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Auckland Zoo- New Zealand

By Chelsea
We spent our first day in New Zealand at the Auckland Zoo.  It felt very natural with many boardwalks and plants connecting the animal enclosures.  There were different sections including Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Africa and South America.

We made it to New Zealand!


Parker's favourite animals were the tamarinds, the parrot, the kiwi bird, the otters, the rhinoceros, the baby turtles, the zebras, the gibbons and the giraffes.  (He couldn't pick just one when I asked him!)  The kiwi bird was much bigger than he expected!  They are nocturnal and there was no flash photography allowed so we didn't get a picture.

Rhino...up and moving!


I liked the giraffes and the turtles. I was surprised that the giraffes were in the same enclosure as the zebras and ostriches.  Some of the turtles were so small you could hold them.  The Galapagos tortoises, on the other hand, were enormous.  They can live up to 180 years!

Baby turtle


Nathan liked the gibbons.  They swung rope to rope.  He thought the emu highly resembled the ostrich and felt the wallaby looked like a kangaroo.  Our Australian friends told us that neither the emu or kangaroo can walk backwards.  This emu certainly didn't!

Emu


The zoo was fun to walk around and it wasn't busy at all.  The plants around the zoo looked very different from home.  There were lots of pretty flowers.

Bird of Paradise Flower

The zoo was a great way to start our New Zealand trip!

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