Kea

on our recent trip to New Zealand I got to meet the famous New Zealand bird the Kea

These big parrots are quite used to people and quite playful among each other:



they appear to be a green camouflage pattern when they take off you can see clearly the red under their wings:



stories of them damaging your car are not over stated, as this fellow (who seems to be known locally to the human population) hopped straight under our car as soon as we stopped before we even got out...



The Kea are actually under threat, so despite their behaviour please be nice to them, people have been responsible for taking their numbers to the threatened level both by hunting them and by the introduction of the Australian Possum (much reviled in NZ)

a Glacier getting bigger?

While we were in New Zealand a couple of weeks ago we visited the Franz Joseph Glacier

At the base of the glacier there is a small sign showing the retreat of the Glacier from its position in 1985 to now:



The interesting periods however are between 1950 and now, with the levels of retreat reversing in 1970 to now. You can see the glacier has grown significantly between 1970 and now.

interesting

Christchurch

its hard to grasp for me that little over 24 hours after I left Christchurch that it was again hit with earthquakes.

On Sunday the 20th I was standing outside the Cathedral there and took this pano



now the church is in rubble and this window



is likely smashed

Having been there and stood in these places just so recently this seems all the more real and engaging than had I never been there. My thoughts and best wishes to to the people there.