The Wellington Zoo

I've actually been working recently, as a receptionist in an accounting firm (yes, somewhat ironic), so between that, class, and rehearsals, life is starting to resemble my accustomed levels of hectic. Even though I'm no longer strictly a tourist, I'm still trying to hold on to the sense of wonder and go do all the things! that should accompany a grand adventure.

I did get a chance to go to the Wellington Zoo a few weeks ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the chimpanzees fascinating to watch. The zoo has a very successful breeding program, so there were a lot of adorable baby chimps of various ages tearing about.

The zoo is on a hillside in the suburb of Newtown. Out of shot there was a toddler crying because his Mum was insisting that it was time to move away from the ostrich.

African porcupine.

The Australian section was pretty cool, though mostly devoid of the will-kill-you-horribly kind of animal that is so popular over there. The wallabies are free range in this exhibit, and apparently will, on occasion, come up to say hello to people if you sit quietly. I did not test this theory.

Apologies for the poor quality, but this is a dingo. For some reason, I was under the impression that dingoes were a bit mangy and ugly. I was not expecting them to look like gigantic shiba inu and be all manner of cute. Not my first or last stupid American moment.

This is the fluffy butt of a Tasmanian Devil, doing laps around the enclosure.

This is a Hamadryas Baboon just, erm, hanging out.

And some of his family.

You can hand feed the giraffes! I did not on this particular occasion, as they had been munching for awhile and wandered off shortly after I snapped this, but I know I'll be going back when I have friends in town!

I looked all over before I realized that the serval was chilling two feet to my left. Sigh.

I was a little quicker on the uptake when spotting the caracal.

Sun bears!

Majestic chickens.

A tawny frogmouth.

This pelican was massive, and I found the bird completely fascinating. Not entirely sure why.

I have, sadly, completely forgotten the name of this little rodent-type beastie, and did not follow my uncle's very helpful suggestion of snapping a picture of the placard as well as the critter. Oops.

The cheetahs hadn't been out when I had initially gone by their enclosure, so I'm quite glad that I went back on a whim, as one of them came up and flopped down about five feet away from me and proceeded to make noises not unlike a purring housecat, and I proceeded to make noises (internally) not unlike a five-year old on a sugar bender.

These are kunekune (which means fat and round in Maori), which were introduced to New Zealand in the early 19th century, and are often kept as pets as well as for bacon.

I also saw my first kiwis (the bird, not the people) at the zoo, but as they are a nocturnal bird in a nocturnal exhibit I didn't whip out my phone. There were also red pandas, which are adorable, but were not in a photo friendly hidey hole at the time. Also, blue penguins, but no pictures of them, either. It was a lovely day, and it's a fabulous zoo. Though, admittedly, five-year old me would have been just as enamored of this statue as the live animals...

(Yes, modern day me thought it was pretty rad, too.)