Yesterday after sleeping in, we all went to the wildlife sanctuary at Zealandia. That's a serious effort to recreate pre-human conditions on the islands, most notably a lack of predatory nmammals, and foster endangered species there, including insects, reptiles and birds. My favorite was the kaka.

After that, we visited Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum of New Zealand. We mostly lurked in the halls covering Maori culture and colonial/post-colonial culture, though of course a stop was made to view their colossal squid.

Today, Lisa Costello and I are visiting with our friend Sally McLennan. danjite, khaybee and the_child are going shopping, and then golfing at Carlucciland. We're reuniting for a return visit this evening to Zealandia to see Sirocco the kākāpō, a flightless parrot.

Tomorrow is Lord of the Rings day, followed by an open dinner here in Wellington. If you're in-country here in New Zealand and it's any kind of convenient, please consider coming to the dinner.