Wellington Zoo

28th December 2013


Our holiday is close to the end and we don't have much money left. In New Zealand, there's actually a lot of attractions and places to visit everywhere, which is so much fun. However, the costs are very high and we can't afford to play like this everyday. If you want to travel budgetly, you can go to places like museum, walking track, lake, river, waterfall which is free of charge. We've been to these places so many times and we actually feel it is more or less the same. (quite boring) Or perhaps we already get used to these beautiful scene and become heartless with it?

Today, we found a good place to visit at Wellington, which is not too expensive - Wellington Zoo. A surprise for us as there is a NZD5 discount for YHA member, so total entrance fee is only NZD16 per person!

Wellington Zoo is the first Zoo in New Zealand. It is highly rated in trip advisor as the best Zoo. This zoo is quite special as we're welcomed with a series of animal feeding show, about ten of it! Compared to Malaysia Zoo, Wellington Zoo has greater fun and more activities which is educational to the visitors. The zoo is very very clean, with NO unpleasant smell at all! The first one to kick start our trip is the tiger feeding show.

The Zoo Keeper is feeding some meat to the tiger like this! First time we see a very close and intimate contact between tiger and human. The tiger looks quite tame and obedient.

Me holding the skeleton of a tiger head with its sharp teeth, it's huge!

Next we go to the vet of the zoo. It's amazing that Wellington Zoo has a clinic and operation theater for all the animals. Today, they are treating a kea (large parrots) which is admitted yesterday. The kea couldn't fly and it was suspected to have fracture bones in its wings.

First, they showed us how anesthesia was done by letting the kea to inhale.

Very professional, they measured the heartbeat of the kea, and also taken its X-Ray.

Treatment Room - the first place that patients are brought to. Here is where vets take the blood and urine sample, do ultrasound scan, take x-ray, and give out regular medicine.

 Next, the bird show.

Sunny Bear - the smallest bear

Feeding the sunny bear with fruits and nuts. The zoo keeper says honey is their favourite food!

The chimpanzee - their human being act is really funny!

Zoo keeper throwing tomatoes and apples to them, their favorite fruit

The arrogant giraffe who doesn't bother to eat the leaf

ugly ostrich?

tasmanian devil, its outlook is just too common

优雅的美女？

met his true love in the zoo

In Wellington Zoo, the most special animal that we see is the kiwi bird. The kiwi bird in Wellington Zoo is named Tahi, a Kiwi with single leg. Kiwi bird is a national symbol to New Zealand. At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world. Their eggs are larger than an ostrich's egg! Kiwi's egg averages 15% of the female's body weight, compared to 2% for the ostrich.

However, a team of researchers have found that kiwi birds are virtually blind; they rely on their senses of touch and smell rather than vision for foraging. Therefore, we see the kiwi bird in a very dark room, with some red dim light for us to see the bird. The whole environment is decorated like a forest, just to imitate the actual living habitat of a kiwi, so that they don't feel uneasy with it. The reason they uses red light is because kiwi birds couldn't distinguish red color, hence they will deem the red light as dark. No photos can be taken as the flash light will frighten the kiwi birds.

Kiwi is a curious bird, it cannot fly, has loose, hair-like feathers, strong legs and no tail. They are also the only bird to have nostrils at the end of its very long bill which is used to probe in the groud, sniffing out invertebrates to eat, along with some fallen fruit. Tahi is a very cute Kiwi, since it has only one leg, it hops around to move. The zoo keeper also showed us a real-life specimen - a dead kiwi for us to touch and feel its feather. Overall it is a unique experience.

The night is still young and three of them were thirsty and eagered for a drink. Ivy bar is where we go at night, recommended by Will's friend. This is the first time we realized that New Zealand is not a 100% boring country with grassess and mountains! Willis Street and Cuba Street are so happening at night, with all the pubs and bars along the street. Youngsters, teenagers and some uncles aunties are hanging around, clubbing and drinking there. That's a nightlife at Wellington! Of course, their nightlife is still not comparable to our Bukit Bintang, as their population is not so crowded.

Good experience in the bar!