Myrene Otis joined the Tawaki Project as a Masters student. Before committing her thesis project on an unpredictable species and a rather wet environment, Thomas and Ursula suggested that she dips her toes into tawaki field work first. That she did. She experienced getting drenched to the bone, freezing her behind off while sitting in hiding waiting for tawaki to return for hours on end – and decided she’s loving it. After finishing her degree at Otago University, Myrene started working for the Department of Conservation. But that does not hold her back from diving back into tawaki work whenever the opportunity arises.