Kiwis!

For my next adventure I went to the Zoo with my host's son, Alec. The highlight was by far the 3 kiwis we saw (the birds not the fruit). They were a lot bigger than I thought they would be and were about the size of a house cat. They run pretty fast and use their long beaks to sense bugs moving in the ground. Apparently, kiwis are pretty rare in the wild, so I was lucky to see one in the zoo.
After the zoo, we went to Mnt. Eden, another sleeping volcano to climb with a great view of Auckland. Again I noticed how clean Mnt. Eden was. I didn't see any litter or broken glass, and the grass made me think we were in Middle Earth. I'm starting to see why Lord of the Rings was filmed here; it's wild, gorgeous and could be a little magical.
For lunch I got to try a stake and ale pie. Savory pies are the norm in New Zealand. Alec told me that he thinks sweet pies are odd.