He worked as a field assistant for the Bishop Museum of Hawaii, on expeditions to Antarctica and the Kermadec Islands.
On his return to New Zealand from Norway after the trial, he found his Punakaiki house had been pulled down for being erected without a permit.
After Wilkes took up beekeeping near Karamea in 1983, it was discovered that Customs was cooperating with the SIS to monitor his international mail.
[6] In 1990 his only child Koa committed suicide while living in Christchurch, contributing to his retirement to Kawhia.
[8][9] He is commemorated by a park bench in Beckenham facing the Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River, near where he grew up.