Rare Birds

Left the heating on full last night and woke up nice and toasty this morning. We did breakfast again in th camp kitchen and the kids played in the playground for abit until we were ready to leave just after 9.

Short trip to the National Wildlife Centre at Mount Bruce aboiut 20 minutes away. This turned out to be a good place and Ed was very interested (as ever) in all the animals. They had a good interactive display area before you went outside to see the rare birds. We headed for the kiwi house and saw nothing in the first enclosure but round the corner in the other side of it running around was the start of the park the white kiwi girl. She had been born there a few years ago, product of two parents with recessive white gene feathers (not albino mutations, just like humans with ginger hair). We watched her running around and foraging in the earth before heading back to the cafe outdoor platform to watch the feeding of the Takahe. These look a bit like blue chickens with red beaks and were thought to be extinct until a breeding pair were discovered in the 60s. From these the population is now up to about 300 and growing. There were 2 in the park here.

After coffee and cake we went back outside and chatted with another older NZ couple and one of the keepers about the Pukeko, another endangered bird. There call is very distinctive, except the one they have here was never taught i t as was brought up alone in captivity and does a cool wolf whistle instead of their normal sound!

It was then time for the Tuatara babies (aged 10) to be fed. A spray of some water got him (or could be her, they can't tell until they reach about 15 or 20 years old) our from under the rock (they like the spray) and we learnt more about them (they carry eggs for 18 months then bury them for another 18 before hatching. In cold winters they go into a torpor state with a very slow heartbeat and just stop until it warms up (bit like tortoises hibernating). Also learnt that the sex of the babies is influenced by the temperature when the eggs are incubating.

A live cricket covered in calcium powder was dropped in. The tuatara remained still but then the cricket moved a leg just a little and his head whipped around to look then another slight movement and he pounced chewing it down with teeth that are actually sticking up bits of the jaw bone. That meal would last him a couple of days.

We then went back to the kiwi house but they weren't very visible (the white one was snuggled under leaves and branches in a den, whcih they hoped menat she was pregnant), so the keeper showed us the geckos, letting them run up her arm.

As we walked back to the shop, the brown kiwi, partner of the white one was out foragig, so we got to see them both. Ed and I went to look at the eels, whoi were waiting for their feed in about half an hour. Then back to the shop for souvenirs and then on our way to Napier.

We had planned to stop for lunch part way through the 2.5 hour drive, but Tash was asleep so we pressed on. Ed's navigating was a little dubious towards the end, not least his mixing upleft and right, but we found our park (Kennedy's) and parked up. The camp had an impressive playground with jumping pillow that the kids hit. all the equipment was under cover so play could continue through the rain showers. We had been given various vouchers for free child entry to things in town but one was fo an hour free bike hire in the parl so the kids got a two seater go cart style bike and peddled around happily. We cooked tea in the communal kitchen - this was not as good as the previous ones as not cutlery, pots, pans etc, we had to carry them over from the van. Another dvd watched and the tv also worked here at least for many of the channels, then bed to eplore Napier tomorrow.Read more