Wellington

I arrived in Wellington on Tuesday, its now Thursday and I will be heading home this afternoon. Its so lovely to get away, but its nice to go home as well. The first day I went traipsing all around Zealandia wildlife sanctuary, it was a beautiful sunny day (unusual for this part of the country). I saw tuatara, fish, tui, kaka's, kakariki parrots, bellbirds, hihi, wetas (uck!) and a multitude of other creatures (pied shags, ducks, some kind of quail or pheasant, and the supremely endangered takahe, a relative of the pukeko I believe, but bigger.) Word was that the takahe were extinct until a small colony was discovered high up in the mountains in the south island, so you never know, someone could discover a moa in there one day. (Moa being another extinct NZ bird) wouldn't that be interesting, apparently they used to grow up to 12ft tall. What else have I done? Yesterday I went to the wellington zoo, its a cute small place, bit of an uphill climb but lovely. Couldn't really see the cheetah -just the top of his head and his tail as he flicked it and the top of the lions back but everything else was there - chimps, baboons, dingo, african hunting dogs, otters - they were cute and chattery I've never heard them talk before they kept coming up and saying stuff to me. In the afternoon I walked out along Oriental parade that was great as well.