Auckland Zoo on a hot summer's afternoon

I may have headed to the Zoo yesterday to see the tigers, but I did take other photos as well.

There was the Galapagos Tortoise feeding ...

 

With two females and one male, the Zoo are trying to successfully breed them. But, so far, only infertile eggs have been found.

The macaws next door got their lunch around the same time.

So did the Eclectus Parrot.

Part of the 1923 architecture of the zoo: the band rotunda.

Complete with a water feature which drew thirsty kids like a magnet on the hot day.

Except this is not what they should be trying to drink. I did see one kiddy precariously balance on the rim to take a drink, but she soon spat it out.

According to some very handy early maps of the zoo published on the Zoo Chat messageboard, it appears that this enclosure dates from sometime between the late 1920s and 1950 -- by the latter period, it was four separate compartments, housing vultures.

These days, it is home to a very different animal.

A lone chimpanzee, named Janie.

These days, she's close to 60 years old, taken from her mother in Sierra Leone and shipped first to London Zoo, then to Auckland in 1956.

There, she became one of the zoo's tea-party chimps, a practice that charmed visitors but didn't do a lot of good for the chimpanzees. The practice ceased in 1963, fifty years ago.

In the 1980s, an unsuccessful attempt was made to integrate the three survivors, Janie, Josie and Bobbie, with a mother-raised chimpanzee group. Josie died in 2000, Bobbie in 2004, and now Janie is the sole survivor of an old idea in the zoo's history, housed in one of the zoo's oldest enclosures.

She has Type 2 diabetes these days, but otherwise is well-looked after by the keepers.

Next to Janie's cage -- the Aussie walkabout area.

Star of the show wasn't even an Aussie.

A bit of luck, that while I was waiting for the tiger encounter, I spotted a keeper giving food to a couple of the otters.

Tiger, tiger ...

Finally today, on a hot Auckland summer afternoon, I had the opportunity of photographing the tigers at the Auckland Zoo again -- but this time, in a lot more detail. 

Between the two tiger enclosures is this elevated walkway. Here Oz, the male tiger, and Molek, the female, swap sides.

Oz engaged in the enrichment programme.

He apparently also loves a bowl of Whiskas milk (so do the local sparrows), and a roll around on a piece of sacking with Serval cat scent.

Qantas' golden year

(As suggested by two on my Facebook friends' list -- here is something I popped up there)

At the moment, I'm doing a bit of a declutter in part of my house (I hope and intend for the project to continue to other parts of the house as well. I need the room) Anyway -- this week, out of a pile of old magazines, I found this: a 1970 Qantas Pacific routes flight guide. This would have come to here via one of my half-brothers who visited New Zealand around that time (when I was 6). Can't say this is familiar to me at all before now, and probably has been lost among magazines and what-have-you all this time. 

"You have only to ask the Steward for anything you need. Drinks and cigarettes can be purchased in flight in accordance with Customs and Excise limitations ... Complimentary toiletry items are available ... We carry standard baby foods, a bassinette, safety pins, disposable diapers, feeding bottle, comforter and talc. Ask the Flight Hostess or Flight Steward for chess, playing cards, draughts, crossword puzzles, a selection of children's games, and airmail writing paper. The flight library contains a variety of good books and current magazines, also books suitable for children of all ages.

"Qantas personnel may not accept gratuities of any kind. Offering a tip will only cause embarrassment. Their reward is knowing they helped make your flight more enjoyable."

Maps are included, so you can "follow your flight path" from Europe or anywhere Qantas flew, down to Australia and New Zealand. There's a description of the flight staff uniforms, their cadet schools, and info on the Qantas V-Jet.

At the time, Qantas were celebrating their 50th anniversary, so provided passengers with three gold-coloured postcards showing views from their history. Also, a remnant of the days when smoking was allowed on commercial planes -- and flammable liquids allowed in the cabin. 

"T Model Ford driven by Hudson Fysh. He surveyed Qantas' original air route in a similar vehicle."

"DH50J, 1928. 4 passengers. 105 mph. Three of these 'workhorses' were built by Qantas at Longreach, Queensland."

"AVRO 504K, 1921. Pilot and 2 passengers. 65 mph. Intrepid passengers flew in this, Qantas' first aircraft, on taxi trips and joy-rides."

Two Auckland heritage buildings face uncertain future

St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Ponsonby, c1898. Ref 4-3540, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Library

News just in from the suburban newspapers that St Stephen's Church in Ponsonby is facing closure. 

It has stood for more than 130 years, but this Christmas may be the last for St Stephen's Presbyterian Church in Ponsonby. Dwindling worshippers and large bills to make the building earthquake-proof may force the place of worship to close its doors as the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa NZ assesses its buildings. Churchgoers were told earlier this month that paying to safeguard the building would cost in excess of $500,000, something the parish can't feasibly afford to pay for as it only has 30-40 members. "We are a small congregation, we certainly don't have half a million dollars," St Stephen's session clerk Ross Prestidge said. A recent evaluation showed the church, which opened in 1879, only scored 29 per cent of the current earthquake standard for new buildings. The Building Act 2004 requires them to be no less than 34 per cent. As it stands the church would be 10-25 times more at risk during an earthquake than a new building. It is considered to be legally earthquake-prone. 

 And the Mt Eden tea kiosk from 1926-1927 has also been found to be an at-risk building.

The kiosk, on the northern slopes of Mt Eden, was closed following a structural assessment in February which found the building did not meet building standards. Strengthening work began earlier this month and is expected to be completed by March. The kiosk was built in 1926 and has in the past been used as tea rooms and restaurant. Richard Hollier, Auckland Council's acting regional and specialist parks manager, said the work would maintain the historical integrity of the kiosk and ensure it could be reopened to the public. But its future use has not been determined.

Relic from a lost safari park

I bought this old pin badge last Sunday at the Avondale Market. It's seen better days, bent probably due to bad care and being left in the heat of a glass display case in the sun too long (the seller, unfortunately, wouldn't reduce the price based on that).

There's not a lot left from the Auckland Lion Safari Park at Red Hills Road, Massey, in operation from 1981 until sometime in the mid 1990s (the company files, which I intend looking at as soon as the silly season passes over, go down to 1995).

The park seems to have originated as an offshoot of the Bullens operations in Australia. (See also this Facebook page) Exactly why the Auckland park closed I don't yet know, but the Old Friends memories online speak of hi-jinks among the staff like cycling through the lions compound, playing around with tractors and mud slides, yet also note fond memories of the lions, tigers, and Clyde the Camel.

This from Exotic Intruders (1983) by Joan Druett:

If game parks are a modern development from the acclimatisation societies and their peculiarities, safari parks are a close relative. But safari parks deal exclusively in the visitor animals—none of their stock have ever been liberated, or are ever likely to be. The Auckland Lion Safari Park is the newest of these, opened at the end of 1981. Other entrepreneurs have tried the venture, the earliest being the Orana Lion Park outside Christchurch. Until recently there were two others—one at Paraparaumu and another outside Hamilton—but these failed. The new park at Auckland has the backing of a circus organisation—the Bullen organisation, which is involved in six safari parks in Australia—so it has its roots in the exotic animal-keeping business that is the oldest of them all.

To visit a safari park, one does not leave one's car (although if you are a politician you can get a free ticket to travel through on a pushbike). Windows must be kept closed at all times, as you drive slowly and gaze at lions. It is the ultimate step in transferring alien animals to our environment.

I'd really appreciate any further leads or information from readers.

Google Maps changes a church

There's been a few local snippet stories in the papers of late about Google Maps, a very useful tool, having a bit of a nervous breakdown when it comes to the labels it puts on geographic landmarks. This morning, doing a bit of research into public transport stops on the Auckland Transport site, I found this.

Our Avondale St Judes Anglican Church, there at the corner of Donegal and St Jude Street (guess what the latter street is named after) since 1884 -- now dubbed the Romanian Orthodox Church of St Ignatius of Antioch.

There's possibly been a mix-up between the actual local Orthodox church of St Ignatius -- at Alford Street, in Waterview -- and the fact that "St Jude" is mentioned on the Orthodox Church's website.

Ah, well. Back to looking up timetables ...