Tourist type pics from NZ - better late than never!

This was the 1st pic in NZ, taken from the car on the road to Thames, Coromandel


I stopped here for a brew - a Pukeko is a bird ( in case you hadn't guessed ;-P )


This is the view from just across the road from 'On The Beach Backpackers' on Dec 8th 2009


This is from the same spot, looking the other way


This should have come before the last 2. Those peaks are on Coromandel


'On The Beach Backpackers' Dec 8th 2009


This is Dec 9th on the way to Matamata. It's a place called Hot Spring Beach, &, surprise, surprise, they're making a spa pool in the sand. It was taken at full zoom - I was about 1/2 a mile up the beach & didn't have time to go & try it for myself.


This is the view out of the kitchen window at OTBB. can't remember if I took it on the 8th pm or 9th am - oops


Whitianga (pronounced Fittyanga - wh is F in Maori) 8am Dec 9th


The view from my bedroom window @ 6pm Dec 8th 2009

A monkey puzzle tree across the road from OTBB, which is the building behind the lamppost. Taken from the beach

Taken from nearly the end of the Coromandel Peninsula @ 4pm Dec 8th 2009

This one is out of order from the rest, but I uploaded it by mistake. It was taken whilst I was waiting for the Ruapehu/Mordor mist to clear - there is a spider in there somewhere, but it was a bit shy! I thought a spider was quite apt, given Shelob lived on the Mordor fringes

Part of the Matamata/Hobbiton tour, which I've already posted pics for.

This is me feeding a lamb - ahh


The "spa pool" at Spa Lodge Rotorua? ! ? ! ? ! ? ! ? !


Spa Lodge, Rotorua entrance - it went back a looong way
It was run by some Japanese peeps. I lent them my Mugenkyo CD while I went to Matamata with Ben (the orc)


Still not got the hang of uploading in the correct order - this was just before the lamb-feeding bit & he's 1/2 way through shearing her


Shearing finished, Mate

Every last drop!

That's all for now folks, but am going to do another one with touristy NZ pics in a bit & then the stuff that's happened here since last Tues.

HLV

OAO

Awan's the Man

Not sure who was on the left, but it may be Katie with her 1st food pocket. Awan's at the top, with Punky below.
You can't really tell from here, but Awan is massive. Check out the next one. . . .


This was taken when we went to give them the frozen bananas.
The cage is big enough to fit a king-size bed in, so that'll give you some idea how big Awan is!


I fired a banana through the bars, & it landed under the window by his L shoulder.
This shows him eating it.

As I've been in this I-cafe >2 hrs, I need to close for today & upload pics of Tsunami & Chokey when we get back from our jolly to Penang & Langkawi.

We're off for 4 days, so are meeting up with the other volunteers from Taiping Zoo.

It's 5 hrs north, so we're going overnight, staying for a couple of days & coming back on Friday.

Work starts again on Sat, so I'll get chance for some more photos.

Keep E-ing, though, as I'll check them as often as poss, even though I may not be able to blog.

HLV
OAO

What Katie Did

This is Katie trying to get a food pocket


No idea why this has blurred. It was OK when I looked at it earlier.
Aagh: The gremlins of technology strike again!


This is Katie using part of a banana tree as a parasol. Apparently, they put stuff on their heads a lot. I was not told why?


Having climbed up to the platform with the tree in her teeth, Katie pauses for a moment of contemplation. This may be another one for the wall?


Katie had her 1st food pocket nicked by Punky, but she found another & is trying to undo the knots to get at the goodies inside


She's still trying!


"Mmm. How does this go, then?"


Ha! Yum Yum :-))
(This time Katie's having a yummy time & not me, for a change, Gill).

There's some more in there somewhere, but she has to try & undo the knot.

Unfortunately, it's another blurry one

More photos to follow

OAO for now

Some Sea Lion photos - New Years Day 2010

This is the 3rd photo. I was about 4m away


A good view of the west end of Allan's beach, too


That's my bumbag on the rock, plus a small Italian kid, whose Dad had a huge camera

This one may go on the wall?

Having a good scratch with some massive seaweed in the background

Zoom in on his (her?) face ;-))

I uploaded these last 2 1st, but they got shunted down the page.

It'll be obvious they're earlier - just after I went back up the beach for my camera.

Look out for some Orang ones in a bit

OAO

Orang Utan Heaven

OK
I'll describe an average day 1st & where anything differs, I'll say so.

We start work at 8, & normally meet Denice & Maz near the staff entrance. We walked up together the first day, but I've been going it alone some days, as I walk slower before the painkillers kick in, & don't like to be late.

Once at the Ape Centre & we have our daily temperature check - to make sure we aren't going to give any bugs to the Orangs.

On Fri 8th we were then taken round & introduced - wearing masks & wellies, but as some are so similar, it took me a few days to sort them out.

Days always start with leaf sweeping in the Orang outdoor enclosure & hiding treats for them to find. This last bit is known as an Enrichment Activity: ie enriching their lives by encouraging them to forage rather than just having food handed to them on a plate (or in the case of the Ape Centre, a bucket).

The Orangs allowed out that day are then released, while we do the sweeping etc in the chimps' outdoor enclosure.

Outdoor work is followed by cleaning out the night dens. This involves quite a lot of Orang poo, partially chewed food, & leftovers from feeding time.
We have to sweep/scrape the detritus into a bin bag, swill the floor, disinfect/wash/scrub with a brush & bucket, & then rinse & squeegee.
There are normally 3 or 4 dens to do each morning.

Then we wash our hands, & set to chopping papaya, guava, carrots & lettuce, which are chucked into buckets along with copious quantities of bananas & other stuff, like long green beans.

The Orangs not out that day are then fed by hand.
We poke food between the bars for them to grab, or often, just putting it straight into their mouths.
To encourage us to do this, the Orangs will stick the lower lip through the bars & make a little 'spoon' shape - it's amazing what they can do with their mouths/lips :-)

After that it's time to do 'observation'. On Fri & Sat we watched the chimps try & find the food we'd hidden for them. We don't get the chance to watch the Orangs search, as we're doing the chimp's enclosure.

Sometimes we then do some more cages.

By then it's time for lunch - which we have in the staff canteen. Because the Ape Centre is furthest away, we get 2hrs for lunch.

Afternoons are shorter, but similar, with observations - dominance, grooming rituals, play etc., making something for Enrichment, or going around the zoo getting banana trees for them to eat/play with.

On Friday we fed the nursing mother, Rokia with milk - pouring it straight into her 'spoon' ;-)). We also made 'food pockets' out of jute sacking - filling them with sunflower seeds, currants & sultanas.
On Saturday we went to cut down some banana trees to hang in the day dens, & in the evening made popsicles for them to suck.
On Sunday we spent an extended lunch time at the 'little house at the zoo', scraping coconut out of shells in order to make another Enrichment Activity. There was a lot of coconut eaten while this was going on. The Apes are not allowed it, as it's too fattening, but we took what we didn't want to keep in the fridge to the porqupines, who love it.

On Monday, after sweeping the leaves, we coated the inside of the shells with peanut butter & stuck currants & sunflower seeds to it. The shells were then paired, fixed by jute string through holes in the shell, & hidden around the enclosures.

Some of the Orangs are real characters.
One, Katie will fill her mouth with water & give you a shower when you walk past. She's also very bright & usually one of the 1st to find the hidden treats.
However, because she's at the bottom of the line, the older females often chase her off.
She'll also throw things over the moat at the public!

Awan, one of the dominant males, loves green beans. The 1st time I fed him he took all other food offered, but just dropped it - presumably to eat later, but reached for & ate the green beans straight away.
One evening we made popsicles & froze bananas & the following day doled out the bananas.
When I got to his cage, Awan was flat out - literally, so I fired a frozen banana through the bars & it landed by his L shoulder. He just reached for it with his R hand & ate it whole - frozen or not! The 2nd one I fired landed near his groin, so he got that in his L & ate that. This was all with eyes closed!

My favourite is a young male called Chokey. He never goes outdoors, as either Awan & his Ladies (incl Katie), or Sulong & his Harem are out there.
Chokey spends his time in a large cage at the back of the Ape Centre, or in his night den. At least this is bigger than most, but I feel so sad he never gets to feel the sun on his back, as it were.
Whenever I get a min, I go & talk to him & play little games - like 'grab my finger', & if I get a choice, I'll do his cage or make his Enrichment toy.
He's very cute. He's hasn't got the big jowls yet & he looks like someone gave him a basin cut!
Sweet.

Another cutie is Tsunami, who was born when it struck Malaysia in 2001.
She is weaned, but, like Chokey, can't go out with the others, so uses Chokey's big cage sometimes.
We had our photos taken with her & I've held her hand through the bars nearly every day. She is very adorable, & yesterday was taken 'out front' by the head keeper & shown her father across the moat ! ? ! ?.
The keeper allowed some children to stroke her, which I thought was a little weird, given we have to wear masks whenever we're up close?????

Anyway, so much more to go on about, I'll try & up load some photos so you can E or comment if you've any questions.

Just to say I'm having fun & have 'held an Orang's hand' which was the big wish for this part of the trip.

Signing off now & will blog again in a bit with some photos, hopefully.

OAO

Arrival in Malaysia & Negara Zoo

Currently in an I-cafe somewhere on the outskirts of KL, about 20 min walk from the zoo, & I've had a truly awesome day. But more of that later.
Maybe?

The flight from NZ was uneventful, & I caught Ballad (Japanese film), The Duchess, the 1st hr of 24 series 6 (now I want to see what happens to Jack, so I guess I'll have to buy the DVD's), & some of another film about aliens in South Africa (District 9?) before I fell asleep.

As promised, I was met at KL airport & went to our B&B with another volunteer, Penny, from Willsdon.
Once there, we were introduced to the others, who'd already arrived (more of them later). We also had our temperatures taken, & were given our Introductory Chat & Welcome Dinner.
The latter consisted of a plastic bag of food & a bottle of water!
As it was after 9, I just had the water, as I didn't want to keep roommate, Sally, up by coughing due to eating too soon before bed.

Next morning 5 of us were up, breakfasted, & out by 9 - on our way to Negara Zoo.
This is somewhere in KL, but not sure exactly where - you can google it if you really want to know.

We'd met our WOX co-ordinators, Mazrul & Denice the night before, & they met us at the zoo & showed us our house for a fortnight.
Then we had a walk round the zoo - including the Ape Centre where we'd do most of our volunteering, & a trip to buy food as we'd be self-catering in our 'little house in the zoo'.

After that we were free, but as it was so hot & sticky, we just lolled about for a bit & then went exploring around the zoo again!
We also watched the 'Multi Animal Show', which was a couple of parrots, a bird of prey, a seal & a sea lion (Californian) doing their stuff. The commentary was mostly in Malay, so it was a bit weird, but the animals were OK.

BTW, the 'we' includes Penny, Jon & Emma (who are doing a month at the zoo) & Steph.
All are from 'down south', & apart from Penny, Jon & Emma seem to be from Cambridge (at least they did their degrees there), & Steph's from somewhere or other south of Watford, is 18, & wants to work in TV.
Sounds like an introduction for a Miss World contestant, doesn't it ;-P

Jon is a good cook, so he's been chefing - helped by Em. They've all just left the I-cafe to go & get tea, & I promised to be back within the hr, so I'll press on. . . .

On Thursday Jan 7th (yesterday) we had to meet Denice & Mazrul at 0750 & work with other animals. Steph & I were doing the 'mammals' with Denice, & Mazrul took the others off somewhere else - mostly birds, I think.

First job was sweeping up the leaves in the Tapir's enclosure. There was Mum & 3 babies. dad was separate as he had a poorly foot, but we did him too.

Then it was the porqupines - more leaf sweeping.

Denice then took us to meet up with the others & we had a break for 1/2 hr at the staff canteen.

Post break we spent a while chopping up fruit & veg & then fed the tapirs & porqupines. This included some by hand, which was pretty cool & I go some neat pics & vids.
I also got some cast-off quills.
These are really sharp!
I know this, as I put the 1st one in my pocket & it stuck itself into my leg!

After the 2 bigger mammals, we hand fed the squirrels - big black jobbies with lovely golden under-fur, & I managed to stroke one a bit.
Then it was on to the racoons. One was pretty fat, but he was the keenest to be hand fed, & they had LOADS of food for 24 hrs - no wonder he was a bit porky.

The cute 'small-clawed otter' was fed fish by one of the keepers -more of him later (the otter, not the keeper), & we weren't allowed to do the leopard cat - they're too unpredictable.

After that, Steph got to clean the poo from some cages, & I got to sweep more leaves.
I almost felt like the Karate Kid ;-)

Then it was lunch in the staff canteen & I was so thirsty I had 4 cups of tea!

Aftyer lunch we were taken to meet some of the big cats, including an obese black leopard called Gir, & 2 pumas.
I should point out there were thick bars between us & them, but it was exceedingly brill to be less than 3ft away from such awesome creatures.
I'd've loved to have been able to do a Joanna Lumley & get close enough to touch. How cool would that be?

There were also some adorable little things called 'slow loris' (I think that's how it's spelt?)
They look like bushbabies & were in quite small cages - the keeper said there wasn't enough space to exhibit them in the bigger 'viewing' cages.
They were sooooo sweet, & we gave them food & a tickle/scratch. One licked my finger - sweetie. I wanted to hold them & give them a cuddle - they looked so sad & fed up in the cage, but it may have been their normal expression, I don't know.

Then Denice brought some bread out for the fish in the moat, & we gave some to the otter. He was amazingly strong for such a wee beastie - he grabbed my finger in his forepaws (through the bars) & pulled my hand to the cage. It was surprisingly hard to pull away from him.
I was well impressed.
He also did a clever thing by taking the dry bread to his water & wetting it to make it easier to chew.
Clever otter!
But then they are aren't they?

After the fish feeding we were done for the day, & we went back to out 'little house at the zoo' AKA Home, where we got 1st dibs at a wonderful cold shower.

Once the others got back, we lolled, had tea & went to bed.

Tomorrow would be our 1st day at the Ape Centre -weeeeeeee.

So that was yesterday, & today we did spend all day with the Orangs & chimps - but mostly Orangs.
As a result, I found myself on the cusp of tears quite often, it was so awesome.
However, it's now 8.30 & if I don't rush back home, they'll be sending out a search party, despite my assurances I'll be OK
So I'm off - no time to spell check etc., so apologies if there's gobbledegook.

Hopefully I'll be able to come back hear tomorrow & tell you all about it.
OAO

Final NZ Blog

I'm here at Auckland Airport with FREE internet access, so catching up on last few days before I fly to the Malaysian section of my adventure.

After the exitement of New Yrs Day, the 2nd 3rd & 4th were fairly boring.

On the 2nd I mozied around Dunedin in very windy weather, looking at the First Church & the Chinese Garden ( a massive disappointment - dirty water, unkempt plants & lacking in any real spirituality).

I did replace my cerise wheelie with 2 smaller lime green jobbies, though. A 2 4 1 deal at Farmers on George St.

On Sun 3rd I went by bus to Port Chalmers. It was a manky day to start, but after a look round some of the galleries on the main street (another George, I think?), it came out sunny, so I doffed as much clothing as was decent & had a walk up the hill to the Flagstaff, followed by a walk down it again via the scenic ( ;-P ) wood piles awaiting transport to the far flung corners of the globe.

My driver on both legs was Scott, who kindly picked me up in town & gave me a free trip up to the heights of Harrington Street with a view over the Otago Peninsula where I'd been on the 1st.

Back in Dunedin, he also took me to the bottom of High St., so I'd slightly less far to walk home to the digs.

Mon 4th was a bit of a washout, as the bus didn't arrive & it started to rain, so I went back to the digs (I think Jenny was rather surprised to see me) to await dry weather.

As usual, in Dunedin, the wait wasn't too long, so I headed off into town to get a mozzy net, some more Deet repellant & to chat to the aforementioned Nerd.

The first 2 done, & a kebab & mint tea at a Turkish cafe in the tum (sorry Gill, that was yum, too!), a lovely lad called Antonio sorted out my memory sticks & suggested buying another in Malaysia, as such stuff was dear in NZ.

Good tip. Ta, Antonio.

I was back at the digs quite early so did the packing thing etc., but was seriously waylaid by Dirty Dancing on the telly - oops. Well, he was lovely to look at, with all that hip swivelling & all ;-P

So, that brings me to now, & to thank all the totally amazing peeps I've met here. From Laconic Les on the bus to Christchurch to Geeks & Nerds, Smiley Myles at Queenstown, Ben the Orc & of course my lovely landlady, Jenny - who makes 'exceedingly good cakes' - to paraphrase Mr Kipling!

I'm going to stop the eulogies there, as there's Far To Many Nice People In New Zealand to name everyone.

But for me, the biggest thanks must go to Bruce, who enabled me to be a Rider of Rohan, & who may let me do it again in 2011 when I come back for some skiing & some Rugby.

Gotta go now as peeps are waiting to get on the freebie Internet.

Hasta Malaysia, baby

OAO