Monday, January 16, 2006

Matiu-Soames Island





On the second day we went on a boat trip out to Matiu Soames Island. It was very windy out there and the boat mooring was quite tricky. We saw some of the natives of the island, skinks and wetas do well in the absence of the predators that kill them off on the mainland. The building is the Beehive, NZ's Parliament. Picture taken from our backpacker room. I couldn't get over how the Parliament was fringed by forested hills. Just another reminder that NZ has a very small population and is a very rural place.
The sea view is from Matiu-Soames looking back towards Wellington.

2 comments:

katsblog said...

My motherinlaw wanted to know what the creature is sitting on your sons shoulder?

cheers

Kat

MC said...

That is a dead Giant Weta that we found lying on the ground at Matiu-Soames Island. It looks like it is massive because he was holding it towards the camera. Mind you the wetas are quite a bit bigger than your average english crickets and grasshoppers. And wait until you see the giant centipedes!
Fortunately there are only a few dangerous spiders over here, the insects look big but are all harmless.
Best wishes
Mike

Locations of visitors to this page