department of conservation over the last 20 years. >> i think the spops is purely emotional. they've been wound up by a lobby who don't want it because it affects hunting prey. it appeals to a basic instinct that throwing poison around must be bad. >> mike joy is a fresh water

ecoologyis. he insists the fear of 1080 is unyou had founded. >> is it reality is it breaks down in water and then it's not harmful. >> most hope that kiwi innovation will eventually make the 1080 obsolete. with the invention of the good nature trap to kill and reset a dozen times. >> you can leave it six or 12 months and does all the work. >> but in the meantime, it's telling that in a world full of doubt, most kiwis support their scientists and trust their government. >> i love the concept. and even if we don't particularly reach it, the fact that we get after it going to be sawsome for the krer. >> i hear that sentiment everywhere from the mountains down south to the forests up north where the privilege of releasing a a kiwi forms strange alliances between environmentalists timber company

reps and tribal leader. >> i i believe the predator proving is reyil it's a drem. it's what we call a wawata which is a drem and it's possible. >> with crouch ner her box we hike into the woods. >> look at that. past poison possums and a squashed rat. until we find a lovely spot in a steep hollow. there is a maori prayer, the earth mother, asking her to protect one of her children. [ speaking maori ].

>> draw blood? >> we hurt the ones we love. good luck, girl. it was good meeting you. with any luck she'll be laying eggs for 50 years, right? >> the whole exercise is a perfect example of the can-do sense of community that has flourished in this tiny distant land. >> mission accomplished. congratulations, guys. >> but now that so many people want to live down here, could kiwi culture become endangered?

it is beautiful. and it is fun. so you got to wonder, how is it that for generations, the biggest national crisis in new zealand was getting people to stay.

>> kind of a combination of things. there is a lot more opportunities overseas than when you grow up in the island nation. what you really want to do is get out. >> alicia is one of the many who left here an early right of passage called o.e. pch as nick explains many found the grass was greener. >> if you're a technical person we know you have an education and gou to the job you don't have that many options not everyone wants to design a milking factory a dairy shed obviously there is money. generally you go to australia you get more money. >> the great kiwi brain drain had the best and brightest fleeing by the plane load. but then something dramatic happened on this rolling hillside full of sheep. >> it was of an average saturday in 1999 when someone pulled up to the alexander farm here and knocked on the door. it was a location scout for a

director named peter jackson who had done an aerial tour of the mills and realized it was a perfect setting for a hometown of hobbits and much like gadalf visit to bilbo it launched a daurch. it minded how special this country is. if hobbiton was anything like auckland, the average hole would go for around $1 million. as a director and proud native son peter jacksonen was egoer to show off the beauty of his homeland. since he did, the booming film industry has helped tourism surpass milk as the biggest industry. the visitors spread the word. and before they knew it. >> okay onto new zealand i do. >> they had americans like sarah

and francis moving into. >> you tell people you're moving to new zealand why would you go across the world we you're from new york. but physically it's so beautiful. but the kiwis are definitely more laid back compared to new yorkers. >> they leave work and don't think about work o talk about it. >> we want peopl coming here and saying it's a friendly plac if you walk down the street in new zealand someone says hello to you that's normal. you walk down the street in new york and someone says hello you think you're about to be must goed. >> easy, easy. >> i like new york. >> no we're not mean we're just busy. >> you're in a different place in new york. >> absolutely. >> it's that kind of place. it's a little place and it's fun and it's us. >> as the first nation to give women the vote this is the among progressive pan least religious places on the planet. when world politics gets tensed new zealand gets popular. the number of americans seeking

immigration information jumped with the rise of donald trump. >> the last spike was during the last bush presidency. >> really sno. >> and so you had liberal americans saying where else would we -- might we want to live. >> paul is a national expert on demographics. and he chooses an asian strip mall to discuss the relative flood of knew come zbleers the two largest countries supplying migrants to new zealand are india and china. you'll see as much chinese script as american script. we don't have the social cohesion issues you would see in most countries. generally people are welcoming here. you get about two-thirds of people saying immigration is good for new zealand. in parts of europe it's one third. >> maybe that's because they have plenty of room to grow. new zealand has twice as much land as england with a tenth of

the population and with borders protected by vast oceans they have the luxury of pick and choose immigration, taking only the people they want in more ways they one. new yorker francis is dating kiwi nick. >> do you feel like the secret is out. >> it's getting out. >> people are onto it. >> i've noticed it in my 20 odds years the beaches in south island absolutely packed. i don't mind. i wouldn't have met francis i guess. >> very sweet. >> i think you know the real point is not so much about a finite number of how many is the right number for new zealand. we always say we welcome people if they bring skills, bring the right attitude. we get a big range. >> right, right. well look if the world ends i'm coming here. that's the ultimate compliment i guess. >> you'd be well. >> we had be welcome. >> many americans here would be very welcome. >> i saw somebody hitchhiking

the other day. i haven't seen a person hitchhiking in the united states since i was 9 years old. hold onto that as long as you can. >> still able to do that here. >> i'm telling you man it's a good country. >> it's a bufrl place. >> i want to move here. >> all friendly people. doesn't matter the race you are all friendly people. not too many rat bags around here. >> whoo! >> yes, new zealand gives new meaning to the old phrase, this place is for the birds. in a crowded, chaotic world, they have soul and spirit and so much unspoiled space.

long may it last. long live the kiwis. the u.s. president in japan at this hour. the first stop in a long trip from asia. a power move in the saudi royal family, a number of ministers detained or sacked on anti-corruption crackdowns led by the crown prince. and a political vacuum in lebanon, the prime minister of that nation resigns, saying he fears for his life. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. 4:00 a.m. on the