Yet another amazing part of the South Island trip was the chance to see real live kiwis! The back part of the property where the wedding was held is a kiwi creche where they bring babies for their first couple months and it has a predator proof fence so they are safe while they grow. After that they are released into the wild. Lucky for us there were a few of them that had been there for a few weeks. We got to bring them food and then sat quietly and watched with a big red light (if doesn't freak them out like a regular flashlight does). Of course the videos from that aren't the best...
We had to be so quiet and ever so still as they were very skittish. Once they braved coming close to us, we could barely breathe without causing them to run back into hiding. It was quiet amazing to watch and patience was key.
On the wedding day, one of the caretakers took groups of people to see the kiwis in the daytime because she had to catch them for a checkup. So I missed some of the beer tent to go check them out. Those photos worked.
I didn't get to pet it but a couple people did and they are so downy and soft. Incredible little creatures!
Another cool bird we kept seeing was the Weka. They are also flightless (I swear, there are so many flightless birds here!) and they tended to walk along the sides of the road so we saw a lot of them. They don't live on the North Island so they were awesome to see.
I'm becoming a bird nerd here because there are so many exotic-seeming ones that are quite easy to come across. Or they are just so pretty! Like the fantail, we have a lot of them in our backyard lately and they flit around and fan their tails out and fly away just as quickly. I don't have a photo of them as they are difficult to photograph with their tails fanned out, at least in my experience!
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