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Published: October 16th 2012
This morning we enjoyed walking around the kiwi house and native bird park. We had a great view of a kiwi in the nocturnal house. It was an amazing experience to see it foraging for food up so close. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a photo because it was too dark and I couldn’t use my flash. We also saw tuataras and geckos. We learned that the tuatara was around before dinosaurs! It was lots of fun to walk through the huge aviary where we were surrounded by native birds in their natural rainforest habitat. A tui entertained us with its territorial behaviour keeping other birds away from its food treats. One of the Red-Crowned Kakariki , by the name of Sam, was very friendly and climbed on our hands and arms. Another highlight for us was seeing the Kakas and the Keas being fed. These birds are very clever and dexterous, and entertaining in their actions.
Next, we were on the road for Nikau Cave. We had booked a tour for 1pm and had estimated the drive would take about an hour and a half to get there. We had underestimated! The actual distance between places in NZ might not
be huge but it always takes longer than we think because the roads are often very windy and only one lane. We eventually made it to Nikau Caves, only about 40 mins late. Our tour guide was very relaxed about it all. We even had time to make ourselves some lunch before we went off on our guided tour.
At the start I was told that a person in the tour before us took a waterproof camera with him but at the end of the tour it wasn’t working anymore. I decided to leave my camera behind although I really wanted to get photos of this cave!
We started off walking through farmland until we got to the cave entrance spot. This is not a big opening where you just walk in. It was a small hole you squeeze yourself through. As you get your body through the hole, you then slide down a sloping rock taking you to a damp, cramped space where you are hunched over with your feet in an underground stony stream. We had to walk in a crouched, hunched over position using our waterproof torches to light our way. Soon we
Kiwi House and Bird Park
Pakete - one of the rarest ducks in the worldreached the most difficult spot where we practically had to lie in the cold, stony, water and stretch our arms out in front and pull ourselves along in the stream. Once we made it through this challenging part, we were able to crouch again, and then, thankfully, walk (mostly) fully upright. The inside of this cave was magnificent; lots of stalactites of different shapes, sizes, and colours. We all turned our torches off to allow ourselves an unhindered view of the glistening multitude of glow worms! It was fabulous to enjoy this in the company of just my family and our tour guide. The rest of our trek through the cave still involved climbing and ducking inside the cave but at least no more crawling. The cold, wetness, bruises, and grazes were all worth it to get to explore this cave which is still in its natural state. We were provided with the luxury of a ladder to climb out of the cave at the end, and after another walk through farmland, a nice hot shower.
We were back on the road after this, heading for Clark’s Beach, close to Pukekohe in South Auckland. The campground was a little
disappointing but E & S enjoyed it here. They liked having a games room where they could play table tennis. I didn’t sleep all that well. The wind was blowing a gale, and it was pouring down. Our camper van was rocking in the wind and it felt like we were trying to sleep on a boat in very choppy water.
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Mum
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Photos
Your bird photos are great. Must be a lovely place to visit. I notice most photos of Neil shows he is enjoying kiwi tucker.