Quote: In Christchurch I took a very good tour of a wildlife reserve, where I got to visit a nocturnal house and see the national bird, the kiwi bird, essentially run in circles and roll down hills. They were absolutely adorable, and when I heard that Rotorua had the country's foremost kiwi nursery, in which they take kiwi eggs from the wild and raise them until a certain age before they are re-released, I knew I had to go.

The idea of the place sounds a bit odd, since the odds of animals that have been raised in captivity generally aren't that good when they are put back in the wild. However, in New Zealand, they have a huge problem with introduced predators. New Zealand itself, before the settlers arrived, did not have any native mammals at all. When mammals were introduced, like the ferret and stoat, they immediately began ravaging the kiwi population. They told us on the tour that as many as 95% of eggs that are laid in the wild never hatch. Therefore, they monitor certain areas and take the eggs, during their most vulnerable time, and put them back in the wild when they can defend themselves at least a little bit better.

To get to the Kiwi Encounter, I had to wait outside the Rotorua Information Centre for the shuttle that does a loop around the major thermal sites, etc., around Rotorua. A round-trip ticket was, I believe, $12 to get to the Encounter. When I got there, I waited for around 30 minutes, because the shuttle doesn't quite sync up with the tour schedule, but they had a gift shop full of kiwi paraphernalia (which was good, since my friend had lost her paua kiwi bracelet and wanted another one), and plus, the guy working at the front desk was very talkative, especially on the topic of rugby.

The tour itself was about 45 minutes long, and cost $26.50. I thought this was a good deal because the tour was incredibly informative. I came out knowing much more about kiwi, their habitats, and New Zealand in general. The tour guide was incredibly well versed in everything that went on in the centre, partly because she actually worked behind the scenes as well.

We got to see, through windows of course, the hatching area, where the eggs that are brought in are incubated. Sadly, the last egg had hatched the Friday before I got there, but we got to watch a video of one hatching instead. Then we were led to the area where the baby kiwi are kept in tiny kiwi runs. Most of them were hidden in their blacked-out sleeping areas, but we saw a couple, and they were so small and cute!

This review is continued in Kiwi Encounter, pt. 2.
From journals Back to the North: Rotorua