We did all the usual stuff, like tearing down the boardwalk to see the big African herbivores...
...looking at the Little Blue Penguins...
...and seeing how we measure up to NZ's long-ago penguins...
...to checking out the cool wooden lettuce-holding contraptions meant to give the keas an outlet for their pecking-and-pulling needs (as they don't have access to parked cars or sheep here)...
...finally being allowed to climb on the rocks next to the seal enclosure like all the big boys do...
...going down the big slide about a thousand times...
...and watching some meerkats sit in the sun.
Oh, this is something interesting. See that plastic bubble in the ground? It's a secondary meerkat-viewing platform. You go around down the back behind the display, where there's an entrance to a concrete tunnel that looks for all the world like a culvert in a country ditch. Never mind that, just go ahead and dive head-first into it and crawl along on your hands and knees. What's that, you'd rather duck-walk through the tunnel because you think it'll help with this creeping sense of claustrophobia you're developing? Nope--if you're an adult, the diameter only allows for the all-fours position.
So you crawl and crawl. In the dark, around twists and turns. Unsure of where you currently are or where you are going to end up. Take deep breaths, the only way out is through... And then you come to a ladder and peep your head hopefully up, all meerkat-like. The ground-bubble neatly encases your head like some sort of deep-sea diver's mask and you take a quick look at the little critters eye-to-eye. Then you descend back into your morlock-well and continue to scrabble madly along because the exit must be coming up sometime.
The boys love these tunnels and I think they would spend all day in them if allowed; I had pretty much accrued my lifetime exposure limit by the second time through.
...looking at the Little Blue Penguins...
...and seeing how we measure up to NZ's long-ago penguins...
...to checking out the cool wooden lettuce-holding contraptions meant to give the keas an outlet for their pecking-and-pulling needs (as they don't have access to parked cars or sheep here)...
...finally being allowed to climb on the rocks next to the seal enclosure like all the big boys do...
...going down the big slide about a thousand times...
...and watching some meerkats sit in the sun.
Oh, this is something interesting. See that plastic bubble in the ground? It's a secondary meerkat-viewing platform. You go around down the back behind the display, where there's an entrance to a concrete tunnel that looks for all the world like a culvert in a country ditch. Never mind that, just go ahead and dive head-first into it and crawl along on your hands and knees. What's that, you'd rather duck-walk through the tunnel because you think it'll help with this creeping sense of claustrophobia you're developing? Nope--if you're an adult, the diameter only allows for the all-fours position.
So you crawl and crawl. In the dark, around twists and turns. Unsure of where you currently are or where you are going to end up. Take deep breaths, the only way out is through... And then you come to a ladder and peep your head hopefully up, all meerkat-like. The ground-bubble neatly encases your head like some sort of deep-sea diver's mask and you take a quick look at the little critters eye-to-eye. Then you descend back into your morlock-well and continue to scrabble madly along because the exit must be coming up sometime.
The boys love these tunnels and I think they would spend all day in them if allowed; I had pretty much accrued my lifetime exposure limit by the second time through.
4 comments:
I loved the view of the Zoo. I would NEVER in a million years have the nerve to crawl through that tunnel to put my head in the bubble. Good for anyone who can do it. I wonder if anyone has ever become stuck.
If you have grandsons as endearing and winsome as mine, you will eventually succumb to their pleas! Doug and I crawled through all the tunnels!
Yeah, actually, the tunnels are large enough that I was able to go through with my backpack on.
What a great idea for viewing up close, I could not crawl thru. My knees won't take it. Glad you could do all it! Kudos
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