After the storm we had a nice day, we started with a walk around the forest and then we decided to spend the day in the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre. It’s a charity that works with endangered bird species to reintroduce them to their natural environment. We saw a lot of different native birds that we had never seen before including the takahē (that looks like a chunky pūkeko), kākā (native parrot) and kākāriki (native parakeet). We also had a talk with the kiwi caretaker and it’s really cool the work they do to try to recover the species - the talk ended with a gender reveal for the two last kiwi eggs that hatched! They really need some female kiwi but both were males.
Heather was working at the wildlife centre and she offered us to park at their place for the night, that was really nice, so we went for it! Next day we drove to Castlepoint and spent some time with her and the dogs - Alix loved Spice, Beau and baby Jed - then walked to the lighthouse and went up to the top of the castle rock.
In the morning we decided to go for an adventure - before sunrise at low tide to find the hidden cave under the lighthouse. But the path was guarded by seals! We woke up a few of them but decided to turn back since we would probably loose the fight - and also the tide was rising again. The secret will keep uncovered, until the next time.
And we are now in Wellington! We traveled through the whole island so we will try to stay around for a couple of months. It looks like a really cool city.
Our van flower vase
Overlap
Trying something new
Baby tuatara
Kererū
Tūī
Old tuatara
Kaka house
Green and orange
The kaka circus
Burning man weta
Arrived in castlepoint
Someone's cool inventions
The town artist
Castlepoint lighthouse
To the lighthouse
Castle rock
The lagoon
Forced perspective
Sunset
At night
Sunrise
Ford
Finally breakfast!
Rivendell godrays
A cool tree
Where are the elves?
The fake gate
Oh no it was the front camera
And we are in Wellington
20260621_Kiriwhakapapa
20260621_National Wildlife Centre Loop
20260622_Castle Rock
20260622_Castlepoint Lighthouse
20260623_Rivendell