sunday - day nine, first day in wellington! here's a shot of the city from the ferry terminal - i took this as i was leaving.
that evening, we went to karori wildlife reserve, not far from where david & eilidh live. the reserve is a heavily protected area where conservationists are working to increase the populations of nz's endangered native birds and lizards. it's surrounded on all sides by a two meter, tightly-woven mesh fence to keep out predators - new zealand has no native mammals, so many of the ones that have arrived in the last two or three hundred years are unwanted pests: mice, rats, rabbits, ferrets, possums, cats . . . even cats! people have cats for pets and they seem to run wild in many areas, but they're dangerous for the native birds, and the conservationists do what they can to keep them OUT of the wildlife reserve. we spent a lovely evening listening and watching for birds: tui (an excellent mimic), shag (cormorant), ducks, and kaka (a noisy kind of parrot) among others. the reserve has kiwis also, but you don't get to see them generally because they only come out after dark and they're very shy.
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- yesterday (monday, day ten) david went to work, and eilidh and dorothy (their black lab/saint bernard mix) and i did the city-to-sea walk around wellington: a six-hour scenic trek all over the place. we went by the botanic gardens, through forested areas, along streams, in and out of more urban areas, around a golf course, through a maori reserve area, and down to the beach at last . . . and it did take us just about six hours for the official trek, though we walked almost ten hours altogether: it took a good 45 minutes to get to the starting point and almost three hours to walk home again! let's just say my feet are still swollen more than twelve hours after we got home and after a good long night's sleep - dorothy, on the other hand, appears to be fully recovered and antsy for a run.
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- the walk was beautiful - i felt like i got a great view of wellington city and harbor. we hiked over numerous hills, each of which provided a different vantage point. i'd wanted to do some hiking here in nz, and i certainly got my wish! today the plan is to take it easy. i want to go to the te papa museum, and i've already decided to sit in front of all the exhibits!
sunday - day nine, first day in wellington! here's a shot of the city from the ferry terminal - i took this as i was leaving.
that evening, we went to karori wildlife reserve, not far from where david & eilidh live. the reserve is a heavily protected area where conservationists are working to increase the populations of nz's endangered native birds and lizards. it's surrounded on all sides by a two meter, tightly-woven mesh fence to keep out predators - new zealand has no native mammals, so many of the ones that have arrived in the last two or three hundred years are unwanted pests: mice, rats, rabbits, ferrets, possums, cats . . . even cats! people have cats for pets and they seem to run wild in many areas, but they're dangerous for the native birds, and the conservationists do what they can to keep them OUT of the wildlife reserve. we spent a lovely evening listening and watching for birds: tui (an excellent mimic), shag (cormorant), ducks, and kaka (a noisy kind of parrot) among others. the reserve has kiwis also, but you don't get to see them generally because they only come out after dark and they're very shy.
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