Trip to Mt Bruce

Sometimes I get to see special places as part of my job- and last week it was Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre. Weather forecast was for some slight showers, but we decided to go ahead, and it was a wonderful day.

 We drove through the Manawatu Gorge to the eastern side of the Tararuas, and I was glad to see some sunshine up ahead.

 First on the agenda was the feeding of the takahe- always of interest with their 'thought to be extinct' back story.

Inside there was a tuatara in a display case with temperature and humidity sensors. (There were outside tuatara as well, but they were well hidden with winter temperatures outside.)

As we started walking outside the kaka seemed to take a definite interest in our group, repeatedly flying close by overhead.

 We all knew we were probably going to see a white kiwi in the Kiwi house, but I had assumed the kiwi was an albino. Not so as the sign says- the white kiwi has two copies of a rare recessive gene.

A favourite part of the day was the eel feeding- and they really went for the day-old left-over meat from the kiwi enclosure.

As we walked back to collect bags etc for our return bus trip, some people spied a weta- a source of great interest.

And so we returned back up the eastern side of the ranges- so flat here- but so close to the major Wellington Fault. An interesting day was had by all.