Zealandia

Today we went to Zealandia with James’s sister Jane (she’s in NZ on holiday).

As I’d never been (well not properly), I thought it might be fun 🙂

We started in the cafe with Jane’s NZ friends and a healthy brunch! Zealandia has paths all round with walks, easy hikes and harder hikes. We chose the ‘recommended route’ which takes you all the way round the park, past a lake and the old reservoir. 

Earlier in the day the weather was reasonably sunny, but as we arrived at the park, the clouds rolled in and I decided to go with a hoody rather than just a t-shirt. Throughout the walk it was really lovely weather but not very hot, which i’m actually really glad about as it would have been too hot. It was perfect weather for a walk!

We found the most amazing bird, it’s called a Takahē and is an endemic bird that in conservation terms, is on the critical list. These birds are from the South Island, but years ago there used to be a North Island breed as well. They became extinct in the late 19th Century. There are two of them in the park, they were a breeding pair, but are now ‘retired’ so they’ve been bought to Zealandia from the island that DOC originally had them on (Mana island) so that there was more space for the currently breeding pairs. 

I really enjoyed seeing them and learning about a new type of bird that i didn’t know anything about before! I think they look like a big fat blue football, Jane said a big blue turkey. Either way i think they’re pretty cool. 

We continued our walk into the sheltered area of the park, which took us through a range of different areas. My favourite part (so far on the walk) was the part where Zealandia had set up loads of feeding stations for the animals.

Once we reached the old reservoir, the sun came out! It was lovely, the view seemed to just keep going!

Next we found the Tuatara! They sit in the sunshine (I guess because they are cold blooded they need the sunlight to stay warm). It was really nice to watch them. They just sort of sit there.