Wellington, New Zealand

Next we arrived at the "coolest little capital in the world", Wellington.

 Here's a view for the city rom an overlook.

 We visited the parliament precinct and saw more lovely architecture.

 This is the executive wing of parliament, known as the Beehive.

 And Wellington had some nice playgrounds for the kids in the precinct too.

We also visited the Lady Norwood Rose garden in the Botanic Garden.

That afternoon, we visited Zealandia, an urban ecosanctuary.

Its 500 acres are fully fenced, allowing only native species to inhabit the area.

20 species of native wildlife have been reintroduced while non-native species are trapped.

 This is a Korimako or Bellbird

 A kakariki or red crowned parrot

 This chicken-sized bird is Kereru or wood pigeon.

 A curious Kaka

This is a Tui, called the R2D2 bird because it sounds like the droid in Star Wars!

Can you see him?

This is a Tuatara, a descendant of the lizard-like retiles that lived here over 200 million years ago.
Tuatara means "spiny back" in Maori.

Wellington really was cool!