Seeing Real Kiwi in Whangarei – Day 335

Today we’re going to be seeing real kiwi birds, we’re gonna be seeing gecko and tuatara and insects at Kiwi North.

This morning we’re heading to Kiwi North which is only about a 5-10 minute drive outside of Whangarei city centre, and the first thing we’re checking out is the food for the animals that they keep in this nature park.

Kiwis, the tuatara and little ones will get fed to the geckos as well, so it’s multi-feeding depending on their sizes.

There is literally a massive locust orgy right before our eyes, there are even some of them eating while copulating I have to say that is productive as I really like it. Moving on, we are checking out some freshwater fish because yes, in New Zealand has heaps of endemic fish species and those ones are the kokapu we see a banded kokapu and a giant kokapu being fed right before our eyes it’s really cool but Kiwi North is pretty famous for the huge array of geckos that they have so we are really keen to check those out.

There are about 6 different gecko enclosures in the whole of Kiwi North so if there isn’t something going on in one enclosure you can pretty much guarantee there is something gonna be happening in another one and that’s exactly what happens here when we sit really still and watch these geckos hunting for flies which is super fascinating to watch.

They are so patient waiting for the fly to land and then they slowly move toward it so slowly that the fly doesn’t even react and before it knows it that fly is gobbled up by this lizard. That was so amazing to watch and we have never seen geckos in the wild in New Zealand so we feel super lucky to at least be seeing them once during this whole trip.

Another types of lizard you can find in New Zealand is the tuatara which has a few different nicknames known as the Living Fossil or the Living Dinosaur and that’s because its a descendant from the dinosaur era.

After checking out the tuatara, we’re then checking out the forest gecko which are these brown looking geckos again a type of lizard Robin and I haven’t seen in New Zealand and even if we could see them we would probably walk straight past them they are that camouflage.

But now it’s time for the main event, which is the kiwi house at Kiwi North and this is a specially designed house because kiwi birds are actually nocturnal, so it’s sort of made into this nighttime artificial environment with special lighting so we can actually see these kiwi birds behaving.

Luckily, we arrive just in time for the feeding so we actually get to see the kiwi birds in action. There’s two of them in the kiwi house at the moment. there’s a male and female in separate enclosures and it’s really awesome to watch them behave and they’re such an unusual animal with their super long beaks and they don’t even fly they’re actually flightless birds.

The Whangarei Museum is actually pretty cool, the first section we’re visiting is one dedicated to Northland which is the region where Whangarei is but the main section is actually a huge area where there is heaps of stuff all about New Zealand. There is a tonne of amazing artifacts the first thing that we’re checking out is the moa cage where there is an almost near complete moa skeleton which was a huge bird living in New Zealand and there is a tonne of other displays.

The exhibition encompasses everything you need to know the history of New Zealand, the wildlife of New Zealand and even the geology of the area. It’s quite cool.

There is obviously a massive section about World War 1 as New Zealand was a integral part of this worldwide conflict. And it left a massive scar into the country’s history but there is also a tonne of things about the early settlers and all goes back even to the dinosaur times.

Plus it’s all super interactive with some exhibitions like guess what the hell is that object.

What do you think that is Laura?

I think that is an exotic shoehorn. It could help you put your shoes on.

Needless to say that Laura was wrong and this artifact was not a shoehorn but there is much more to explore as we are heading outside of the museum itself to check out the entirety of what Kiwi North has to offer.

If the Kiwi House and the nature park and the Whangarei Museum wasn’t enough there’s also a heritage park here at Kiwi North which gives you a real awesome insight into what life was like in New Zealand during the 1900s and one building in particular that we check out is the Clarke Homestead which was built in around 1886 with all its original furnishings and wallpaper.

All in all, this has been a real awesome trip to Kiwi North In Whangarei.

We can see while the fly is not looking the gecko is moving its hand onto the next branch and slowly making its way towards it. It’s really amazing to watch, even if it is a super slow process and I think we are sat here for about half an hour watching this gecko.