A newlywed couple is spending their honeymoon eradicating possums in Taranaki.
It may be unconventional but pest busting pair Andrea and Max Hoegh are already making a big impact in Oakura bush.
Having only just returned home from Ireland where they wed, the couple are substituting cocktails and sun for traps and bait all in a bid to make Taranaki predator-free.
"I can't think of any other way I'd want to spend my honeymoon, who wants to go to the beach," Andrea Hoegh says.
"If we can exterminate them in this region, then they'll be able to do things like release birds and get bird population back it'll be really cool," Max Hoegh says.
"It'll be neat to come back in 10 years and see what the place looks like."
While Max has been trapping all his life, this particular project started in October last year.
It's already seeing success in a small part of the Kaitakes and this is just the beginning.
"It's just the surrounding of all the Kaitakes we kinda started exterminating in a small block and that'll kinda work it's way out. Andrea will go one way and I'll go the other," Max says.
The pair live in the area so this mission is personal and they love how invested their neighbours are too.
"We've got onto their properties, set traps, they've let us know where the possums are and communication is really key with that we need you guys to let us know where the possums are and we'll come and we'll trap them," Andrea Hoegh says.
And even once the official honeymoon ends they are determined to keep their possum trapping passion alive.
Newshub.
