Arrowtown and Wellington

Today was a travel day. On the way to the Queenstown airport we made a stop in Arrowtown, an old gold mining town. Although there isn't much to see there today beyond tourist shop, some people do still pan for gold. We didn't have enough time for that. However, I did buy a $2 scratch off lottery ticket and won $10. Guess I struck gold after all.

Many of the original cottages in Arrowtown have been declared historical properties and are well cared for. Lovely roses and other flowers are everywhere. The Arrowtown Lawn Bowling Club was engaged in a spirited game.

After a short stop in Arrowtown, we headed for the Queenstown airport for our flight to  Wellington.

I'm loving New Zealand for the ease of check-in for air travel. Arriving 20 minutes before flight time is sufficient. No full body scan, taking off shoes, emptying water bottles, or any of the other security measures I'm used to.

So far the airports have had free wifi. So as soon as we arrive, most of us pull out our electronics to upload photos and catch up on email, Facebook or whatever.

We had a short flight to Wellington via Christchurch. Wellington is a major seaport and New Zealand's capital city. It's the southernmost capital city in the world. Remember that for the Jeopardy final answer.

This is a beautiful city with many old houses perched on the steep mountainside. Like all of New Zealand, Wellington is susceptible to earthquakes. An 1855 earthquake pushed up the land that is now the airport runway near Wellington Harbor.

The harbor is lovely and can accommodate the big cruise ships. Two of the 96 ships scheduled to visit the city this year were in port when we arrived.

Our afternoon outing included riding the cable car up a high hill to the Wellington Botanic Gardens where we had a bird's eye view of the city below.

The Botanic Garden includes plant collections  that pay tribute to New Zealand's natural heritage as well as plant species from

different parts of the world. The centerpiece for our visit was the formal rose garden with over 3,000 roses in a rainbow of colors. It was spectacular.

After dinner we drove up to the Mt. Victoria Lookout. The

Admiral Richard Byrd Memorial

nearly 650 foot high viewing platform has a 360 degree view of Wellington and the harbor. There is a memorial to Admiral Richard Byrd, an American aviator who mounted numerous Antarctic expeditions from his base in New Zealand.

We spent the following morning in Zealandia, a facility fully dedicated to telling New Zealand's unique conservation story.

The facility is enclosed in a seven foot high woven wire mesh fence that goes more than six feet below ground to guard against digging

Perimeter fence

Kaka

predators. This is to protect the rare and endangered wildlife inside from the non-native animal species on the outside such as mice and possums.

In the early days after the island country was formed, its birdlife had no mammalian predators. So the birds, flora and fauna thrived in the way nature
intended and included species that could be found nowhere else on earth.

The predators introduced by humans about 700 years ago upset that balance of nature, destroying some species and nearly destroying others.

South Island Takahe once thought to be extinct

Zealandia is a sanctuary about two-thirds the size of New York's Central park that provides conservation and restoration for many of New Zealand's original species. It includes a wide range of birds as well as the forests, lakes and wetlands to support their habitat.

Of all the species at Zealandia, the tuatara lizard is indeed one of a kind. It is one of the most unique

Tuatara lizard

animals in the world. It is found only in this island country. Most species have known close relatives in today's world. Not the tuatara lizard. It's not even a lizard. Its closest relative are an extinct group of reptiles that lived when the dinosaurs walked on earth. The one pictured here is relative small. Tuataras can grow to more than six feet.They do everything slowly including breathing with the ability to slow breathing to once a minute.

Here are some of the other photos I took while touring Zealandia.

Pied Shag

Toi toi grass

Cabbage tree

We spent part of the afternoon at the Te Papa Tongarewa, the National Museum of New Zealand. Te Papa Tongarewa literally means ‘container of treasures'. The museum indeed has many treasures with collections that include exhibits of New Zealand  and Maori art, history and natural environment. My small group's guide, Tony, was from Washington, DC, near my home. After leaving his home in the Anacostia section of the District of Columbia, Tony became a citizen of the world before settling in Wellington.