The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary

Wellington City has many things. It has the usual bars and restaurants, theatres, some museums, and so on. It also has a bucket fountain (but more about that another day). What surpises me, more than any of this, is there is actually a real life dinosaur living there, albeit one that faces extinction, which lives in the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary a short drive from downtown. This dinosaur is the Tuatara. The Tuatara is a reptile, the last remaining representative of the Sphenodontia, and is affectionately known as New Zealand's 'living fossil'. How exciting, I hear you say! Well the Tuatara is no carnivorous giant let me tell you - oh no, it's about the size of an iguana and eats insects, slugs and earthworms. It is nonetheless amazing to see in the wild!

Eric and Rachel took me to the sanctuary and we had a good walk of three hours in fine weather. I saw cave weta, which are native to New Zealand, giant bugs with large antennae. You would love them. We didn't see any Kiwi however because they are mostly nocturnal. We did spot plenty of fern species and insects. The beauty of the sanctuary is protected by a predator-proof fence designed to stop rats, cats, possums and like from disturbing the fragile ecosystem. Remember, before the arrival of man in the second millenium AD there were no native ground living mammals in New Zealand, so none of the indigenous species evolved survival tactics. The fence is impressive, it goes all the way around, an impressive feat of engineering in the hilly environment. Erik can be seen modelling it for you: