November
1, Thursday
They even had fake penguins (no not dead stuffed ones) and fake snow to try to make it look realistic
And this one when they venture out on scientific expeditions
This is a photo of a picture up on the wall, showing the real station
But I got a great close up picture of a sleeping tiger
And of huge lions being fed. If you wanted to, you could get into a huge cage on a truck and drive INTO the lion enclosure to watch them feed. AH .... NO ! Check out how big these lions are. And they were REALLY HUNGRY !
The male lions in this enclosure have been castrated so that they don’t inbreed with their sisters and nieces. I had not realized this but was informed that once a lion is castrated, it loses its mane. How sad. And it gets REALLY BIG. The tall one standing against the cage on the truck is one of the males. HE IS HUGE.
Although they have a kiwi house, the birds are nocturnal animals so it’s dark in there and my night vision is not good.I could see movement under some bushes behind the glass, but the bird was too far away for me to see. It was about 1 foot high, but all I could see was its huge body.They are a flightless bird; here is the best I could do to show you what they look like.
Giant statue of kiwi.
The rhinos were also quite impressive. I don’t think the wild ones I saw in Africa had such big horns.
Wild African dog, but not a hyena.
“The Orana Park is New Zealand’s only open range zoo. The wildlife and conservation park is internationally renowned for its involvement in breeding programmes for many of the world’s endangered exotic animals. The Park breeds and releases to the wild some of New Zealand’s rare native species.”
Strangely enough, I did not see many! They were mostly animals from other continents.
Gibbon, a really noisy bunch. Check the photo of the island above this one. Can you find the gibbons' high rise lookout? Not bragging, but that is how good my camera's zoom is. (Too bad the damn thing keeps conking out on me.)
I took it easy this morning, stayed in bed and read, had
a nice leisurely breakfast and finally got going at 11:30. I decided to drive out towards the airport to
visit the Antarctic Centre. This is a
recreation of the Scott Base, one of the New Zealand ice stations in Antarctica. It was quite interesting to visit and see
how they live when they are down there, doing their scientific analysis.
And this one when they venture out on scientific expeditions
This is a photo of a picture up on the wall, showing the real station
And, they had a section with little blue penguins; REAL LIVE ONES; the
same ones that I saw on Phillip Island.
So I finally got to take pictures of the little penguins. I get a close up view, and so do you!
“Clever
disguise: The Little Blue Penguin is a
dark steely blue colour across its head and back. It is white on the breast and stomach. When viewed from under the water the penguin’s
white underbelly blends into the lighter background. When viewed from above their blue back is a
perfect camouflage against the dark sea below.
It makes it difficult for both marine and aerial predators to see them
when they are in the sea.”
Most of the penguins here have been hurt and cannot be
released back into the wild.
From there I drove out to the Centre, I headed around the
airport and headed for the Orana Wildlife Park. I enjoyed it because I was outside in the
sunshine walking around, but it was really more of the same that I had already
seen. Monkeys, giraffes, llamas, zebras,
a petting zoo, etc
But I got a great close up picture of a sleeping tiger
And of huge lions being fed. If you wanted to, you could get into a huge cage on a truck and drive INTO the lion enclosure to watch them feed. AH .... NO ! Check out how big these lions are. And they were REALLY HUNGRY !
The male lions in this enclosure have been castrated so that they don’t inbreed with their sisters and nieces. I had not realized this but was informed that once a lion is castrated, it loses its mane. How sad. And it gets REALLY BIG. The tall one standing against the cage on the truck is one of the males. HE IS HUGE.
Although they have a kiwi house, the birds are nocturnal animals so it’s dark in there and my night vision is not good.I could see movement under some bushes behind the glass, but the bird was too far away for me to see. It was about 1 foot high, but all I could see was its huge body.They are a flightless bird; here is the best I could do to show you what they look like.
Giant statue of kiwi.
The rhinos were also quite impressive. I don’t think the wild ones I saw in Africa had such big horns.
Wild African dog, but not a hyena.
“The Orana Park is New Zealand’s only open range zoo. The wildlife and conservation park is internationally renowned for its involvement in breeding programmes for many of the world’s endangered exotic animals. The Park breeds and releases to the wild some of New Zealand’s rare native species.”
Strangely enough, I did not see many! They were mostly animals from other continents.
I cut my visit short once I got tired; there was quite a
distance between displays since the animals are given quite large enclosures. The
park is 80 hectares in all and has over 70 different species of animals. I drove back to the city and went back to the
mall where I had purchased the cell phone.
I needed to get a professional haircut.
The guy was really interesting and we had a great conversation while he
cut my hair.
I wanted to find a restaurant where I could eat some red
meat. Can’t remember when I last ate
beef. Well there was not one restaurant
in site, except for a Cambodian Noodle shop, so I headed for MacDonald’s for an
Angus Burger. There fixings here are quite
different from ours and it was quite delicious.
I then returned to the motel to start packing.
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