Here I am finally completing the last part of my mid-semester trip. I ended up spending two days in Christchurch, and after my day of exploration I decided to make a visit to Willowbank. Willowbank is a wildlife reserve that is home to many animals native to New Zealand, as well as some not so native. But it was a perfect place for me!
It took me two buses to get there, but I started my tour around 11 am. This is a self-guided tour through the reserve, and you begin by going through the "Wild New Zealand" section of the park. The first thing I saw when walking out of the center were domestic eels that you could feed! You could take spoons of the food and the eels would swim right up and eat off of the spoon!
Welcome to Wild New Zealand!
The feedable eels!
After the eels, I walked past some ducks (so many ducks) and made it to the deer yard. There I got to pet the cutest little deer. They have such soft noses!! Interesting fact: Deer are actually considered agricultural animals as New Zealand has many deer farms. This makes venison pretty cheap in restaurants and supermarkets!
Fallow deer
Then it was onto the Lost Swamp portion of the park. Here there were all sorts of interesting birds and animals that I got to see. The coolest part I think was that I got to pet a wallaby! These are technically native to New Zealand, but they are super cute!
To the Lost Swamp!
Me petting the wallaby. Now I need one!
Asian Short-Clawed Otter
Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo
Ring-tailed Lemurs
After walking through Wild New Zealand it was on to Heritage New Zealand! Here they had various farm animals that could be found in New Zealand, such as Kunekune pig, Arapawa goat, and the Miniature White Galloway! The best part about the farm animal section was that you were able to pet pretty much all of the animals (have I died and gone to heaven??). Not to mention there were chickens roaming all around. Let me tell you a story about this Miniature White Galloway. There I am trying to pet it, and what does it do? Sticks its head through the gate and tries to eat my jacket! Crazy animals!
Welcome to Heritage New Zealand
Kunekune pig
Chicken!
Arapawa goat
Miniature White Galloway
Petting the Galloway!
Finally, it was on to Natural New Zealand. Through here I saw tons of native birds, and most importantly I SAW A KIWI!! No, not the fruit. I'm talking about the bird! They occur only in New Zealand, and are an endangered species here. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures because flash photography wasn't allowed in the nocturnal house. They are so much bigger than I had imagined them to be! Another fun fact, they're the only birds to have their nostrils at the end of their bill, allowing them to sniff out prey when they probe the ground.
A picture of the Brown Kiwi
Morepork, the native owl of New Zealand
White-faced Heron
Overall, it was a fantastic trip! Definitely appealed to my wildlife biologist heart. And what a perfect way to end my mid-semester break!
Glad you had a good time! What great memories!
ReplyDelete