New Zealand - The Curious, The Strange & The Bizarre

The Curious:

Not only at the beach that I posted a photo of with the cairns - we encountered cairns most everywhere we roamed. They were by waterfalls, along river banks, they added an interesting foreground to our photos, and we wondered - are the New Zealand natives doing this? Or is it the tourists? We don't know.

What seems odd to me - even more so than their existence - is that it would take only one jerk - to come along and push them over ... but that hasn't happened. Rarely did we see just a pile of rocks laying about.

I liked them. When I googled it, I found one photographer that mentioned cairns along the beach we had seen who said: "In earlier years, cairns had special meanings attached which aided people when searching for the right direction to choose. Nowadays, people make cairns on the beach as a way to spend some relaxing hours and enjoy the atmosphere around the New Zealand waters."

I like the idea of cairns. Finding just the right rock, setting it just the right way - one on top of the other ... to find balance and create a thing of beauty:

The Strange

At the Wildlife Preserve we visited our last day in New Zealand, we encountered what can only be described as the angriest cockatoo I have ever seen or might exist anywhere! There was a sign that said 'do not feed' but Gary had a bag of food for other birds we were allowed to feed. We don't know if it was that, but man, this bird was PISSED!

And hilarious. When we approached his cage, I wondered aloud if he spoke, would he have a New Zealand accent (OK, I know ... duh). But the first time he said 'hello' with that accent - it set us all laughing. Especially since he would say 'hello' then bob up and down then screech at the top of his lungs with his little 'headdress' splaying in all it's yellow regalia! And over and over it went. He also said 'G'day' then the bobbing and screaming and to our delight he would mutter something under his breath - we never figured out what he was saying so we intermittently filled in the blanks: "Get me the hell out of this cage", "Give me some of that food - you fool", "What a bunch of idiots" etc.

Amazing what one little creature can do to send 4 adults into fits of laughter:

Thought I would add a photo I have used before of a very calm cockatoo to show the difference in his 'yellow hair thingy'. Maybe this one looks so calm and peaceful since I photographed him, a free bird, in a beautiful botanical garden, grazing in the grass with about 20 other cockatoos:


(Poor little angry, caged, cockatoo)

The Bizarre

On our last day - before arriving at Christchurch and heading off to the Wildlife Preserve, we headed to Lake Tekapo and The Church of the Good Shepherd. In the parking lot we found a vehicle that defied all descriptions.

It is made entirely of wood and is someones 'mobile home'! It comes complete with two pullouts, a satellite dish, stained glass windows and a sign on the back of it in bright yellow that says: "How Fast Does Your House Move?"

I have no idea how fast this thing goes, I am just glad we were not following it through a canyon!