We were up before dawn today to make our 7 o’clock flight to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city. The 90 minute flight was on time and uneventful. We arrived to a gray and drizzly morning here. Our plan was to meet Roslyn’s cousin Claris at noon for lunch and an afternoon together. Claris is the 24 year old daughter of Roslyn’s first cousin David. She lives and works here.
We went out for lunch and then she took us to Zealandia. It’s a large nature preserve in the heart of the city. Someone had the idea about 25 years ago to take a large tract of land, and return it to the natural state it had been in before colonization and development. So you get to walk paths through native plants while native birds go about their business. There are almost no other animals. We saw a couple of lizards. No mammals. They’ve been eliminated, because they are native to this island. Cool fact: the only mammal native to New Zealand is the bat. I saw and photographed a several very nice birds, including this guy:
This is a member of the parrot family called a Kaka. That’s what the native people here, the Maori, call it.
After wandering in this lovely park for a few hours, we made our way back to the hotel. I showered to help wake myself up so I could better enjoy our dinner with Claris, her dad/Roslyn’s first cousin David, his wife Anthea and their 10 year old daughter Izzy. David, Anthea and Izzy live in Auckland and are here to celebrate one of their friend’s 50th birthday. We had a lovely evening together, and will have breakfast tomorrow.
Then we’ll be off to Napier.