Orana Wildlife Park

To celebrate Rachel's birthday today Brendon took the day off and we headed into town to visit the Orana Wildlife Park. First we had to get some shopping done so we only got to the park just before lunch.

So the first stop was the picnic tables and delicious cold meat rolls for lunch.
And this was our view!!!!!
Hannah loved trying to get close to the ducks.

As they were already eating some bread crumbs that had fallen on the floor Brendon took a piece to help Hannah get a little closer.

The first "feeding" after lunch was the giraffe. So we each got given a branch. The children got small ones like this and the adults got bigger ones.

The lady explained a bit about the giraffes and told us how we needed to feed them.

So Hannah practiced on Dad!!! :-)

She had said we must hold the branch tight (and pretend to be a tree) so that they could use their tongues to pull the leaves off. Well I was SOOOO surprised at how strong they were.

He almost pulled the whole thing out of my hand. I just managed to hang onto it.

Helping Rachel who realized two hands would be a good idea.

This was by FAR the highlight for me. Giraffes are probably my favorite animal and so to be so close to them (and even get to wipe their necks) was just so amazing.

Ruth also enjoyed giving her branch (the children got small ones so that the giraffe could take the whole thing) and in the bath tonight kept saying "took the whole thing out my hand".

Then we caught the shuttle over to the lion enclosure (you will have to check Rachel's blog out for a photo of the shuttle - a link is on the left of the page). This photo looks like Ruth is giving her a nice rub. :-)

This was by far the highlight for Hannah. I only just managed to get this photo as the lioness and Hannah walked down the side together. The come nice and close.

And after playing with the others she got up and walked over making a lovely loud deep noise. Hannah had been making her lion noises the whole time and so it was really nice for her to be able to her the lioness.
Please also check out the new shoes (one of the important shopping items as she had NO shoes).

Then off to the Farmyard feeding time. I think children will always love this part of the park.

Getting nice and close to the Llama (they have Llamas and Alpacas in NZ).

This naughty man was feeding the Llama some chips so it would come close to his daughter. Ruth made the most of it though and got in a wipe.

Hannah loved the guinea pigs and rabbits (check out one of the rabbits on Rachel's blog - they were also huge).
This ladies face does summarize what the people working here were like. They were all so very friendly and always willing to answer Rachel's hundreds of questions.

Ruth getting a little closer to the goat. Thankfully he was been fed the proper food. :-)

Then we headed over to the Kiwi house and really enjoyed seeing their three Kiwi and an owl. Being nocturnal birds they have the house set up so that it is dark during the day (switching the birds night and days so that we can get to see them). Thus no photo (the flash would scare them). Rachel really enjoyed seeing a real kiwi egg next to a chook egg. They really are amazingly bigger for being the same sized birds.

The first time we went past the Lemur's they were all sleeping. But while Rachel was in the reptile house (chatting away as normal to the lady who was feeding them) we noticed they were up and about. So she came and had a quick look (and took a photo) and headed back to the reptiles. She got to tell them about the chameleon that we can in our home for a few months. They enjoyed talking about that as there are none in NZ.

Having a little fight. They sleep on the top of those pillars.

It was fun watching the spider monkeys being fed too.

And what an obliging little meercat to let me get such a beautiful photo of him.

And the baby too (check Rachel's she has a photo of one from the front).

We had a wonderful afternoon and look forward to coming again. We bought a yearly pass which will be valid till June 2010 and so plan to come back as often as we can. Even though Hannah got really tiered in the afternoon and would not sleep in the pram, all the girls had a great time.