Jonny and I got to the zoo about 11am and due to it being the school holidays it was very busy and both car parks were full. I eventually managed to find a parking space at the top of a very steep hill about 10 minutes walk away.
First stop was to see the giraffes which are Jonny's favourite animal and we were lucky enough to arrive at the time when we could offer them something to eat. What long, blue tongues they have!!
Auckland Zoo is home to the largest collection of native and exotic animals in New Zealand, set in 17 hectares of lush parkland and just five minutes from central Auckland. Thankfully most zoos have become much more aware of the environment that the animals are kept in and the enclosures at Auckland are large and there are few cages to be seen. Large areas of the zoo are predominately filled with moated, barless, naturalistic enclosures.
The zoo houses the The New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine which was opened on 10 August 2007. This NZD $4.6 million, 980 square metres (10,500 sq ft) facility is the first national centre for conservation medicine in the world.
The Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund supports a number of conservation programs, both overseas and in New Zealand. The currently supported overseas projects are a turtle and tortoise programme in Vietnam, the Sumatran orang utang Project and the Sumatran tiger.
There are also captive breeding programs to support the kiwi recovery program and I was finally able to see a Kiwi in the darkened Kiwi house. Only a glimpse of it's long probing beak as it probed the undergrowth but at last I can say that I have seen this famous symbol of New Zealand!
It was good to see that the zoo is encouraging everyone to help South Eastern rainforest species by choosing palm free oil foods. The uncontrolled expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia is currently destroying rainforest habitat at the rate of 54 rugby fields an hour, pushing rainforest species like the orangutan, Sumatran tiger, Asian rhino and Asian elephant towards extinction. As advocates for wildlife, Auckland Zoo believes the only way to slow this uncontrolled expansion is to reduce palm oil consumption, and therefore demand. As consumers, the power is in our hands to help.
We had a brief break for lunch and after 4 hours walking I was ready to leave but not looking forward to walking back up the hill to the car! Anyway I made it and we were soon back at the house to pick up Danni and return home. Rob was here when we got back and after he left we had our meal and I was ready to collapse!!
On Saturday morning I took Danni and Jonny to see Ice Age 4 before dropping them off at Rob and Julie's for the afternoon. I came back home for a rest and prepared a roast pork dinner for Rob, Julie, the children and Daniel which, as usual went down well.
The 7 ladies who are staying at the house had arrived later in the afternoon after they had been riding at Warkworth. They were celebrationg the 50th birthay of one of them and were delighted with the house and it's situation .
Rob picked up Danni and Jonny on Sunday morning and took them back home. Peace, perfect peace!! I stripped the beds in the house and started washing them.
Monday was wet and windy so, in the afternoon, we went to the cinema to see A Royal Affair. A Danish film a 2012 historical film set in the 18th century, at the court of the mentally ill King Christian VII which focuses on the romance between the queen and the royal physician Struensee. We both thoroughly enjoyed the film.
Another rainy day on Tuesday but it started to clear up in the afternoon.
On Wednesday morning we went for yet another walk on the beach at Goat Island which I think I can say has become our favourite beach despite there being so many beautiful beaches in the area. We continue to be fascinated by the pied shags that nest there and there was a whole "gaggle" (I can't find,even on google, the name for a group of these birds) of them on the beach. Many of the group were young and parents were flying in and feeding the young birds on the beach. Others were standing with their wings outspread, drying them, after making tentative sorties into the sea. They seemed to have no fear of us and allowed us to get within a few yards of them.
On Thursday I decide to go for a ride as Danni is not coming at the weekend and I didn't want to miss out on my ride this week. I rang Heather and she said to arrive at 1.30. I opted to try out Zoe this time as I had been told that she was a good ride. I arrived at 1.30 and found that I was the only person on the ride and was to be escorted by Leonie a very nice German girl who is working there temporarily. Leonie was good compay and Zoe was indeed a good ride and we passed a very pleasant hour riding around the farm and chatting. When we got back I was asked if I would help out, over the next 3 weeks, as they have a lot of foreign language students booked in from their schools in Auckland. It means a lot of free riding so, of course, I am only too happy to help them out. Over the last few months I have got to know the owners, Heather and Roger, of the stables and farm well and they are a really nice, hardworking couple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYQRyk9aDbs
I went to the supermarket afterwards and had a chat with a nice, geordie lady who has lived here for 14 years. She asked me to sample a wine which she was promoting. It was rather unfortunate, for her, that her position was next to a rack of special offer Jacobs Creek wines at $7.99 and that her wines were $15! Her wine was good but it was the Jacobs Creek went into my trolly.
When I got back home I found Rob had called in so we spent an hour or so chatting before he left.
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