Jan 29 afternoon

(Chunlin's photo above)

(Chunlin's photo above)

A nice little town. Feels like Chelan, what with the big lake and green & brown towering hills surrounding. Walked into town from the hotel (great view of the lake -- makes up for the windowless box last night). A bit touristy in the center, but still nice. Windy. Kites and wind-waves on the shore. ... We've now ordered lamb pizza at Winnie's. Nice, quiet, dark interior. Contrast the bright bustling pedestrian street just off the balcony. Feels like summer here. Flowers blooming, grass turning brown. Sunny (but with clouds & cooling/chilling wind (depending on your temperature)). Coniferous forest hillside I can't even see the top of. Feels much more like home than Auckland.

After the pizza, we went up the hill to a bird sanctuary. Kiwis! Dark room, glass enclosure lit by red lights, but there, rooting around in the dirt with its long yellow beak, is a brown ball of fuzz called a kiwi bird. Crazy that this nocturnal, flightless, wingless, featherless (just about), extinction-prone little bird is New Zealand's national icon, but so it is.

Other birds there, too, and a tuatara lizard (we saw an older one with only two eyes). Douglas Fir! It got introduced by early settlers and now it's a weed tree. Grows quite well here.