Wellington and Zealandia

While Dad and I did the cultural and city stuff, Tom was off exploring a local area with a bird buddy who lives in Wellington. Duncan, a fellow writer from 10,000birds.com, picked Tom up for a day of exploring at Zealandia, a 650 acre reserve full of native birds.

Unfortunately, Duncan wasn't feeling well, so Tom got home before we did. He did manage to convince us to go back with him on Sunday morning as his tickets got him back in for a second day.

It was sunny, he was buying, so off we went for a short hour and a half trip through what the country side used to look and sound like.

The sounds of the birds was pretty, and all over. The park is built in the base of a canyon, of which part has been made into a reservoir. When the city learned this was a fault line, they didn't dam it up! Tom headed off in search of an elusive bird or two, and we followed along at our own pace.

A Kaka in the tree.

A New Zealand Wood Pigeon.

A Tui.

A green skink. We spotted a few birds on our own, a baby Tuatara and a grandpa/ma Tuatara having a early morning snack of a weta - a grasshopper/locust type critter.