Wellington Zoo

After being in New Zealand for almost four years I finally made it to Wellington Zoo.and the sun even shone for Rachael and myself.
It was great to see all the animals but have to say the Chimps were my favourite, could have stayed and photographed them for hours.

Wellington Zoo is home to more than 500 animals (and over 100 species). New Zealand’s first Zoo which sits on 13 hectares in Wellington city’s green town belt.

Wellington Zoo is open 364 days a year, every day except Christmas Day

You cant even complain at the cost of entry which is below, as the cost of running the zoo, purchasing the food, welfare of the animals and paying the staff cant be cheap

Zoo Entry Prices (GST incl.)
Adult: $21.00
Child: 3-14 years of age: $10.00
Under 3: free

All in all it was a great day and i highly recommend a visit to the zoo.

 

Pond Life

With camera in hand i headed up to the pond to see what there was to photograph on this very sunny Saturday afternoon.
Thankfully i wasn't caught on camera in my Wellies wading around in the pond and met by a slippery eel which i wasn't expecting to see :-)

Plenty of  Dragon Flies to photograph though so worth the effort...

 

 

Kapiti Island

A must do trip weather you live in NZ or are just visiting, you can do a day trip or stay the night on the North end in the only Maori community left on the island, this is what i did as i wanted to go Kiwi spotting and wasnt disappointed at all. 

We saw a total of 5 Little Spotted Kiwis and i have to say it was amazing to see them in there natural habitat, sadly no pics as they dont like camera flashes so im going to figure out how to work around that prob and maybe next time i will get some. Dont get me wrong you arent guarenteed to see any but there numbers are growing on Kapiti which is awesome.

I walked the 1,709ft to the top of the Island and the view was out of this world but my legs really felt the pain the following day.

Kapiti Island is a predator free Zone which has allowed the birds to flourish, some of the birds were on the endangered list (Kiwi, Saddleback) but with the help of the department of conservation they are breeding and numbers are growing.

I am looking to return hopefully around April as want to spend more time on the North end and go look at the marine life and sea birds (which were nesting when i visited so you couldnt go near)

New Zealand Robin (Toutouwai)

These are such entertaining little birds that will keep you company on your trek to the top of Kapiti Island

Weka

Inquisitive, mischevious and cheeky, these birds may be flightless but they sure can run. They will get into your bag and take what they like so be warned if you see a Weka running very fast away from your bag/s then you are likely to have lost something.

 Kākā

These are also inquisitive birds but can fly and have the most amazing orange colour on there belly and under side of the wings.

Once underthreat they have now become common on Kapiti which is great news

Saddleback (/tīeke)

This was one of the most endangered species but thanks to the department of conservation they are slowly increasing and are locally common in certain habitats or breeding areas 

Bellbird (korimako)

You recognise these birds by there melodious song, which

 Captain Cook described as sounding 'like small bells exquisitely tuned'

 Red-crowned Parakeet (kākāriki)

Kākāriki, meaning 'small green parrot' in Māori

Once threatened now commonly seen on Kapiti

New Zealand Wood Pigeon (kererū)

New Zealands native pigeon, the only disperser of large fruits, The disappearance of the kererū would be a disaster for the regeneration of NZs native forests but thankfully they are quite common

Takahē

This bird is the big brother of the Pukeko but totally flightless and weighs 2-3 times more.

These birds are almost extinct with only around 280 left worldwide but with no predators on Kapiti they are breeding so fingers crossed there numbers will blossom

Tūī

Common throughout New Zealand and have a lovely melody but have been know to copy certain sounds such as mobile ringtones.