  This paper considers a recently-proposed string theory on $AdS_3\times
S^3\times T^4$ with one unit of NS-NS flux ($k=1$). We discuss interpretations
of the target space, including connections to twistor geometry and a more
conventional spacetime interpretation via the Wakimoto representation. We
propose an alternative perspective on the role of the Wakimoto formalism in the
$k=1$ string, for which no large radius limit is required by the inclusion of
extra operator insertions in the path integral. This provides an exact Wakimoto
description of the worldsheet CFT. We also discuss an additional local
worldsheet symmetry, $Q(z)$, that emerges when $k=1$ and show that this
symmetry plays an important role in the localisation of the path integral to a
sum over covering maps. We demonstrate the emergence of a rigid worldsheet
translation symmetry in the radial direction of the $AdS_3$, for which again
the presence of $Q(z)$ is crucial. We conjecture that this radial symmetry
plays a key role in understanding, in the case of the $k=1$ string, the
encoding of the bulk physics on the two-dimensional boundary.
