A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
Napier - The New Zealand Aquarium
For us, the New Zealand Aquarium in Napier was definitely one of the high points of the trip. Not only do they have a fantastic array of marine life, but they also have two Kiwi birds. We had never seen one and did not want to travel all the way to New Zealand without the experience. The aquarium has two - a male and a female. They are kept in a large room filled with flora designed to make them feel at home and the lighting has been arranged so that they will sleep at the same time that humans do. The Kiwi is a night prowler who sleeps during the day, soooo the room where they are kept is dark during the day and light during the night. And I mean really dark. So dark that my digital could not even begin to catch their image, hence no pictures of live Kiwis in this article. We did see the male bird - darkly, but this picture is of a taxidermist's exemplary efforts. Note the relative size of the Kiwi's egg to the body that produces and lays it.
Now here is a lizard what has personality! The Maori respect lizards and believe that they possess important powers. If you cross a lizard they can do you dirty in a heartbeat, but if you treat them with respect they will more likely protect you from just about every sort of danger that is lurking in the forest or the back lot. New Zealand appears to have a lot of different kinds of these wonderful little creatures.
