On to Rotorua

Today we left lovely Hamilton and drove to Rotorua. But on the way we decided to go to the Kiwi House of Otorohanga. We also were hoping to get to Waitanimo caves but the Kiwi house was so good we didn't achieve that goal at all. So at the Kiwi House we were happy to see a whole range of birds, including ducks of all sizes and types, even ones that don't fly, kingfishers, parrots, Keas, Kakas and a range of waterfowl and tiny birds including the colourful Hedge Sparrow.

Of course we saw Kiwi and that was fabulous. They have one of the only Great Spotted Kiwi in captivity and she is 7 years old (they live to 30years in captivity) and she was so active, running up and down, looking for bugs in the leaf litter. There was another brown kiwi who was less than quarter the size but she was asleep as she was getting used to the room and her body clock had not yet adjusted. Luckily we were there for feeding and it was great to see the interaction between the birds and the keeper. After feeding they dive into their burrows for sleeping - they are only up for 4 hours every 24 hours. And other than that they are asleep.

Unfortunately of every kiwi born only 5% make it in the wild after 6 months of age. Dogs, cats, weasels and stoats kills most Kiwi. This Kiwi house is breeding brown Kiwi successfully and returning them to the wild or to other zoos for breeding programs. Unfortunately there is issues for the Greater Spotted Kiwi as there are so few in captivity that breeding is a problem.

We hit the town of Rotorua at around 5pm after a full on day and we were pleased to find a wonderful Indian Restaurant for dinner. We put on our glad rags and went to dinner.... lovely. The smell if the place is amazing and sometimes you get a whiff of sulphur that makes your head spin! We will experience that in full force tomorrow!