March 19 - Zealandia

We returned back into Wellington today, and picked up the CityBus - stopping at Zealandia this time. It is a valley that has been isolated with a "biofence" to keep out the mammalian predators that have been introduced to New Zealand. They are working at restoring the area to what it would have been like prior to humankind showing up. They have done a very good job with displays, and it had turned into a lovely day. We had a 3 hour walkabout, saw some wildlife (nesting pied shags and their babies) and learned about some we didn't see.

They had "weta hotels" - tree weta, a kind of insect about 2 inches long. They are reintroducing the giant weta - even bigger, but apparently a gentle giant. We did not see those.

The walk was up one side of a stream to a suspension bridge - wider than out last experience. You could look out over a reservoir and valley, and listen to the most amazing range of bird song. We had stopped at an earlier station that had pictures of the birds, and a button you could push to hear their call. We heard a bell bird, and saw several Tui (also the name of a local brew). In the valley area you could see birds flitting back and forth, and there was a wonderful range of bird song. Well past our identification, but most enjoyable on a sunny afternoon.

The walk also used sighting tubes - bits of pipe you could look through to identify a particular tree, or, in one instance, to look at a picture of a bird set in a tree to get an idea of its relative size.

We also saw the daytime evidence of glowworms - their hanging tentacles of saliva, meant to ensnare insects. Inspiration for Alien?

We are moving on to Napier tomorrow - Stable Backpackers.