Otorohanga Kiwi House

Woke up at Base Hostel, finally a decent place!! Had a shower and hit the road to the Mercure Hotel. For a big city, Auckland is easy to get around. They have the coolest traffic lights. After the cars each way have gotten their green light, all the pedestrians can walk in all directions! It looks like a flash mob in the middle of the intersection …

So in New Zealand, Kiwis are endangered, protected, and generally a little worshipped. Possums, on the other hand, get a pretty raw deal. Possums are the devil (because they eat Kiwi eggs) and you are encouraged to aim at them if you see them on the roadside. Hearing plenty about Kiwis, but only ever seeing them as stuffed animals, we decided to …

... colours and at night it is getting really cold. I forget if I have mentioned this before but many homes and hostels in New Zealand don't have any central heating. With temperatures getting close to freezing at night now it is not always that pleasant ...

... mice and other non-native animals from entering the park to enable the re-introduction of some of New Zealand’s most endangered species - including the kiwi. We walked through the forest for about three hours, there were loads of ferns - which ...

... wekas, moreporks and our favourite the Pukeko - it looks like a blue chicken with VERY long legs! There was a market on in Otorohanga so we had a wander around there and stopped off for a coffee. Spent the afternoon in Raglan which is on the coast ...

... kiwi so decided to have a look. It was well worth the stop - the delightful lady on duty was very enthusiastic about New Zealand's famous fluffy flightless birds and introduced us to Atu, their 9-year-old greater spotted kiwi who was busily rumaging for ...

... were expecting a cool, wet day today. Didn't happen which is great as we had sightseeing plans. Our first stop was the Otorohanga Kiwi house, just 5 min. from where we are staying. We got to view 2 kiwis, a Great Spotted kiwi and a Brown kiwi. The ...

Hi there again, hope everyone is doing well on this fine morning! We visited the Kiwi House at Otorohanga so that we could get a birds-eye view of these little critters. Otorohanga is about 30-45 minutes out of Hamilton. We stopped at Te Awamutu for a ...

... We are completely wiped and have taken it very easy since our arrival here. Tomorrow we will go to the Wiatomo Caves and the Kiwi House native bird park.  Kiwis are nocturnal and this is the only way we can see them. I uploaded pictures to ...

... a day, I was taken out by my hosts at Waikato to Otorhanga to see the renowned  Otorhanga Kiwi House.  The kiwi is found only in New Zealand and is a unique flightless bird belonging to the ratite order of birds (but you probably knew that ...

... and we were expecting a cool, wet day today. Didn't happen which is great as we had sightseeing plans. Our first stop was the Otorohanga Kiwi house, just 5 min. from where we are staying. We got to view 2 kiwis, a Great Spotted kiwi and a Brown kiwi. The ...

Gary and I woke up to brilliant blue sky and warm sun.  Spring time in New Zealand.  Cherry trees, Magnolias, Narcisis, Daffodils  -- All blooming.  Someone put flowers on our dinner table and when we asked what they were she just ...