Final Day in New Zeland

My last morning and the alarm did not go off. I forgot to plug in the usb end! The city noise awakened me at 7:10 and up I to go. 

The hop on off tour bus begins at 10:00 and I have a lot to do. Pack both bags so I don't have to spend time later rearranging stuff. Find the Starbucks,  I am hungry for banana walnut bread. Confirm my shuttle to airport later:  check 6:40pm. And stop at the Fuller ticket office as I left my scarf at Kelly's and Simon brought it over this morning on his ferry commute. 

With bags packed and my camera ready I board the red loop bus  It is $45 NZ for an all day hop on-off tour. It is a nice way to see different parts of the city. Mt. Eden is the highest point and has magnificent views of Auckland and the harbor. Next stop - the zoo! 

I spent 2 hours there with the native birds and stopped to see the endangered tuatara. Jeff Corwin had

them on his show once. It is quite old and very protected little dinosaur /reptile. The kiwi exhibit was very nice but they know it is daytime even though the lights are low. Kiwi are nocturnal,  bummer. 

This is an awesome zoo with the exhibits appearing to give the animals environmentally appropriate room. They could improve on the signage however. Glad I had a map. Along my way out there was a small American alligator habitat. They were very very small. I guess the large ones are in Florida. 

Next to the alligaor exhibit was the Tazmanian Devil. I have seen this on tv a few times in some

nature shows, but it was much larger in person that I thought it would be. A guy in his 30's was reaching into the environment and the Devil was approaching him sniffing his way. I thought for sure he was going to bite the guy. I walked over with my camera and the Devil jumped up on a large rock and seemed to pose for me to take his photo! I took about 15 pics then he jumped down and crawled under a bush to his home.

The final section held the Sumatran Tigers. There was a school group there and the guide was explaining the habitat etc. Suddenly the male came over and became a bit affectionate with the female and the tour guide quickly led the small children to a new place. I was laughing, but the animals didn't really engage although it appeared like they might. Isn't nature wonderful?? 

While in the bird aviary this wood pigeon landed on my head! After shooing him off me I turned and

saw a sign that said: Beware our pigeon likes to perch here, and I was standing right in front of HIS place!

I've been to many zoos and thus would rank right up in my top ten maybe five. San Diego as #1, St. Louis #2, Philadelphia #3, Washington DC as #4, Auckland #5........