New Zealand Zoo Tour - advice

Thanks for all the tips folks. Lots to read, lots to digest, lots to keep me pondering for a bit - but not too long, else prices will skyrocket!

nd speaking of skyrocketing prices Chlidonias, $52 for a field guide to NZ for a 2 week visit, just does not seem right. Maybe I can borrow one in the local library. I don't suppose there is a free app for NZ wildlife? I have a pretty awesome one for Victorian wildlife from Museum Victoria.

Steve, I will look into the campervan, and do a cost-benefit analysis.

Oh, by the way, has anyone done the whale watching tour in Boston? That's the only one I did - big catamaran, bitterly cold and wet in summer, but the whales (humpback) were right next to the boat. Any major difference in NZ?

Do you get covered in bird poo on the albatross tour?
 
nanoboy said:
Oh, by the way, has anyone done the whale watching tour in Boston? That's the only one I did - big catamaran, bitterly cold and wet in summer, but the whales (humpback) were right next to the boat. Any major difference in NZ?

Do you get covered in bird poo on the albatross tour?
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I did a long trip from Cape Cod to see the humpbacks, I think that's why I was a little less enthusiastic about the sperm whales, for charisma those humpbacks win hands down! The sperm whales dive really deep, they come up, breathe deeply on the surface for 10 mins or so and then dive again.

No albatross poo to report! My friend got her finger bitten!
A little video I made
 
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OrangePerson said:
If you have ever seen whales and are choosing between the albatross and whale trips I would go albatrosses every time, sperm whales (trying not to diss them) are not the most exciting whales to spot (although they do announce their departure making for good photo ops), unless they are your one and only whale opportunity. The albatrosses are spectacular, we also saw dolphins, seals and a penguin on the albatross trip.

We stayed a few days in Kaikoura as it was our last stop and we were ready for a break and because everyone I spoke to beforehand said "we went there but never got out on the whale trip because of the weather". We used to enjoy going to see the seals and also south of Kaikoura watching the dolphins performing amazing acrobatics, they were out at sea so binoculars needed. Wish now I'd done the seal swim.

It must be a VERY unreliable business running those whale boats, the day we arrived (late January) was the first day they'd gone for a week, they went for 3 days and then couldn't again.
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you did well on the albatross boat then to see both dolphin and penguin - they see both regularly but not always on the same trip. I agree sperm whales aren't the most exciting of whales to see from a boat; I haven't done it but I would assume the helicopter or plane ride to see them from the air would be a better option.

A couple of weeks ago I went up to Picton and just south of Kaikoura there were 40-50 dusky dolphins in several pods about fifty metres off the shore, easily viewable from the road.

On average I think about 50% of the whale boats get cancelled due to weather (that's over the entire year, and they obviously get cancelled more often in the winter) but there are, I think, four scheduled trips a day so its still very very profitable. For nanoboy's edification, these boats don't go far off-shore because of the closeness of the canyon but it is still the open ocean and the seas out there can be rough. On the very first albatross boat I went out on (many years back now) the swell was five metres so it was a little bumpy :)
For albatrosses though, its best if there's been bad weather beforehand because it brings more birds in.
 
nope, no kakapo. The most you can do is hope with all your little heart cells that one will fall desperately ill and end up at Wellington Zoo hospital whilst you're there.

I'm not sure how brilliant that app will be when on that link he says "There are about 115 to 120 animals on the app and at first I was only going to focus on the native animals but as I was researching I found that there were quite a few introduced species that are iconic in New Zealand, like the pukeko, and I couldn't leave that off the list so I decided to include all New Zealand's animals."
 
Chlidonias said:
The most you can do is hope with all your little heart cells that one will fall desperately ill and end up at Wellington Zoo hospital ...........
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......... speaking of which - for a zoo that describes itself as a little zoo, that hospital is amazing. Wellington Zoo is punching way above it's weight with a world class facility like that hospital.

On a different note - another highlight for us was seeing Himalayan Monal at Hamilton Zoo. I know that Wellington list them but we didn't see any there. The pair at Hamilton was superb.
 
the hospital is indeed quite something. I do like Wellington Zoo as a whole but I don't like the way they seem to be losing species diversity there at a chronic rate (as I think it was Zooboy28 phrased it). At the moment, especially, a good deal of the acreage is closed off to the public while they are constructing the new NZ section and the new Asian area for sun bears and tigers.

The monals, in case you didn't know where they are situated, are in a smallish aviary with Derbyans and emerald doves behind the red pandas. It can be easy to miss. Did you not see them at Willowbank either? Do you have monals in Australian aviculture still?
 
Both these new developments will be worth the temporary inconvenience. They will be as good as anything in this region.

We missed Monals everywhere except Hamilton - would have liked to have seen Wellington's. We might have to make a return visit!!

I doubt that there are any left in Australia - certainly none in the mainstream zoos.
 
oh yes I think the tiger/ sun bear area will be fantastic (especially for the latter species a darn sight better than what they have currently), though I'm not so enthused about the NZ area: from the map it looks like too much room given over to domestics and introduced species and too little for the important natives, but I am still looking forward to seeing it and I expect it will be much better than I anticipate.

Sometimes I feel like I'm always bashing Wellington Zoo, but I really do like it a lot. Back when I was first visiting, and back when you visited it Steve there were so many more animals there that are now gone from NZ or the entire region (Arctic wolves, kinkajou, Geoffroy's cat, badger, snow leopard, etc etc -- its a long list) and I just miss that. Of course there are much better enclosures there now (I remember the awful concrete spider monkey cage for example, and the wedge-tailed eagle in its little cage), but it seems so many old cages get removed and then just left as nothing, maybe a patch of grass with a picnic table on it, so they are losing exhibits not replacing them. They are getting in new species quite often (most recently species like nyala, pigmy marmoset, emperor tamarin, squirrel monkey, etc) and I applaud that, so my "losing diversity" opinion isn't accurate really, its just my own feelings. However I do really miss the Bird Valley which is where the NZ area is going to be. There were so many great bird species in there once - in good-sized aviaries too! - and now the zoo as a whole is sorely lacking in birds.

To re-cap, Wellington Zoo is a good zoo :)
 
Having visited last October I have to agree, it's a nice little zoo. What I found disappointing was the lack of birds (as Chlidonias indicated) and the obvious dearth of native species, although Zeelandia and Mt Bruce made up for it.

And I think the last Monal in Australia was in private hands (Cenvet) and died in the 1990's

:p

Hix
 
Although indigenous fauna was not the focus of our visit to Wellington Zoo, I did get the impression that the new development will go a long way to addressing the collection's shortcomings in this area.

Certainly the first investments are very much bird oriented.
 
Steve Robinson said:
We missed Monals everywhere except Hamilton - would have liked to have seen Wellington's. We might have to make a return visit!!

I doubt that there are any left in Australia - certainly none in the mainstream zoos.
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just as a matter of interest, are Australian zoos allowed to import birds (specifically pheasants) from New Zealand or elsewhere?

(I'm assuming chickens can be imported for farming?)
 
As far as I'm aware - no, not at this point in time.

:p

Hix
 
As is to be expected, Hix is correct. There is no IHS for NZ or IRA for Australia to allow either country to import pheasant species. There are, however, pheasant fanciers in Western Australia who are trying to address this issue for this country.
 
Has anyone been to Paradise Valley Springs Wildlife Park in Rotorua? I see they have a free encounter with a lion cub. I read a review on Tripadvisor that the queues were horrendous, and people kept cutting in (damn Kiwis! :D), and there weren't really any photo opportunities. But, that's just one guy's opinion. What's your opinion?
 
Yes - they do have a free photo opportunity session with a lion cub but not sure if it will still be available when you are there. The cubs were getting a bit of size on them in February.

Not sure that Tripadvisor is an accurate medium through which to judge anything - lots of complaints about people using it to grind their own axes. It wouldn't have been the Kiwis cutting in - must have been those damn backpackers from Europe!!!!

When we were at Paradise Valley Springs there were no big queues and the photo opportunities were excellent.

We passed on the photo ops but took plenty of photos of the main lion enclosure fence - no stand off barriers, just hot wired inside. Our government would have a fit if we suggested that here!
 
Steve Robinson said:
Yes - they do have a free photo opportunity session with a lion cub but not sure if it will still be available when you are there. The cubs were getting a bit of size on them in February.

Not sure that Tripadvisor is an accurate medium through which to judge anything - lots of complaints about people using it to grind their own axes. It wouldn't have been the Kiwis cutting in - must have been those damn backpackers from Europe!!!!

When we were at Paradise Valley Springs there were no big queues and the photo opportunities were excellent.

We passed on the photo ops but took plenty of photos of the main lion enclosure fence - no stand off barriers, just hot wired inside. Our government would have a fit if we suggested that here!
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Thanks Steve. I will definitely contact them beforehand to confirm. For argument sake, let's say that the lion encounter is not available and we had time to visit just one zoo, which is better: Paradise Valley Springs, or Rainbow Springs?

I am a "Top Contributor" on Tripadvisor. :D
You can usually spot the outliers, like "crap hotel, crap service" - well, be a bit more descriptive and explain why it was crap - and there are lots of Americans who complain about everything. It's a good barometer, I have found, for hotels and things to do. The guy who wrote the negative review about the lion experience was quite descriptive, so maybe it was just a bad day that he was there. PS* There are few axe-grinders on this forum too! :p

I'll make sure not to stick my hand in the lion enclosure for a pat. :eek:
 
Possibly Rainbow Springs would suit your particular interests better.

If you will be seeking the obligatory dose of Maori culture whilst in Rotorua, may I suggest that you give Te Puia a big miss. Horribly over priced and sterile. The best part about it was the hangi, which also wasn't cheap but was delicious.

"Axe grinders" on ZooChat? Surely not!!

It is quite possible for a child, at least, to put their little hand through the 50mm x 50mm chainwire in between the internal hotwires at the Paradise Valley Springs lion enclosure.
 
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