Wellington, part 3

It's time to visit somewhere again, take some photos and enjoy the nature.. As of what i've planned, Zealandia! After looking at the weather forecast, i've decided to visit Zealandia on Sunday morning.. However, i've no luck with the weather this round.. it was suppose to be sunny, not cloudy and rainy!! Ergghhh... Dont care, im going no matter what! So i've decided to walk to the i-Site located on Wakefield St earlier, just in case it does rain heavily later.. and yes, it did! Thank god! The free shuttle to Zealandia arrive alil late at i-Site, but it's ok.. it's free, nothing to complain about. We pick few peoples up before heading to Zealandia, roughly 15 min journey.

The entrance fee to the Sanctuary is NZD18.50 and if you decided to go to the exhibition too, it's another NZD10. So total, NZD28.50 combo! Nahh, i went straight into the sanctuary even though it looks cloudy and rains a little.. the place is beautiful! Very pristine condition with many tracks and trails to explore.

At the entrance, there were the elusive, rare, exotic, EXPENSIVE, green gecko from the genus Nautilus greeting us from two little enclosure. I think it's about 5-10 of them in each enclosure. What a magnificent creature that i really wish i could see them in the wild!
 



After a short walk along the lake side, two beautiful Takahe greet us happily.. they are not afraid of human, being one of the larger flightless bird in NZ, the size of a... young adult Turkey i presume. The female are a little skittish though.


Kinda reminds of of Dodo!




And there were these duck with many ducklings around the lake.. it is so cute! The little one taking shelter and warm on a cold morning.


I forgot the name of this bird.. some sort like a Stork..


Here's one of the most common bird in Zealandia, the Tui! Noisy and highly active.. it's like a crow, but more colorful and interesting. This one is still not fully awake yet after a cold rainy morning..haha


One visitor kindly direct me to a trail where i could see a very large pigeon called Kereru. It's a fruit eating pigeon, almost triple the size of the usual pigeon we can find almost everywhere!


And then this little black bird, another common one in NZ


Cute little North Island Robin


And finally, i saw it! The living fossil of NZ! The three eye Tuatara! What a sight! They are not afraid of human, just laying there basking sun.. I've waited for a little while to listen to a talk by Ann, the volunteer there. According to her, they breed once every 2 years with eggs incubation of up to 16 months! What's interesting was that the incubation can stop during cold season and resume when it's warm up! Sounds crazy! hahaa.. and of cos, as with some reptiles, different soil temperature will result in a diff ratio of male:female. Here's a female:


As i were talking to Ann, she mention she found an orchid in one of the trail and decided to show me! Cool! Here's the orchid:


And ferns of course,


One beautiful flowering shrubs,


Next, it was the old goldmine and Cave Weta. Didnt manage to see any in the wild as they were nocturnal, just like the Kiwi :( But i do see some in the cave,


and some glowworm too in the cave! Interesting creature..


i've found some outside too


Last but not least, the unique Kaka, an alpine parrots commonly found in NZ! A noisy one too!


So there you go, my full day visit to Zealandia which took me about 6 hours there! It's a great alternative to the wild where it's harder to see all these birds and reptiles due to the predators like Possum and Weasel. Here in Zealandia, it's protected by 2m fence that no predator can enter! Every birds and reptiles live happily ever after here XD

*all the shots were taken by D200 and Nikkor 24-105 F/4. Although it's not tele enough for birding, you guys should roughly know the range to be use here. Mine were shot at mostly 105mm.