Skip to main content

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!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introducing the Family

By Nathan
This is my first post.  My name is Nathan and I am a 9 year-old boy (almost 10) and can't wait for this trip.  My older sister Chelsea is 12 years old and my younger brother Parker is 7 years old.   I am looking forward to sharing pictures and stories with you over the adventurous year ahead! This picture was taken a couple of years ago so we are all a bit bigger now!
6 comments
Read more

Tongariro Crossing - New Zealand North Island

By
Sorry for the brief hiatus folks - limited wifi slowed me down!  We did the Tongariro crossing 15yrs ago and fell in love with it then - we knew our kids had to experience it too. Ummm... can anyone say AMAZING! For those unfamiliar, the Tongariro Crossing is a 20km hike/tramp that takes you into the caldera(s)  of Mt. Ngauruhoe (more famously known as Mt. Doom in Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings trilogy). The mountain lies above Lake Taupo - New Zealand's biggest lake - which makes for a fitting backdrop throughout the 2nd half of the hike. Turangi - not far from Tongariro National Park We holed-up in VRBO/HomeAway a little town called Turangi, close to Tongariro National Park.  Cheryl's wrote a post about Turangi - check it out ! The hike route This hike is, very debatably, the best day hike in the world - certainly the best we've ever done.   If you like the outdoors, you're fit, and you can do only one thing in NZ - hike the Tongariro Crossing. 
11 comments
Read more

Lanterns and Rice Paddies- Hoi An, Vietnam

By Cheryl
When we were in the planning phase of this trip, I wasn't sure I wanted to go to Vietnam.  I was nervous about stories I had heard about crime, health and safety, crowded buses, etc. and I wasn't really sure how comfortable I would be taking the kids to this country.  After doing some research, I came across some information about a small town called Hoi An and  decided this might be a great place to spend some stationary time- soaking up the culture, enjoying cheap food and doing some school work.  So that's just what we did.  We spent 10 lovely, low key days in Hoi An, Vietnam. One of many flower displays along the river A calm town in the morning The famous Japanese covered bridge Hoi An is a town of about 120 000 people.  It used to be a major port- for the Champa kingdom from the 2nd to the 10th centuries and then, after the 15th century, it was one of South East Asia's major ports. The Old Town of Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage site and ap
4 comments
Read more