I decided to head out to the zoo. I asked the guy at the hostel counter and he told me which bus to catch. As I walked down the huge hill to Wellesley St., I got a good look at the area I was in... many liquor stores, some restaurants, and the occasional vagrant asking for money.

Things worked surprisingly easily. In no time, I was on the bus and headed to the zoo. The bus was great in that it had a map that constantly updated, showing your exact location. It also had an automated voice announcing each upcoming stop, so you could know in advance when you needed to push the button for the driver to stop. The tv also switched from the map, to news stories, to in-bus surveillance cameras.

I got off at Meola Rd.. Fortunately as I exited the bus, I asked the driver which way the zoo was. He explained that I had to walk back a ways, go through a gate and across a field. Yeah, well... that was just part of it. It was quite a long way beyond that... and definitely not clear. But eventually I stumbled upon it.

Passing by an aviation museum

The zoo wasn't designed much better... no signs, paths that weren't on the little map, many of the exhibits were empty, etc. So I just wandered and saw what I saw. High on my list were the native critters... the kiwi, kea and tuatara. After that, everything else was icing on the cake.

I wasn't able to get a picture of a kiwi, for they are nocturnal birds and the exhibit was very dark (not to mention photography was not allowed). But I did see one. They are much larger than I had imagined! Almost a large duck size. Apparently there are several different species, however, some that are indeed much smaller.

The otters were active and playful.

The ever-delightful wallaby

A radiant peacock

A not-so-radiant emu

The korora, or Little Blue Penguin

A restless sea lion

The tuatara is actually older than the dinosaurs. Nothing else is related to it. They have the lowest body temperature of any reptile, and they can survive by breathing only once every hour. Their spine resembles a fish more than a lizard. They have no ears but a partially-functioning third eye in the middle of their forehad covered by scales. And the interesting facts continue endlessly about this unique animal!

The Kakariki (or Antipodes Island Parakeet) has no fear of humans.

Naptime for a lioness

A lazy day for these Grant's Zebras. The different types of zebras can be identified by their butt stripe patterns.

The giraffe was one of many animals in the large savannah exhibit.

American Alligators have the srongest recorded bit force of any animal alive.

This Galapagos tortoise appeared to be trying to have sex with his partner... except that he was climbing up on the wrong end!

The Brogla is a type of crane

Bathtime for the tiger

After a couple hours, I realized that I hadn't eaten anything; I'd been in such a hurry to get to the bus. So I sat and had a veggie burger. The "non-zoo" life seemed most interested.

Moving closer

I then attended the kea feeding. These curious, active birds bounced around like small, impatient puppies while the zoo keeper hung up sticks with fruit attached to them. She also threw a bunch of nuts into the grass. Every day, the way in which they were fed was different, in order to keep them entertained and occupied. By the way, the rumors about them sometimes killing sheep is true... in times of famine they will actually chew a hole into a live sheep to eat the organs.

Clearly patience is not a virtue. The keas were constantly underfoot while the food was being set up.

Putting the food on the swinging sticks made the keas have to really work for it.

Impressive beaks

I walked back to the bus and headed back downtown. I walked around the waterfront, the marina, and then swung by the famous tower.

The marina

Rows of tall buildings

Contrast

One of these things is not like the others!

City hall

The iconic tower

While walking back up the steep hill to the hostel, I stopped in a grabbed a pizza for later. The British girl had moved out and was replaced with a young German girl. She had just stepped off the plane and was very tired so went to bed early. I worked on the laptop in the dark for a while. I then tried to sleep but the noise was ridiculous... and I'm not even in the very heart of the city! There was drunk singing, shouting, engines revving and the usual host of other noises. It seemed to slow down around 1 am but was not really quiet until about 4 am. But that was only outside. It then got noisy inside with loud voices and doors being violently slammed repeatedly. Then by 5:30 am, the trucks started. So I just got up early and had some cold pizza while waiting for my tour bus to pick me up.