In addition to our Auckland adventures, mum and I hired a car and headed down to Wellington. We spent one night in New Plymouth and one night in a B&B just outside Wellington, before catching a flight back to Auckland.
New Plymouth is one of my favourite places in the North Island because it has a beautiful beach, plenty of bush walks, and Mount Taranaki - perfect for climbing and taking in the surrounding views. Although the town is only small, it has everything you could need. There are supermarkets and clothes shops, and (of course).... McDonald's!
After leaving Auckland early, it was mid-afternoon before we arrived in New Plymouth. We drove straight to our accommodation which was up towards Mount Taranaki. It was the same place that I stayed in for my birthday, so I knew the room would be lovely and have great views. It wasn't exactly the same room as before (no bath in the bedroom to watch movies from), but we had a balcony overlooking the fields, and we did have a bath, just in the bathroom this time!
After settling in to the room we took a drive down to the waterfront. As the sun was still in the sky we decided to have a wander along the beach. There were quite a few people walking dogs, jogging, and a few paddleboarders too. There were even a couple of surf schools for children, and I thought how nice it must be to be able to finish school and go straight down to the beach. I took a few pictures of the beach with Mount Taranaki in the background, and then a couple of a lone surfer enjoying the last of the sun.
Once the sun had begun to set, mum and I wandered back along the beach to the car. We then drove back into town and picked up a takeaway to eat in the room. We then watched a bit of TV, and made full use of the bath before getting into bed.
After a good night's sleep, we got up early, packed the car, and continued on towards Wellington. We took the Surf Highway (Highway 45) along the coast and stopped at a few beaches. Unfortunately the weather had picked up and it was very windy, so although we couldn't do any sunbathing or swimming on the beaches, it was nice to watch the waves crashing against the rocks and hear the wind whistling through the sand. At one point we even climbed one of the lookout towers to get a better view from the cliff tops, but the wind was so powerful we were having trouble remaining on our feet, so had to climb down again pretty quickly!
After our tour of the beaches we stopped in Wanganui for some lunch and then carried on to our B&B in Waikanae, which is on the outskirts of Paraparaumu. The B&B was nice and spacious. I think we were the only ones staying there so we made full use of the pool table, dart board and coffee and tea facilities. There was even a hot tub, but we didn't take our swim kit so didn't go in. We did drive into Waikanae though for some dinner, and found a small Vietnamese restaurant called Khmer Krom that was still open. We ordered enough food to keep a small village going for a week, and then took it back to the B&B. It was absolutely delicious, and I would definitely recommend it if you ever find yourself in Waikanae!
After a restful night, we packed the car and carried on to Wellington. We arrived mid-morning and headed straight towards the zoo. Apart from some school children, the zoo was relatively quiet and we got to see most of the feeding shows that they put on for the public. Our first stop though was at the lion enclosure where we saw the females scale the rocks and view the surrounding park.
After the lions, we wandered over to the animal hospital where the vet was giving some medical care to a morepork. Moreporks are small brown owls native to New Zealand, and this particular one had the misfortune to fly into a window and damage its wing. The vet was confident that it would make a full recovery though and would be released back into the wild once fully recovered. After it had received some treatment she came over to the window and held it up for us to have a closer look. Although I didn't get a picture of the injured owl, I found an image of a Morepork and have put it on the blog for you to see.
After our visit to the vet, we moved on to the Australian section of the zoo. This is an enclosure you can walk through and get close to the wallabys and kangaroos. There was also a separate enclosure of tasmanian devils which are quite new to the zoo I think. There were a couple of them having a fight when we arrived and it was quite creepy to hear their trademark 'scream'. I can only imagine what it must be like hearing it in the dead of night!
Following our 'Australian visit', it was feeding time for some of the animals. We saw the chimpanzees being given some fruit and vegetables, but our favourites were the Malayan sun bears (called Sean and his daughter Sasa), and the Sumatran tiger (called Rokan). The sun bears are so called because of the marking on their chest. They are the smallest of the bear species and have very loose skin around their neck so they are able to wriggle free from predators. As you can see from the photos, Sean came very close to the cage and was asked to stand so the keeper could give him a quick health check. He ate some nuts and fruits straight from the keeper's hand using his extremely long tongue!
After feeding Sean, the keeper went to the enclosure of the Sumatran tiger called Rokan. He was HUGE!! Like Sean, he was also asked to stand so that the keeper could give him a brief health check. He was then given lots of big pieces of steak, which he took straight from the keeper's hand. Apparently there are only a few hundred Sumatran tigers left in the wild, so it was nice to get so close to Rokan. I did ask mum if she's like to get even closer, possibly even take a walk in the enclosure, but she declined.
After watching Rokan being fed, we made our way towards the exit. We did stop off to have a quick look at the golden lion tamarin monkeys who came very close for their picture to be taken. One of the them did turn round to give me an 'arse' shot, but fortunately the other decided that its face was probably its best side.
In addition to the animals mentioned above, we also got to see some stick insects, a chameleon, a couple of giraffes, and mum got to see her first kiwi which was nice. Just as we got to the exit, there were some little blue penguins being fed. I think penguins are probably my favourite animal, so I was happy to see them before we left. I also got a little blue penguin figurine from the shop as a memento.
