The bubbly Australian-born elephant trainer spent 10 years working in zoos before moving to New Zealand with her partner, Bryan Welch.
The couple lived on Great Barrier Island, where Mr Welch (36) was a biodiversity programme manager for the Department of Conservation before he moved to the Mackenzie Basin in July last year.
Mr Welch is head black stilt (kaki) aviculturist at Doc's captive breeding centre, with Ms Smith (37) working alongside as a bird-keeper.
While a zoo-keeper by trade, Ms Smith also used to drive trucks and has worked as a landscape gardener.
Being an elephant trainer was quite physical work and required "a bit of a strong personality", she said.
Ms Smith worked predominantly with a five-tonne bull elephant at Melbourne Zoo.
She has also been involved with elephant importation and travelled throughout Southeast Asia working with elephants.
She has also worked with marine mammals, orangutans, reptiles and birds.
She met Mr Welch at Melbourne Zoo, where he was a precinct supervisor looking after carnivores and ungulates (hoofed animals).
Mr Welch grew up in the Palmerston North area and studied parks and recreation at Lincoln University.
He started as a volunteer at the Mt Bruce wildlife centre, working with New Zealand native species, and worked at zoos and wildlife parks throughout New Zealand, honing incubation and hand-raising skills.
The captive bird specialist jumped at the chance to be involved with the black stilt programme.
He said that although it probably sounded a little arrogant, the job sat nicely with his set of skills.
The breeding centre comprises three aviaries housing captive breeding birds and young birds until they are old enough to be released into the wild.
There are also facilities for incubation and hatching of eggs, with one of Ms Smith's main roles looking after chicks from when they hatch through until they are 25-30 days old.
The kaki growth rates were "absolutely amazing", she said.
Guided tours of the black stilt visitor hide provide an opportunity to teach visitors about their ecology and conservation.
A display aviary next to the hide allows a close-up encounter.
