PHOTOS
Zealandia - The Karori Sanctuary
After months of wanting to go and never seeming to get to it, we finally made it over to the Karori Sanctuary.
It was rather good timing anyway, as they have opened a new exhibit and rebranded as Zealandia.
They have raised the prices a bit to compensate, but it is definitely well worth it. Since we decided to pick up a year membership, we'll be returning soon, perhaps for a night tour to see the nocturnal birds like the kiwi and morepork.
There are several walking paths around the valley of varying grades, so there's plenty left to see.
The star of the show there is definitely the many diverse species of birds, and of course, the tuatara. I have a picture of one, but wasn't able to see exactly where it was at the time. I just zoomed on the spot where people were claiming it was and snapped a few shots. Sure enough it was there.
There was also an old gold mine that we poked into with a bunch of wetas hanging around on the walls. The weta is basically New Zealand's evolutionary equivalent of the mouse in an ecosystem without mammals. I don't know, they're harmless, but I think I'd rather have the mouse.
I've posted some photos of the birds and other creatures we came across on our walk.