monday looked like being the best weather of the day so we went to zealandia which is a natural reserve in walking distance of downtown wellington (though we drove)
we had a go on a little boat
and we saw some tuataras which pleased esther hugely
female tuataras are half the size of male tuataras. and baby tuataras are born with three eyes (though the third one doesn’t really work and heals over). you should keep that in mind if you are asked to buy a tuatara a hat (else risk getting one the wrong size or without a head eye hole for a child)
here’s a big male chap hiding up a bank
they blend in quite well with the background !
kezia was given a piece of flax made in to a rose
and there were lots of korus about (although they are called something else according to esther)
and at one point we put on hard hats and went looking for cave wetas (but didn’t see any giant wetas)
there were plenty of rare birds too. i think this is a whitehead
and of course there were plenty of tuis doing their thing
here’s a saddleback
here’s a bellbird:
and here’s a kaka about to go feeding
we walked up another hill to a view point and had a little rest
this dam had been built way above wellington to provide its water supply. only recently they realised that building a huge water dam high above the capital city’s main fault line was a really bad idea so they’ve reduced the water level.
here’s a new zealand robin
we got to walk over a nice rope bridge thing which didn’t wobbly too much so wasn’t really an issue
after zealandia we attempted to visit a windmill., but we only had 5 minutes to spare before the barrier would lock us in for the night so we decided not to risk it !
