Willowbank Wildlife Reserve

" The Kiwi Wildlife Experience ", This is the slogan used by this reserve park. I went to this nice wildlife reserve center with some of my friends this morning. Got up late, I've to "berpuasa" for the whole morning and afternoon. The weather was pretty weird as the rain was indeed unpredictable, it started raining in the city center at about 11.30am. The weather has really spoilt our excitement to experience the native wildlife in Willowbank. We got up the bus no.11, heading to the Hussey Road Willowbank Reserve area. Along the way, I've again explored the other side of the Christchurch region, where, I found the Northlands Shopping Mall and another Countdown which I've known from Isaac last week. The mall is indeed larger than the Riccarton Mall. The typical Pak'n'save and Farmers are in the mall as well. For the second leg of the journey to the wildlife park, the weather was getting better and better with more and more white clouds appearing in the sky. Engulfed with happiness, we'd given up our alternative trip to Botanical Garden, which was proposed by Isaac and me. Finally, we reached Willowbank with a big Kiwi signboard welcoming us. We went to have our tickets ready and waited for a while as Liying was waiting for her breakfast pie. Determined, actually on diet, I didn'y buy any food to cure my empty stomach. The fare for a student to enter the park is $20. We bought a pack of animal food to feed the not-hungry animals. Actually, only a few types of animals which really "want" our food.


The first wildlife to be seen was eel and some lake birds, including the irritating ducks, lingering around our feet, foraging for food. Quite irritating the ducks, as I was afraid of accidentally kicking them or stepping onto them while taking photos. The food we bought was not for the eel and the eel didn't seem to have interest in the smell of the delicious "cereal-like" food. Next, we went through a long path with nothing to see. This path led us to a new area where the livestock was reared. Deers and chickens could be seen enjoying their supplied food (grass). When we went through the path, the smell of our bought animal food immediately attracted a flock of deers and even ducks approaching us. Was the smell of the food so strong enough that it got attracted by our "friends"? Again, ducks were following us and kept surrounding us and "asked" for food. They were s cute. When we left, they were chasing us for our food, but luckily there was an escape door.



Then, we walked past a group of birds (geese and ducks). They were so arrogant that they adopted a nice pose in front of the many cameras. They looked tame at first but when we're taking pictures, they started to feel uncomfortable and followed us along our way. They suddenly became so fierce and starred angrily at us.. Not looking at them, we walked past them quickly..


Next, we got to see ostrich but it's not really interesting to me as I've seen it several times in Malaysia. The next stop was Wallaby territory where I could see lots of wallabies in that area. Wallaby is very similar to a kangaroo but it's smaller. They have their typical "pockets" to contain their babies.

WALLABIES

Next, the monkeys, but this species of monkey is called Black-capped Capuchin. They are black and their fur is a lot more than the typical monkeys found in Malaysia. I suppose it's due to the cold weather. We watched their performances on the rope and some stunts. However, they're far more fiercer than the monkeys I've seen before.


Otters were the next dwellers of the reserve park. They were quite afraid of the humans and they ran when we were near them.


Next were some species of birds displayed. They were common birds found in Malaysia as well:


Ok, after all of these. We headed to the real livestock breeds in "Heritage NZ". The natural setting of countryside was awesome. All the stuff and the breeding places were so authentic and they really projected the image of old New Zealand. Here, we could find some of these typical farmland species of animals:



After that, we headed to the small creatures of reptile, where we saw some lizards and mantis..At last, we entered an enclosed room where the Kiwi Birds were living there. "No Camera allowed". So, couldn't take any photos on them. The room was so dark and creepy and we'd to start our treasure hunt in darkness to hunt for Kiwi birds. These birds are endangered species and they were given the best protection. In fact, there should be 4 Kiwi birds inside the room, but we just managed to find a pair of Kiwis which I think was a couple. We needed to stay silence as noise would chase them away. They're prone to predators and they need special care as they cant fly (no wings). They have a long beak and they're cute and small in size. They're like typical birds without wings. We were a bit disappointed as we couldn't snap any photos. After getting out of the room, there was also a "dwelling" for another type of Kiwi species called North Island Kiwi if I'm not mistaken. Still, we couldn't find them as they like darkness and like to hide when the encounter humans...

That is all for my trip to this special reserve park and below are some nice photos taken along my trip there.. (Some of the photos above were taken by Choon Seng)