Today is
Labour Day in New Zealand – the celebration of the start of the
eight hour a day movement in Wellington in 1840. A lot of people were away this weekend so the excursions were fairly subdued. On Saturday I spent two hours walking round the
Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. This is the lower lake with the sluice control building.
The lake behind the upper dam used to provide water for Wellington City but it was drained in the 1980s as the dam was deemed to be an earthquake risk.
I was hoping to see
tuatara – 130 had been released the day before but they were nowhere to be seen. It was fairly cold and they were probably tucked up in their burrows. I did range over some of the paths beyond the upper dam and saw some of the birds that are thriving after being reintroduced from offshore islands. I saw robin/
toutouwai,
hihi and course the ubiquitous
tui and
kaka. The birds were not that cooperative about being photographed and my camera is not really ideal for the purpose but here is one of a hihi feeding at one of the feeding stations which are set up to nurture the smaller nectar eaters.
Today we went for a gentle stroll in the Botanic Gardens. The café in the Begonia House has recently been upgraded so we had to try it. We can report that the coffee is good and Jude thought the gluten free chocolate cake exceptional.
Andy liked his chocolate and chilli brownie (he didn’t leave any!).
We had to rush back home to meet our friends Dave and Jane (and their son George) who were up from Christchurch.
Lastly, for my overseas readers, we have a wonderful endemic insect called a
weta. We find a number in the garden and they freak Noreen out but I love them. This little fellow was on our doorstep this morning and I managed to get a slightly out of focus shot before returning him or her to the bush.
The lake behind the upper dam used to provide water for Wellington City but it was drained in the 1980s as the dam was deemed to be an earthquake risk.
I was hoping to see tuatara – 130 had been released the day before but they were nowhere to be seen. It was fairly cold and they were probably tucked up in their burrows. I did range over some of the paths beyond the upper dam and saw some of the birds that are thriving after being reintroduced from offshore islands. I saw robin/toutouwai, hihi and course the ubiquitous tui and kaka. The birds were not that cooperative about being photographed and my camera is not really ideal for the purpose but here is one of a hihi feeding at one of the feeding stations which are set up to nurture the smaller nectar eaters.
Today we went for a gentle stroll in the Botanic Gardens. The café in the Begonia House has recently been upgraded so we had to try it. We can report that the coffee is good and Jude thought the gluten free chocolate cake exceptional.
Andy liked his chocolate and chilli brownie (he didn’t leave any!).
We had to rush back home to meet our friends Dave and Jane (and their son George) who were up from Christchurch.
Lastly, for my overseas readers, we have a wonderful endemic insect called a weta. We find a number in the garden and they freak Noreen out but I love them. This little fellow was on our doorstep this morning and I managed to get a slightly out of focus shot before returning him or her to the bush.
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