With everyone ready to go we headed in and stopped at the first enclosure which houses little blue penguins. That is their actual name. Little. Blue. Penguins. And I have to say it's an apt description. Unfortunately, as we peered over the railing, we weren't greeted by any little blue faces. I was so hoping that we would be able to see them because they are classic New Zealand; you'll even see "Penguin Crossing" signs along Oriental Parade for these little birds and their even smaller chicks. They nest in the rocks along the shore and conservation groups have situated little penguin boxes to protect their eggs from predators like cats and dogs.
From there we leisurely strolled past the kuehne kuehne (bristly haired pigs), sea otters, baboons, and Capuchin monkeys before we came to the kiwi and tuatara house.
Inside, under red lights, as kiwis are nocturnal we waited patiently to catch a glimpse of these football sized flightless birds. As you might expect flash photography is not allowed in the kiwi house as it can startle the animals. However, without fail, every time we've visited the kiwi house there's always some idiot trying to take a photo of an unsuspecting kiwi. This time I was that grouchy lady who said, "You can't take photos in here". To this the woman responded, "Oh, I thought it would be okay if I didn't use the flash". I had no response to that as I was thinking, "What kind of photo do you think you're going to capture in this almost pitch black room?". Special. Admittedly, I have issues with people startling or otherwise mistreating animals. So I'm willing to be that person who says something.
After that we ventured on to see the lions. Upon arrival at their enclosure we went up to the observation deck that looks down into their habitat. But we only saw one of the zoo volunteers climbing around and cleaning up a bit. She looked up and said, "It should be just a couple minutes now". So we decided to wait. And were glad we did. Soon we could hear the banging of something very large rattling its cage. Apparently, the big cats knew it was about lunchtime. Before we saw them the same volunteer came out with a big Rubbermaid container. After removing the lid she took out two huge slabs of meat and two whole frozen chickens. These were split, one slab and one chicken, and strategically placed a good distance apart: one in front of the lower level viewing window and the other up on a huge boulder in the middle of the enclosure.
Soon after the volunteer disappeared. At this point the cats were really causing a racket wanting to be let out to eat. Then all of a sudden the banging and rattling of cages stopped. We expected to see them come running out but that didn't happen for a minute. Then two. We looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. It was then we started to hear a low rumble. Then snarling, growling and outright roaring. This started somewhat softly, if you can ever use that word to describe a lion's vocalizations, then grew increasingly and surprisingly loud. Now the last time Tim and I had visited the zoo we observed two lionesses and so that's what I was expecting now. Not so much. All of a sudden two huge male lions bounded out from between the boulders and each set to taking down lunch.
I'm not sure how it works but it was almost as if they knew which food was theirs. We took in this munchfest first from the upper viewing deck and then went down to see the lion laying right in from the window. His slab of meat was sitting close to the window as he snacked on his chicken. With all sorts of little kid noses pressed up to the window apparently he thought they were a bit too close. All of a sudden he swiped with a giant paw against the window and coming down it snatched up the meat and moved it to a more secure location away from the window. As you can imagine this sudden movement made the entire crowd jump in tandem.
Next we moved on to the see the African dogs, giraffes, ostrich, and more monkeys before we stepped through the double doors of the newest exhibit. Full of animals from Australia and Tasmania they call it "Neighbors".
The double doors served a special purpose in that some of the animals in this section are not confined in particular areas. No, they can go wherever they want within the "Neighbors" wing of the zoo. I hadn't realized this and then I saw the signs, "Please stay on the path". When I looked up I saw a kangaroo. And there wasn't anything between him and me. Interesting concept. The wallabies were also out and on the loose but our newest zoo arrival, the Tasmanian devil, had it's own separate, cordoned-off area. I had never seen one before and they look kind of like a little bear. :)
We exited through another set off double doors and wandered through the remaining exhibits on the way out.
At this point I had my finger crossed that maybe, just maybe, we would see the little blue penguins this time around. And sure enough when I peeked over the edge of the enclosure there was one sitting on a rock looking up at us and making little clicking noises. I animatedly gestured to everyone else: come over quick!. I was so glad that the fam was able to see one of those little blues while they were in NZ.
After a pit stop in the gift shop where Josephine picked out many a stuffed animal (which she calls "stuffies") we headed out to wait for the bus. And this is where my favorite photo of the trip was taken. I just love this one. Gingers in fedoras. :)
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