WELLINGTON AND ZEALANDIA

We have spent the last two days in Wellington due to inclement weather forcing us to stay north of the south island.  Akoroa was taken off the scheduled ports and we spend overnight on the ship and thus had the extra day in Wellington.  This turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for us to see an amazing place. Yesterday we chose to wander the town and poke in and out of the shops.  So today, to avoid spending idle time on the ship, we took a shuttle to see Zealandia.  What a treat!

We arrived up on a hilltop valley to an area that is called Zealandia.  This project began 20 years ago and is proving to be a huge success.  To begin this project, it was the vision that there should be no species contained in this reserve other than those indigenous to New Zealand.  It was necessary to surround the sanctuary with fencing that could not be climbed, burrowed under, jumped over and the mesh had to be small enough to keep even the tiniest of rodents out.  The resulting design of fence is 2.2 meters high, 8.6 kilometres long and was built in only 5 months.  There is a 3 meter cleared swath on each side to prevent wildlife encroachment from above.  It goes below the ground and skirts forward and has an overhang of aluminum that is like a baffle to prevent animals climbing up and over.  A very successful design indeed.

Fern Frond

Once the fence was constructed, they had to eradicate all the foreign species contained inside by whatever means possible – i.e., poisoning, trapping, snaring.  Then began the repopulation of many of New Zealand’s rare birds, reptiles and insects.  Most of these were on the brink of extinction and they are now flourishing in this sanctuary.  What a huge success!

Our visit began with a wonderful interactive display where we could see specimens of the wildlife we will encounter, hear the bird sounds and see some of the distinctive vegetation.  However, when we exited the building and went through the double gate, nothing could prepare us for the beauty here.  The cacophony of sounds, ferns that were 20 meters tall and the most amazing vistas – my words don’t do it justice.  We were just so happy to enjoying the total experience.  The admission charge of $17.50 was such a small amount to pay. 

Tuatara with blue beads

Once they were pointed out to us, it was easy to spot the tuatara lizard.  We found at least 3 of them.  They have been tagged with a bead system of identification.  They are so well camouflaged with the ground debris – you just have to know what you are trying to spot and then there they are.

Kakka

Saw a few Kakas – a large brown parrot.  They have a very loud call.  They come to the feeding stations for drinks of water and some seeds.  They are noisy indeed – we never saw the underparts of their wings which are quite a bright orange.

Kakariki

The Kakariki is a bright green parakeet –we saw these at a different feeding station.  They were attracted to millet.  I sometimes have millet in my feeders at home, but have never seen a Kakariki.  How beautiful they are.

Kereru

The Kereru is the native pigeon – much bigger and certainly brighter in colour than our variety.  I even saw one sitting on a nest. (only after it was pointed out to me by a park naturalist) 

We certainly heard more birds than we saw.  The other one I saw but couldn’t get a photo of was a fantail.  What a lovely little bird with his tail outspread at every landing – was great to see but he/she moved about the branches so very fast, I was unable to get a shot. 

Into the Dark and Stormy Night...

Just now we had an announcement from the bridge that we are set to depart Wellington – Yay, I think – we are heading into 60 knot winds which are in the neighbourhood of 140 km and we have been told to clear our cabins of anything that can fall …  or fall on us – it will be very rough as we head through the Cook Straight.  We only have 23 km to go to Picton, but it sounds as though we will be lucky to get there in 12 hours.  So it could make for an interesting night.  Weather is set to improve around 5 or 6 am – that is the good news.