Another quickie

Dinner on the Farm

So, we are now in Auckland, New Zealand’s capital, and we are staying with an awesome couple, Guy & Ingrid. They live on what’s called a “Lifestyle Block,” which is easiest described as a tiny farm, approximately 3.5 acres, that you can’t really make any money off of. It’s sort of a way for people to buy property and land without spending a fortune in the city. The place is super cool; they have a pool, a gorgeous house, three cute dogs, some goats, chickens, alpacas, and a donkey and a sheep!

Yikes!

So we went to the top of the sky tower in downtown yesterday where we stood on panes of glass 328 meters (almost 1100 feet!) above the street. If only the Seattle Space Needle had glass panes in the floors.
After that we hit the Auckland Museum, where we saw some nice Maori exhibits and Natural History artifacts. The highlight was a giant Moa bird model. It was about 10 feet tall; these birds are now extinct from over-hunting by the early Maori people. The bird was incredibly docile because it had no natural predators, so they were very easy to capture and use for their feathers and meat.

Giddyup

Today we visited the Auckland Zoo to finally see some Kiwi birds! They are so cute, but I personally liked the lemurs and meercats better. Oh, and the Peacocks and Emus.

I’m currently debating whether zoos are inhumane; or a necessary way to preserve extinct species and enable safe breeding to repopulate ecosystems.

Your thoughts are welcome!