Who can you meet? Animals of New Zealand - New Zealand wildlife | The Family Without Borders

The Family Without Borders

The Travelling family

New ZealandSouth Pacific

Likes

Who can you meet? Animals of New Zealand

Seelöwen an der Küstre Neuseelands

Seals, penguins, dolphins and kiwi birds – that was our plan of meetings for New Zealand. We saw much more wildlife in New Zealand!

Nature of New Zealand is crazy! 1/3 of the country is a national park or conservation reserve and 80% of the nature of the country is to be found OLNY in the country! It shouldn’t be forgotten that New Zealand was once part of the massive continent Gondwana but separated from Australia 80 mln years ago and for the longest period of time was not connected with the rest.

A tree at the windy South coast of New Zealand
A tree near the windy South coast of New Zealand

Interestingly, New Zealand had practically no native animals except birds and seals! All, which can be met now, have been exported (even the pests! like wasps!). Deers were introduced for sport purposes (hunting is a little obsession here!), rabbits came from Britain and possums came from Australia. Those last two are very unfortunate animals for the nature and Kiwis are trying to fight with them for years. Just imagine, there is 70 mln possums in New Zealand! Their furry corpes can be found flattened on country roads, I even can’t tell you how many have we seen!

New Zealand: A dead possum on the road; Photo: Thomas Alboth
Possums you can spot dead on the road

But you can meet a lot of native or half-native birds and mammals in the whole country. And you shouldn’t be afraid, there is only one dangerous thing: poisonous spider kopito (this guy we haven’t met).

New Zealand wildlife: An eal
A scary eel
New Zealand wildlife: Goosy feet; Photo: Anna Alboth
New Zealand wildlife: Goosy feet
New Zealand wildlife: wallaby (Kangaruh)
A wallaby introduced from Australia
New Zealand wildlife: A black swan
A black swan
Hard to find: a yellow eyed-penguin in New Zealand
Hard to find: a yellow eyed-penguin in New Zealand
An oystercatcher bird - wildlife of New Zealand
An oystercatcher bird
A Kea parrot in the Milford Sound (New Zealand); Photo: Thomas Alboth
A Kea parrot around the Milford Sound
Abel Tasman National Park (New Zealand) seagulls in love; Photo: Anna Alboth
Kissing sea gulls
A Pied Shag (Phalacrocorax varius) in the Abel Tasman National P
A Pied Shag bird (Phalacrocorax varius)
Abel Tasman National Park (New Zealand): Hanna finding shells on the beach, Photo: Anna Alboth
Hanna finding shells on the beach
Abel Tasman National Park (New Zealand): Plant; Photo: Thomas Al
Berries
New Zealand: On the beach
New Zealand: On the beach

Very special and typical for New Zealand is paua shell, to be found at the beaches and/or under the water. It’s sold in every tourist stand and can be found in every Kiwi home: as an ashtray or soup plate or whatever.

A freshly fished paua shell
A freshly fished paua shell

But what is difficult in New Zealand is the old good car game for parents and kids “who will spot more animals?”. There is almost no moment without seeing sheep, cows or deers. Lamb export has started in 1880s and there are sooooo many sheep and cows farms, that numbers are even not needed. Billion liters of milk, changed into cheese can supply McDonalds in whole Pacific region, whole Asia and South America! – Our power is not only the amount of animals – told us Mark, farmer. – With the high-tech machinery one farmer can milk an hour 350 cows! Just imagine.

So how does New Zealand sound? The song is something in between the singing of very diverse birds, moo-ing and maa-ing, baa-ing and sheep dogs’ barking…

New Zealand landscape: Blue sky, amazing green, hundreds of shee
New Zealand: Blue Sky, Green, Sheep

New Zealand: Sheep everywhere

A sheep in New Zealand
A sheep in New Zealand

But for our girls still the seals and sea lions were the coolest.

New Zealand: Watching a sea lion near Dunedin
Watching a sea lion near Dunedin

Our first book is out!

We have published our first book (for now just in Polish:) about our Central America Trip.
See, read and order here »

4 Comments

  • Posted May 18, 2014 at 22:29 | Permalink

    I bet the girls loved to spot the animals! And great pick with the sea lions. Those would be my favorite too. 4 more months til I get to see it all with my own eyes! Where are you guys now?

    Reply
    • Anna Alboth
      Posted June 3, 2014 at 10:38 | Permalink

      Yes, if you ask them about NZ they just talk about the animals :)

      Reply
  • Posted June 2, 2014 at 17:47 | Permalink

    Niesamowite zdjęcia. Nie spodziewałem się, że większość gatunków zwierząt to przybysze z innych krajów!

    Reply
    • Anna Alboth
      Posted June 3, 2014 at 10:39 | Permalink

      No my też o tym nie wiedzieliśmy! Pusta ta Nowa Zelandia kiedyś była :)

      Reply

Post a Reply to Anna Alboth Cancel reply

Your email is kept private. Required fields are marked *