Visiting Zealandia
the Karori Sanctuary, was quite an experience, perhaps the place that
made me feel most that I was in a foreign and exotic country, and it is
situated about 10 minutes' bus ride from the centre of Wellington.
We went together the first time one evening on the conference outing and I decided to go back on my own a couple of day's later, catching a bus from Lambton Quay, which seemed to be Wellington's Oxford Street. This is the view that greeted me as I approached after getting off the bus. You have to imagine a thousand crickets chirping in the trees and the glorious sunshine and being immersed in the wonderful scenery with hardly anyone else around. If you click on each photo it should get bigger. 
Once inside the wildlife sanctuary I stood on the valve tower in the middle
of the lower reservoir, watching some martins swooping over the water
before disappearing to their nest somewhere below me.
It was wonderfully peaceful and verdant.
The pied shags were still in the tree where we'd seen them nesting on our evening visit.
However, there were no shags (cormorants) as close as this one, which we saw on the Tuesday evening.
This tame takahe was one of the things that made Zealandia seem so exotic. His name is ‘T2′ and he was well into middle age at 19 years old.
The thing sticking out of his back is a transmitter.
 
Although I never managed to get a good photo of the ubiquitous Tui, I was fairly pleased with this shot of a Tieke or saddleback bird.
I also saw some Hihi at the hihi feeders during the evening visit, but not when I went back between eleven and three. Unfortunately they darted in and out so fast it was hard to get a decent photo, but this gives you some idea what they look like.
I did manage to get this reasonable picture of what I think is a North Island Robin.
 One bird we neither saw nor heard any sign of was the Kiwi as they are nocturnal. |
There were plenty of Kaka at the feeders, but it was a pleasant surprise to come across this one in the forest.
A rare sight is the sunbathing tuatara, which date back to the days of the dinosaurs and are not very common in the rest of New Zealand. I saw them both when I visited in the early evening and during the day.
This one is on the small size, with smaller spines, so is probably a female.
While this one is probably male and could be as old as 40.
On my second visit I learnt that the tuatara are born with a third eye on top of their heads and their skin covers it over as they mature.
This is a tuatara nest scrape
I also saw a skink, or mokomoko.
I hope that's enough photos to give you an idea what Zealandia is like. For me it was almost worth going all that way just to visit and I'd love to go back again. If you're interested there is lots more information on their website.
