Located in the inner Hauraki Gulf, east of Warkworth, Kawau is a low lying island of about 2,000 hectares. The last attempts at farming on the island ended in the 1970s and since then about 90 per cent of the land has reverted to kanuka and scrub.
Most of Kawau is privately-owned with a resident population of about 100. Ten per cent of the island is managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC) in publicly owned historic reserves.