Batshaws in New Zealand

  Botanical gardens Wellington is built on hills (ie volcanoes) and looks like Portland, Oregon in having a lot more trees than San Francisco.   You get up the main hill by cable car and the gardens go down the side of the hill ending in a beautiful rose garden.   I have attached pictures of some of the plants and flowers that seem to be unique to New Zealand. Te Papa (container of treasures) museum This is another spectacular and diverse museum with exhibits ranging from native flora and fauna to Maori history to the battle of Gallipoli.    Gallipoli This battle that ended in a defeat of the allies by Turkish troops after more than 4 months of trench warfare in 1915.  It had and continue to had and still has have a great impact on the ethos of New Zealanders-pride in the soldiers who fought and devastation at the loss of a generation of young men.  A total of 130,000 lives were lost-42,000 by the British and ANZAC troops and 86,000 by the Turk...

  More on Thermals Thermals play a major role in many aspects of New Zealand culture and business.   There are the “taking of the waters”, the power plants and geysers and mud spouts.   We were in one of the towns that have many “spas” which have pools of warm water (100-105 degrees F) that come from hot springs that are either alkaline or acid depending on the minerals that dissolve.   These are thought to heal everything from rheumatism to impotence and is anti-aging.   I had to try it, although Karen deferred.   You will clearly see when I return that I appear at least 20 years younger.   Actually, it was quite nice as I moved through the 7 different pools going from alkali to acid to clear.   I felt a bit like I was going through a car wash without the car.   There is also the mud spouts which reminded me of Shakespeare’s witches couplet in Macbeth: “double double toil and trouble fire burn and cauldron bubble”.   These are very ...

When God said come forth, the kiwis must have come fifth.   They are not at all well designed animals and it is quite amazing that they are not extinct.   They are flightless, have bad eyesight, and need to gestate for 60 days as an egg that takes up 1/3 of the mother’s bady space.   It would be equivalent to a woman carrying a 36 lb baby.   They are also just weird; for example their nostrils are at the end of their beaks (so they can smell better).   Being nocturnal their hearing and smell are quite acute at least. Kiwis can actually live up to 60 years in captivity and they are monogamous, but they don’t care much about their progeny.   The father sits on the eggs once the mother lays them and when it is time for the chicks to break out of the shell he just leaves and that is the end of their relationship.   The newborn lives on the rest of the yolk sac for about 4 days when they can start foraging for food on their own.   It can be easily s...

  Glow Worms Today we went into caves that have these interesting creatures that glow like jewels on the cave walls.   They are actually the larvae (in the light they look like caterpillars) of small flies called Fungus Gnats.   They glow using an enzyme called Luciferace which we actually use in scientific studies to light up cells we have treated with specific therapeutics or toxins (bioluminescence).   In any case, this lights up their butts which excrete a mucin mix that is like a spider web that draws in and traps small flies.   They remain in the larval state for about 7 months and then pupate for about 2 weeks and emerge as an adult fly about the size of a very large mosquito.   They do not have a mouth or digestive system so their lifespan is only 1-3 days.   During this time they are very busy; they find their life long mate; the females produce about 200 eggs and everyone dies happy or exhausted after the long weekend.   But getting ...