On Friday we awoke before dawn again, and again were disappointed by the weather as our sightseeing flight was cancelled. This was our last day in Queenstown so no chance for a reschedule. Hopefully next time!
After finishing breakfast we decided to drive up to Glenorchy and see the end of the lake and a viewpoint from the Lord of the Rings. We had great light on the winding drive along the lake and got some nice shots of the mountains.
There’s not much to see in Glenorchy, but we drove a bit further north to see a recognizable location from The Lord of the Rings: Isengard!
We headed back towards Queenstown and decided to check out something we saw yesterday on our walk up to the gondola: The Kiwi Park! They have more than just Kiwis, maybe 15 or so native bird enclosures and a reptile room. We arrived just in time to catch a conservation show and learned about the Turatara reptile and Ruru/Morepork owl.
New Zealand doesn’t have many native species, but the ones that they do have are very cool. Being so isolated, they followed some different evolutionary paths.
There are no mammals native to the islands, so the kiwis evolved to fill a similar niche. In practice they are more like possums or stoats than other birds. They are nocturnal and their enclosure is darkened so unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures, but they were a sight to see racing back and forth on their stout legs.
Our time in Queenstown quickly coming to an end, we departed the Kiwi Sanctuary and headed back to the Queenstown airport. Our time on the south island was incredible and I’m sure we’ll be back someday.
After a short flight back to Auckland we’ll pick up a new rental car and drive to Rotorua. Tomorrow: The Shire!