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More NZ Journey: Animals, Caves and Stars
Jan. 30th, 2010 04:59 amLodging at the small town of Otorohanga we took the opportunity to visit their excellent Kiwi House, which also has a significant collection of other local birds (e.g., morepork, kea, kaka, pukeko, and NZ pigeon) and tuatara, the three-eyed dinosaur. A little further south is the limestone Waitomo caves where we spelunked into the large and detailed Aranui cave and the beautiful Glowworm cave. Also nearby was a angora rabbit shearing shed, which of course we had to visit. Finally we went to Woodlyn Park a one-man (but with a lot of audience participation) colonial history show featuring sawing, an exploding log, kiwi bears (aka possums), sheep herding, and a dancing pig.
From Waitomo we made our way into the Taranaki region, so named after the massive peak which dominates. We briefly visited the seaside town of New Plymouth which seemed to be very vibrant and with good facilities, but somewhat lacking in charm; it is apparently a great place to live, but perhaps not so much to visit. Instead we stayed at the much smaller nearby town of Inglewood, specifically the rather delightful Fern Lodge.
After that we made our way to Wanganui, a attractive town with quite a collection of buildings from early in the last century. In the evening, visited the 1903 Ward Observatory where the local astronomical society were meeting and chatted extensively with their office-bearers. We caught a good viewings of the full moon, Mars, the sword of Orion, the southern Pleiades and caught the International Space Station on its journey overhead.
From Waitomo we made our way into the Taranaki region, so named after the massive peak which dominates. We briefly visited the seaside town of New Plymouth which seemed to be very vibrant and with good facilities, but somewhat lacking in charm; it is apparently a great place to live, but perhaps not so much to visit. Instead we stayed at the much smaller nearby town of Inglewood, specifically the rather delightful Fern Lodge.
After that we made our way to Wanganui, a attractive town with quite a collection of buildings from early in the last century. In the evening, visited the 1903 Ward Observatory where the local astronomical society were meeting and chatted extensively with their office-bearers. We caught a good viewings of the full moon, Mars, the sword of Orion, the southern Pleiades and caught the International Space Station on its journey overhead.