"KAKARIKI"

Our second stop in Auckland wasn't really a stop in Auckland. We took a trip to Tiritiri Matangi which is an island sanctuary where they've eradicated non-native species (rats and the like) and made it safe for endangered native species. It's one of the few places where you can see Takahe, which are enormous flightless birds a bit like giant moorhens. As a bit of a birdwatcher, this was awesome. Not going to bother writing much more on this - let's just lob in a load of photos.

Just before we finally came across a pair of Takahe my camera died, so here we have some of Claire's and Amy's photos.

Claire, we decided, had fallen in love with the Takahe. It was sweet.

I had a bit of a stupid moment on spotting a couple of red-crowned parakeets and started sort of whisper-shouting "KAKARIKI!" much to Amy and Claire's amusement. And I have no photos of this and neither does Amy, so have one of Amy's of a female Stitchbird instead.

And then we got on a boat again and Claire somehow managed not to get too seasick. Again.

Arrival back in Auckland began with a trip to a supermarket for food. In the process we passed a busker singing Bruno Mars songs, but it went more like: "When I see you face..." Bless him.

Aaaargh, the departure is looming.