Our main reason for stopping in Whangarei was to visit Zion Wildlife Gardens, home of the Lion Man – a wildlife park full of big cats like lions, white lions, tigers, white tigers, and some smaller cats like leopards and cheetahs (as well as a retired performing babboon, randomly).
Tom and I got a private tour (we were pretty lucky – about ten minutes after we arrived, a coach full of elderly people turned up and had their own tour – and we nearly got stuck with them).
A leopard
White lions
The babboon enjoying a scratch
Typical cat-like behaviour
The tour was pretty interesting. Most of the cats were lazing around or sleeping in a typical cat-like fashion, but some of them were slightly more awake and either hissed at us or came up to the edge of their enclosures to come see us (one particular white tiger was really happy to see our tour guide – rubbing itself against the fence, it would have been purring if tigers were able to purr). This one particular white tiger also decided to start having a go at his white tiger wifey while we were there, which she wasn’t too happy about.
hello wifey…. prod prod hassle hassle
leave me alone!
You just knew that she’d win in the end.
Whangarei made a pretty decent base to stay in for the night, being the northernmost city in New Zealand. While there we also headed to the really accessible Whangarei falls, which were pretty impressive, and then kept walking round to the ‘Treetop Board Walk’, which wasn’t as exciting as it sounded.
Whangarei falls
Crazy… one of my Threshers colleagues’ brother has been visiting for a month and has just gone home to Whangarei… he made it sound like an amazing place and he didn’t even mention the zoo! Did you guys get a chance to go up the mountain?
Are you a little confused… I don’t think there is a mountain there, all the mountains are further south (mostly on the south island). As far as I can remember there was the Lion Man, a waterfall and a few big trees. We’ll definately make sure we go up a mountain somewhere though, just to keep you happy
Hullo! I have inquired about said mountain from my Threshers colleague who use to live there and he confirmed that there definately is one!! I can’t remember what it’s called but v near Whangarei!!