LIONS!

Alright so we haven't gone on many adventures lately but we finally were able to make another trip to Rotorua and damn this was a good one. Lets just say we got to pet 4 month lion cubs and watch lions get fed. We also walked through the Redwood forest and bathed in another natural hot springs with a waterfall. Before I go on I got to tell the story of the Saab sassin hard and of course Gabe was the one that got her to cooperate . . . again.

So we got out of the hot springs and went up to the car to leave. It was about 30 degrees out and very very dark out. We get to the car only to find out that the battery in our remote unlocker thingy died. You wouldn't think this would be a big deal but our stupid car alarm is set off when you unlock it manually . . . .  -__-. So we unlocked praying this time would be different and of course it wasn't. So our car alarm was going bizurk and we obviously couldn't start the car. To make matters worse there was a couple down in the hot springs trying to enjoy the beautiful night so they had to listen to our obnoxious alarm for like a half hour or so going on and off while we were trying to figure how the hell we were going to get out of the damn place. Our first solution was to take the fuse out of the horn to stop the loud honking but that did nothing. Eventually we were all sitting in the car basically accepting the fact we were screwed. She was up to no good again. To lighten matters the alarm was going off when Gabe sat in the driver seat and shushed her and rubbed the key hole and sure enough the alarm stopped for a bit. Then Gabe tried opening the remote thing and he eventually pried it open with his teeth. He then took the batteries out and gave em the ole N64 trick (blowing on them) and rotated the batteries . . . sure enough he hit the button and there was a slight reaction from the Saab. Our problem was solved.

Anyways the day wasn't about the Sassin it was about our day in Paradise valley where we got to pet lion cubs and watch the adults feed. There also was a natural trout creek where huge trout went to spawn.

She really loved chewing on this thing (had horse meat in it which is what they feed the lions)

Big Ole Trout, Where's my fishing pole?

Got to drink out of these springs, very good warer

Trout with mouth open

Eels, very common in NZ

Wallaby

Yawn

Big ole Redwoods

Going into Kerosene Creek

Drinking the water

Petting the lion cubs was literally a dream come true and I am very pissed I can't upload video because they turned out better than my pictures. For those that are curious a lion cub (these were four months old females) have a fairly coarse coat kind of like sheep wool. Underneath though they are rock solid. They aren't as soft and cuddly as they look. But they are just as cute in real life as they are in photos (if not cuter). They were very playful and a little mischievous (just as I was hoping). I would have loved to sit and play with them all day and I hope someday I get the opportunity to do something like that.

The lions came from a line of circus lions that one point escaped during a show so they had to discontinue the show. At the time Paradise Valley was still growing and they decided to adopt the lions. Some of the offspring are sent to zoos or sometimes incorporated into a pride in the wild.

I also must comment on watching the lions feed. Before the feeding one of the lionesses was getting restless and she began to roar and paw at a cage that was holding younger lions and it was incredibly intimidating. When a lion roars it shakes your gut and instills a primitive fear and you just know you're supposed to respect these gorgeous beasts. It is quite the experience.

Then being able to walk through the Redwoods, which were absolutely huge, was icing to the cake. The trees are a rare species found in California that have very specific and specialized requirements to grow (I learned about them in my Ecology class). There once was a forest of native pine like trees but for reasons I can't remember (I have to review my notes) they were all decimated. Ecologists and conservationists then regrew the forest with these trees that were found in California. Quite incredible. I'll review my notes and add details later.

Ending the day at Kerosene creek was absolutely perfect. We are going to go back during the day so I will expand on this place once we return.

As a conclusion to this post I'm just going to show pictures of a little friend we found outside our house a couple days ago.

The names Slim.

Native parrot

I like this picture

I apologize if this entry seems rushed and sloppy. Today I spent five hours studying for my physiology final and I'm a little wiped plus I will be studying even more tomorrow. I will explain the way finals work in a future post. Hopefully I can come back and review this and fix it if need be. 

Cheers 

Date 13/6/2012 (6/13/12)