Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park has acquired six North Island brown kiwi eggs, in a most remarkable manner, to celebrate Conservation Week 2016.

Rimutaka Forest Park Trust volunteer handlers removed the kiwi eggs from nests in the Rimutaka Forest Park, near Wellington, and cozied them into warmed, insulated containers.

This endangered creatures patiently tolerates a helping human hand. File photo.

Unawares, the infants boarded an Air New Zealand passenger plane out of the windy city, and flew for the first, and probably second-to-last, time in their little lives.

The precious cargo was flying north for the summer; upon landing in Rotorua, they were taken to Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park and nestled into an incubator, ready to thrive.

The eggs are expected to hatch within the next seven to 10 days, and when the chicks reach four weeks of age they'll move again – via a less eye-catching mode of transport – to the predator-free environment at Wairakei Golf Course and Sanctuary, north of Taupo.

At least six months of feasting and growth await the young kiwi at the central sanctuary, until they reach a safe weight to be flown back to Wellington, and released in their hometown: the Rimutaka Forest Park.

Rimutaka Forest Park Trust kiwi project coordinator Melody McLaughlin says the unconventional transport of the usually flightless birds provides new opportunities to protect vulnerable eggs and chicks.

'As a community-based organisation, without the generous support of organisations such as Air New Zealand and Kiwis for Kiwi, the establishment of a wild kiwi population so close to Wellington would be that much harder.”

There are between 80-100 kiwi already living in the Rimutaka Range, and Melody credits the volunteers.

'All the volunteers who make this possible are very much looking forward to returning these babies to the park, once they reach a stoat-proof weight.”

Air New Zealand manager sponsorship and communities Meghan Blair says it's great to be involved in keeping the Kiwi namesake safe and ‘upwardly mobile'.

'We take immense pride in providing flights for our endangered species, such as takahe, kakapo, and tuatara, and getting them to their destinations safely – and naturally these kiwi eggs are some of our most precious cargo.”

Conservation Week runs from September 10-18. For more information, visit www.doc.govt.nz/news/events/conservation-week