I visited Butterfly Creek earlier this week, in the late afternoon on a drizzly day, so despite being school holidays the place was fairly empty. Prices are relatively high, but they do have student prices, as well as a complex array of different combo deals that take in various parts of the attraction. I went for the "All Animals excluding Dinosaur Kingdom" option.
The indoor parts of Butterfly Creek are largely as they were on my only previous visit, in 2011, with entrance through the gift shop and into the aquaria. This is a room with two tanks, one very long containing a variety of freshwater fishes from Central and South America, and the other a tropical coral reef tank. Both contain standard pet trade fishes, but aren't at all bad.
Doors lead through to the main attraction - the butterfly glasshouse. This is a large area, traversed on a boardwalk above and through lush vegetation and many butterflies. Also free-roaming in the hall are Java sparrows and Bengalese finch, and perhaps still quail (though I saw none). There are also standalone exhibits for eastern blue-tongue skink (two exhibits), leopard gecko and cotton-top tamarin. The latter was new since my last visit, and while good is rather on the small side.
The next room houses the majority of the zoo's reptile collection, at least by weight. The two saltwater crocodile exhibits look unchanged, though still fine. The adjacent reptile room has been emptied a little - it now holds eastern water dragon and inland bearded dragon in two nice, large exhibits. There are no longer American alligators on display in here.
The final indoor area here, the bug room, is also largely unchanged, with a similar line up, although the tarantula diversity has declined - just Chilean rose and Costa Rican zebra tarantulas were on display. The wetapunga was unfortunately a no-show. But overall still a good line-up of invertebrates - probably the best in the country.
Outside, the only animal attraction is Buttermilk Farm, which houses Arapawa goats, kunekunes, alpaca, sheep, chickens and ducks. This is actually quite a cool little farm area, and as I hadn't seen this before I had a good look around. The goat climbing frame is particularly impressive. There is also a barn area, with a decent aviary for rainbow lorikeets outside, and then a set of yards and cages inside for rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchilla and also a sulphur-crested cockatoo. At the back of the farm area is a small yard for tammar wallaby, and a large aviary containing a range of exotic parrots, including African grey parrot, blue and gold macaw, turquosine parrot, Indian ringneck, Major Mitchell’s cockatoo (not seen), superb parrot, eclectus parrot, and Bourke’s parakeet. These latter two exhibits are seemingly new exhibits, and the aviary in particular is a good addition, although its location in the farmyard is a little odd.
Overall, Butterfly Creek was looking very good, although it is still a relatively small and expensive attraction (although not more expensive than most private NZ zoos I guess).
The upcoming additions will definitely be a great improvement in the collection. They will change the layout somewhat, with exit through the gift shop no longer required. Instead, a path will start from the reptile room, actually through the current bearded dragon exhibit (which will presumably be removed) and lead down to an area with wetapunga and native skinks. From here, visitors will enter a kiwi house, on the other side of which will be a small-clawed otter enclosure, and an area for spotting native eels in the existing lake. The path then enters the Dinosaur Kingdom (animatronic display, which also includes American alligators), and working through that will bring visitors to the cafe area. So this will be a more complete and interesting collection, and will likely attract international visitors - Butterfly Creek is a short walk from the Auckland airport, and can be reached via free shuttle, so is an option for passengers transiting through or on day of arrival/departure.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, or on the two new exhibits which have opened there in the last year or so.
