Kiwi & Eels

Now that is a great title!! 

Today we traveled to several towns to check on young missionaries and inspect their flats (apartments). We will be doing that once every 2 months. Our adventures took us about 160 km northeast to Carterton, Masterton and Pahiatua (pah-he-ah-too-ah). There are many Pacific Islanders on missions in New Zealand. We have met some from Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, Philippines, plus Australia, South Africa, Ireland. They are so fun to meet and learn of their customs. Many flats we remove shoes to enter. Some have needed to learn to sleep in beds (and to put on sheets and pillow cases. 

On the way there we stopped at a wildlife refuge that mainly focuses on birds. They have a climate controlled building where they help hatch kiwi eggs, then grow them until they can be released back into the wild. Kiwi's (the birds) are endangered. Their enemies are basically anything with 4 legs, and cars. They are nocturnal, and dark brown. they don't fly, and they burrow under tree roots for their nests. So they are easy prey for almost any predator.

At the sanctuary, they have a habitat for 2 kiwi birds. One of the birds is albino with white feathers. She has mated with a regular kiwi. The habitat uses red light in the daytime and turns on white lights at night, which makes the birds active during the day since they don't really see the red light. They then sleep at night when the white lights (sunlight) is on.  Here is what they look like.

Here is what we got to see.

They were both running around, and digging in the ground cover for worms. Apparently they can hear them moving and nail them with their beaks. We then saw an egg in an incubator, and Lois held a wooden one to show the size of the egg. I also took a photo of an egg in a nest (replica) with a photo of the kiwi behind it. Lastly, the egg is big compared to the size of the Kiwi. The last shot is of a Kiwi skeleton with the egg inside. It is the equivalent of being pregnant with a 6 year old!!!! Oh my, that poor mama. 

One of the other birds is a flightless bird is the Takahe. It is also endangered. They have 2 old ones that live here. Sorry, the iPhone doesn't have a good long range lens on it.

They also have the Tuatara, lizard. It has some dinosaur-like features that more modern lizards don't have. They are about 18" - 24" long. The pair here are about 80 years old.

Female. Pregnant with 13 eggs.

 Male.

Lastly, we saw these eels. They are in a stream but hang around this area because they get fed lunch every day. Some were 3 feet long. We saw a Maori TV show last night where an older woman went fishing for them in a river--bare handed. Ugh!

Next time we go up there, we will have to take some photos of the area. Big farms and ranches. There are both sheep and cattle ranches, oops, I just looked that up and they are "stations" down here. I wonder if they get along better here than in the USA.

The young missionaries are very dedicated here. Many from the islands or other countries don't have driver licenses. So they cannot drive here. They either walk or bike every day. They are very humble and try to love and help all who they come in contact with. Some are in a new, more modern country for the first time, and have to adjust to a faster-paced culture. We try to help them adjust and focus on teaching about the plan of salvation and how they can find peace and happiness for their families.