The Kiwi House is conservation / wildlife park with birds and reptiles. After the cave tour, Leslie took the food that we bought at the supermarket up to the house while I strolled through the Kiwi House. The Kiwi House was located in the Rotary Park and it showed its age. The displays were smallish and a large section was under renovation. Still I got to see a Kiwi so it was a success in that regard. The kiwi enclosures were big but the lighting was low to simulate nighttime which made it hard to see anything much. When I entered the room, there was a couple already there and they showed me where the kiwi was. I was then able to follow it along the edge of the enclosure and right to the front where I was able to take an unauthorized photo. I did not use the flash so there was not harm in breaking the rules. I strolled through the aviary and the reptile exhibits. Leslie and I had already walked on the top of the ridge above the park and I felt confident that I could find my way back to the house without going the long way around and via the road. I headed in the general direction of Mountain View Road. There were some ponds where I saw some new ducks and a large enclosed area that may have been part of the kiwi conservation area. The trails sloped upwards so I knew I was on the right track. These trails were very primitive and may have been created 50 years ago. I took my time gingerly continuing uphill. It was not long and I recognized a house that I knew was on Mountain View Road. So just a few more minutes and I was back at the house. We had dinner and watched a very cool sunset.
A huge statue of a Moa a 500 pound 10 foot tall bird hunted to extinction soon after the arrival of man
Nice pants on this Kiwi
A skink at the Kiwi House
Two green geckos
Shaggy bark tree
Locusts! Yikes
A sacred kingfisher
A paradise shelduck female
and a pair
A pacific black duck
One of New Zealand's big parrots, the North Island Kaka
The butt of the kaka
Long finned eels
An important food source for the Māori
The morepork a native New Zealand Owl
Inside the aviary
A dead tree fern
Out in the Rotary Park
This is the trail
New Zealand Scaup
Lots of tree fern debris
Uphill is the way I need to go
And more uphill
The tree ferns are very cool
Careful trecking
I recognized this funky house
One more set up steps
Well maybe another
I am at the top and I can look back down
Rotary Park!
The sun is setting
So it is time to get ready to travel tomorrow
Sunset
lingers and lingers
Finally giving way to night
