More and more sightseeing

This weekend, we decided to go to the aquarium and the zoo. Erica, being the scientist in the family, was especially keen to see all New Zealand's exotic species. Nolan just likes any opportunity to see wetas.

The aquarium, called "Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World," was built by a Kiwi deep sea explorer and salvager named - you guessed it - Kelly Tarlton. They have a huge penguin program there and we went through that area twice. Penguins are just so endearing with their little tuxedo outfits, and the way they torpedo through the water and waddle around on land.

The aquarium also has an underwater tunnel you walk through while sharks and fish swim around and above you. Some of the fish are stunningly beautiful and colourful, but some of the other creatures at the aquarium gross me out. I'm especially repulsed by eels, and prefer to shield my face when we pass their tanks (which of course, makes Nolan seek out all eels and steer me in that direction).

In addition, we saw feeding time at the stingray tanks when a diver entered the tank and hand-fed the stingrays ... the same kind of stingray that killed Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter, last year. Stingrays seem so ominous, I think, because they're black and they glide through the water like Stealth bombers. Plus they're HUGE! They're as big as my dining room table. Overall, they're downright creepy, and there's no way I would ever get in a tank with stingrays like the diver did.

We ended our visit to the aquarium by buying crappuccinos and sitting at the wide picture window, enjoying the view of the sun shimmering on the bay. It's not a bad way to spend a day.

The following day, we all went to the zoo. Guess who forgot to put on their shoes and accidentally wore slippers - Curt! At least it wasn't me this time. It was another beautiful sunny day, perfect for visiting animals in this lovely setting where peacocks roamed free on the footpaths (sidewalks).

We especially liked the majestic giraffes, zebras (pronounced zebbras), lions sleeping and looking lazy, and elegant springboks. In one of the monkey areas, there seemed to be a dispute among the residents because the monkeys were all screeching and chasing and snapping and fighting with each other. The hippos lounged appropriately in muddy Hippo River. There were sea lions and little penguins splashing around, entertaining the crowd. In the cheetah enclosure, a zookeeper was sitting with 2 cheetahs and petting them as he talked to the visitors - which is even worse than being in a stingray tank, if you ask me. The tiger acted like he was the king of the zoo, but the giant Galapagos turtles roamed equally regally, and the elephants knew they were the true supreme rulers. In the Australia exhibit, the emus came right up next to us, while the kangaroos hopped around looking fiercer and more powerful than the furry, cuddly perception I'd always had of kangaroos ... from where - cartoons or stuffed animals? Now I can see that you should never mess with kangaroos.

Best of all, we attended a native fauna encounter where the zookeeper showed two of New Zealand's icons, a tuatara and a kiwi bird. The tuatara is a very ancient species – it is the only survivor of a group of reptiles that roamed the earth at the same time as dinosaurs. Tuataras can live to be 100 years old. There's not very many tuataras left, and they're only found in New Zealand. It was pretty cool to see one in person. The zookeeper also showed us a kiwi, and it was fun to see it walk/waddle around, surprisingly fast. It really went lickety-split.

Nolan has been obsessed with wetas (among other things) and he was happy to see some at the zoo. We'd mentioned his obsession to friends, and one sweet lady from choir caught a weta on her back porch to bring to him. She put it in a cup, covered it with paper and sealed it with a rubber band. Then she poked a few holes in the paper because she wanted it to be able to get some air. The next morning, the weta was gone. Uh oh. Poor June now has a weta running free somewhere in her house. And poor Nolan never did get his very own weta.

Back at the zoo, we resisted the temptation to stop for crappuccinos because we were so exhausted and just wanted to get home. Despite our tired footsies, it was an excellent way to spend the day. Later that evening I talked Curt into giving me a foot rub, even though he was the one who wore slippers the whole time and his feet probably hurt more. How do I manage these things?