Hamilton Zoo

So it was Waitangi Day and i was off so i decided to go over to the Hamilton Zoo. To be honest it isn't anything special. I was disappointed to find that they didn't have a Kiwi at the Zoo. Apparantly they need a specific environment to live in and the Hamilton Zoo hasn't built one yet. They told me to go to Auckland or another Zoo that I can't pronounce cause there is too many letters in it.

It was a fun day apart from when i was at the furthest end of the Zoo from the reception there was a call on the speaker for the owner of a Blue Nissan Bluebird parked in the far carpark to come to reception. I had already been waiting for 10 mins for the tigers to come out for feeding and i wasn't going to miss it. It was definately worth waiting for. Anyway... i decided to make my way back to the reception and i finally got there tired, exhausted and a little sweaty. I arrived and said i was the driver of the Bule Nissan Bluebird (i said i was the driver because i am not the owner) she then looked confused. I repeated myself 'i am the driver of the Blue Nissan Bluebird' the light blub flashed abover her head and she rememberd about the call. It turned out that there was another Blue Nissan Bluebird in the far carpark because the guy had already turned up as he had left the key in the boot. I knew it definately wan't me because i was holding the key. I asked if she could arrange a lift for me back round to the tiger area because she had made me walk the whole way around for nothing. She didn't hesistate to say No! So i walked.

Hamilton Zoo

White Rhinoceros

This is the biggest Rhinoceros they have weighing in a small 2.2 tonne


Interesting fact: White Rhinoceros and Black Rhinoceros are exactly the same. The name chance comes from the shape of the mouth. A white Rhinoceros has a flat bottom lip for picking up food off the ground (grass / hay) where a black Rhinoceros has more of a pointed lip so that it can rip off leaves etc from trees / bushes.

Rhinoceros poo is huge. One lump was probably the size of a soccer / football.

Feeding time for the Tiger

They hid the food around the water as it is the natural area for tigers to go to for food. In the wild they will generally chase their prey towards the water.

Hamilton Zoo: Black-Handed Spider Monkey

This is a Black-Handed Spider Monkey. These guys are funny. The Zoo Keeper was in talking about the Monkeys while i was there. The monkey above ran behind her and stole her radio. She chased it for easily 5 mins. It was really cheeky and teased her by holding it out to her then running away. I laughed out loud.



Again with the radio

Parachute 07

Mumsdollar

Hillsongs Worship

Trevor: Lead singer of Thousand Foot Krutch

Third Day joined by Darlene Zschech


Mystery Creek just hosted the annual Parachute Festivle. This is a time when the top NZ bands and a few from overseas come for a weekend full of music, fun and little sleep. I still had to work during during this weekend so i travelled out every day after lunch. This was a great weekend as i got to see some of my fav bands. I think my fav band of the weekend was a band called Spacifix. Didn't know who they were but Elise and myself decided to stay while the others left to go to another show. It rocked...



It was also cool during the weekend because Thousand Foot Krutch played and i got to meet up with Joel the Bass player as I know him from Canada. We were going to meet up for breakfast the next morning after their show but i couldn't get off work. Suckky...



Other bands i saw: Late 80s Mercedes: Rivertribe: Mumsdollar: The Holy Rollers: Katy Ray: Nesian Mystik: The Lads: Spacifix: Rapture Ruckus: Shooting Stars: Shawn McDonald: Radiator: Rebecca St James: Thousand Foot Krutch: Detour 180: Lt Funk: Magnify: Darlene Zschech & The Hillsong Worship Team: Third Day: Dave Dobbyn.

The night that Darlene and Hillsong played Joyce Myers also spoke. She was really good. I liked her.

Speedway @ Baypark

Super Saloon





It is all fun and games till someone ends up in an Ambulance.

So this is the Speedway over at the Baypark Stadium. These nights are soo much fun. Can't wait for this weekend because there is the regular speedway races and it finishes with a Demolition Derby. I will take pics..

Drive Home

Roy: Keep your eyes on the road!

Some waterfall. It was pretty interesting

Mt. Ruapehu

Mt. Ruapehu

We had a huge camp come in on the 27th of Dec so we drove up from Wellington (6hr drive) on the 26th. It was a really cool drive up and we were blessed with some amazing views

Napier - How High Can You Jump

This is called a jumping pillow. It is the same shape as a pillow and you get to jump on it. It is more fun than I can explain.

These kids didn't last to long on this..... Ha ha.... Once you double bounce
them a few times they cry and leave.. lol

The name of the street that our accommodation was on

If you ever go to the Napier top 10 Holiday Park these are the rules for the Jumping Pillow

Lonestar

It sucks for those who live in Ireland cause you don't have a Lonestar. If you want a good feed then you need to go to a Lonestar. I pretty much get the same thing each time. I often wonder how I fit it all in my stomach.

Te Papa (Maori for Our Place)

Roy spinning the ball

Rachael was about to try but Roy suggested that she shouldn't incase she got hurt

PK infront of a Marae - it is a Maori meeting house. You can't wear shoses in there as it is disrepectful. This one is for show but you have to have a Powhiri (a Maori Welcome) to enter a proper one. They sing (a call) you in.

Some of the amazing wood sculpture inside the Marae

This is a huge wind turbine at Wellington. If you are going to go there.. Good luck. It took Rachael and Roy ages to find it. If you click the pic you can see Rachael and I standing at the bottom of it. It was pretty big.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

During our time in Wellington we went to Te Papa. It is a kinda museum place and it was very fun. This is for a few reason. 1: there are buttons to push that make things light up 2: I learnt some of the history of NZ 3: IT WAS FREE ! ! !



Roy had fun pushing the big ball round pretending that he was strong when really Rachaels 2 year old sister Katie could have pushed it round with her baby finger. We smiled, nodded, said well done Roy and left. I banged my knee while we were walking back to the car because we stopped so I could race Roy up a rope ladder (he won, I had to withdraw due to injury) it hurt a lot.

December in Wellington

Rachaels sister Lucy feeding the Deer!

Lucy and Katie feeding the Deer!

Roy trying to catch one of the ducks - he nearly got one..

Roy feeding PK. I sneaked in to the cage to be fed as i was hungry.

Roy (who I promise wasn't drunk.. just bad timing i guess) Lucy, Katie and Rachael

Sailing around Cooks Island

It is a hard life sitting on a 35 ft Yacht in the middle of Wellington Harbor

Roger (leg & hand) Roy, John & Rachael

Holding on for my life as my side of the boat was tipped into the water.

Our Boat

One of the afternoons Rachaels step-dad aranged for us to go out on his friends 35ft yacht. This was really fun as I had never been on a big yacht before. It was quite scary for me and the rest of the folks on board when I was handed the stick thing and told to steer. (i realise that there is a proper name for the 'stick thing' and probably a proper word for steering) I have watched on TV when a yacht is going fast and one side is fully out of the water. Yea this happened to me but I didn't mean for it to happen. Plus I didn't know how to not make it happen. It is funny when you look up and the folks at the top are fighting to hold on cause they can't get any grip on their feet. I laughed out loud at them. Fun times. I would definately go sailing again.