Kiwis, Bunnies, Another Cave and RIFF RAFF!

30Jun08
Raglan to Otorohanga

Got up, escaped the “Point Break” scene and headed out to two of the famous surfing beaches nearby. A famous film called “Endless Summer” was filmed here... we'll have to check it out someday. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking on the beach.





On our drive south we stopped to see Bridal Veil Falls,



and eventually arrived in a town called Otorohanga – home of a great native bird park (scheduled for the next day). We stayed at a very little holiday park that turned out to be run by the local Lion's Club, and the proprietor gave us a hard sell on the town and urged us to by our souvenirs there instead of in the big city! He also tried to get us to eat dinner at the Lion's Club private restaurant (he would “make a call”). We declined, but later realized that it was the only restaurant open in town! So we ate some leftovers instead. The holiday park was adjacent to the bird park and at dusk huge numbers of birds flew in to roost in the trees – you know how wild birds love to hang out near aviaries!



01Jul08
Otorohanga Bird Park, Shearing Shed, and Aranui Cave – to Hamilton

This morning we got up fairly early and headed straight for the bird park. The highlight of which was the indoor kiwi exhibit that kept the kiwis on reverse time so that we could see there nocturnal antics. There were two kiwis on display, but I mainly watched a female Great Spotted Kiwi who was absolutely wonderful! She was very active running all around looking for food, preening, etc. They look for food by probing their beaks into the leaf mold and under rocks sniffing for bugs. I wish I had pictures but they weren't allowed in the kiwi house...



We also watched the keas and kakas (separate cages) get fed which was quite entertaining. The keas are the alpine parrots that are very smart and mischevious. Kakas are similar parrots, but much more rare and forest-dwelling. The park has many other native NZ birds on display – including some very rare ones, and was a lot of fun.





If we hadn't been on a schedule, I would've stayed at the bird park all day -but we had to make it to The Shearing Shed by 12:45 to see the angora rabbits! So we raced to Waitomo and made it there just in time. I've already posted about these funny rabbits HERE.

Too bad Justin turned out to be so allergic to them... I'd love to have one someday :)

To end our very big day, we decided to take in one of the famous Waitomo caves. Since we'd already seen a glowworm cave we took a tour of Aranui cave which has lots of formations, but no glowworms. The cave was beautiful BUT we were extremely disappointed at how touristy the whole area was and how brief and canned the tour was. The guide literally herded the large group through the cave, with very little time to stop and look around properly and she couldn't or wouldn't answer any real questions. We'd been warned that Waitomo was a real tourist trap and it's true!



Not wanting to stay overnight in Waitomo, we drove north to Hamilton for the night, driving through Te Awamutu on the way – the birthplace of the Finn brothers of Crowded House fame. Justin wouldn't let me stop and be a groupie...

In Hamilton we stayed at a strange holiday park right in town. The park itself was clean and in good shape, but the owners were weird and acted like they didn't want us there. Plus there were dozens of nit-picky signs in the kitchen and bathrooms saying don't do this, and don't do that. Too Orwellian for our tastes. And the showers had miserly pushbutton controls that you had to hit every ten seconds to get more water – like larger versions of the washbasin ones. It did not leave us with a good impression of Hamilton.

However we did manage to find two bright spots in this city – one a great, authentic Chinese restaurant (where all the clientele spoke Chinese and we had to order off a picture menu because we couldn't)



and second, a fantastic bronze statue of Riff Raff (ie. Richard O'Brien in Rocky Horror!)



Turns out he spent some formative years in Hamilton that helped him write the Rocky Horror Show. Hamilton is boring enough now, we can't imagine how bored he must have been stuck there back then!

bird park photoset
Aranui cave photoset