A genuine Kiwi experience

The day started off well - I was moved to solitary confinement. For two nights, I am now enjoying the luxury of a single room at the same price. The weather was good, the coffee was delicious: it had to be a good day.
Yesterday, I also decided what I wanted to do. My path led me about 4km out of town to the Kiwi North Center. And I'm not talking about the fruit...
For the first time in my life, I saw a living Kiwi. Two of them even! And it was amazing.
The center is a kind of shelter for injured wildlife (including Kiwis), but it houses a male and a female Kiwi. They live in a mini forest, about 40m2 in size. The facility then simulates the natural conditions: there is a day-night cycle (exactly reversed to the normal one, so that visitors can experience the night-active birds), the temperature is adjusted to the seasons, and it rains twice a week. This way, the plants in the facility can really grow.
Leaves are piled up on a meter-high layer of soil and a lot of insects crawl through the leaves.
Everything has been done to ensure that the animals grow up in an environment that is as close to nature as possible. The two Kiwis were just under two years old and will be released into the wild next year.
In addition to insects, the two of them receive special food three times a day, a mixture of meat, peas, carrots, bananas, and apples. In the wild, the Kiwis would easily survive.
And they were so cute. Most of the time, you only saw the female, poking around in the foliage or on the trunks with her ridiculously long beak in search of insects.
She even came right up to the glass, less than ten centimeters separated us. I stood in front of the enclosure for an hour and just watched her, I'm not kidding.
Have you ever seen a Kiwi walking? It looks so silly, I love it. Photos were not allowed (light disturbs Kiwis a lot and stresses them unnecessarily), but google 'Dancing Kiwi' - there's a great video on Youtube. Really, I find it so cute.
Somehow Kiwis seem so clumsy and naive to me that I could only hold them dearer to my heart. Ah.
Attached to the Kiwi house was a museum that was offering an exhibition about the Moas - the huge extinct flightless birds in New Zealand. That was interesting, especially since real bones were exhibited. In a 30-minute film, the entire known history of the Moas was recapitulated - which ended with the arrival of the Maori.
Otherwise, there wasn't much to see, so I made my way back. Did I mention that I had to walk for a good hour next to THE highway? Not funny.
Because I still had almost the entire afternoon ahead of me, I took a detour to the Quarry Gardens in the northeast of Whangarei. Quarry means 'stone quarry' (I had to google it too) and as you can maybe imagine, it used to be a former stone quarry.
In the 1990s, volunteers created a beautiful tropical garden from the site. Many native plants but also exotic ones (e.g. cacti and succulents) line the paths and it was really nice to explore the garden. That's a real recommendation from me to all who visit Whangarei. It offers a nice change from waterfalls and hiking trails. Not that I didn't hike today - there was a nice hiking trail to the gardens...
But then my feet started to hurt a lot, so I slowly made my way back. Along the highway, through the Whangarei Shopping Center to the hostel.
There I was greeted with the friendly message that I have to submit more documents for my IRD number. Great. And then it takes 8-10 business days. Someone should complain about the German authorities...
I also received a request from a couchsurfer asking if I could help him out with a gardening project. Sure, why not? So I painted a garden fence for an hour. It was somehow meditative.
But then I was really done with the day and just quickly went shopping (cottage cheese with Kiwi and Orange - really luxurious).
In the meantime, a bunch of new backpackers have arrived at the hostel. I quickly made friends with a Dutch and a French girl and we ate together.
Of course, at least five Germans have also arrived, so I can speak German again. I almost missed that.
In the evening, we are now sitting together and exchanging our experiences so far. With my three weeks in New Zealand, I am even an old hand and can give the others many tips for the Northland. Somehow a nice feeling.
What I will do tomorrow is still up in the air. Without a car, I won't get far and I have already seen everything in Whangarei. But something will come up...