What's On at Zealandia

It can be easy to stick to what you know, to keep to the well-walked and well-marked routes through ZEALANDIA. How often do you take the paths less travelled? 
There are many lesser-visited spots in the valley, particularly once you start exploring the tracks beyond the Upper Dam. However, you don’t always have to venture far to get off the beaten track. 

Under the water tower’s wooden walkway, there’s a  warou (welcome swallow) nest. It’s at the farthest end from the Visitor Centre and safely above the water level of the Lower Lake. This high sided, round nest is made of compacted mud and twigs and is on a concrete ledge.

Did you know ZEALANDIA has a hermaphrodite tree? It is the kōtukutuku or tree fuchsia (Fuchsia excorticata). Kōtukutuku trees can be either female or hermaphrodite (which means they have both male and female flower parts). Hermaphrodite kōtukutuku trees can fertilise themselves.

The ZEALANDIA Monday Walking Group is a collection of adventurous ZEALANDIA Members who tackle some of the valley's most difficult tracks together.

Rosemary Cole describes what the Monday Walking Group involves, and how you can get involved, in this article.

From June 10 - 25th Matariki or Māori New Year is being celebrated in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

One Lunar Calendar ends when the 7 stars of Matariki appear in the Eastern sky at dawn where the sun rises.

“ If you go out in [ZEALANDIA] today, you`re sure of a big surprise “, because there are no juvenile tuatara in their former glass nursery. Six juvenile tuatara were judged to have grown big enough to cope in the wild. They were also judged to be healthy, so were moved into the wild to protect them from a fungal disease primarily affecting tuatara in captivity.

Even though there’s a finite number of walks in ZEALANDIA, there’s an infinite number of ways to do them. You can mix and match the walks to suit your timeframe, energy level and fitness.

This auld proverb means those living together should try to get on, but this ain't necessarily so in the shag colonies at ZEALANDIA.

On earlier visitor maps,  ZEALANDIA`s Lower Dam was referred to as The Lower Lake and the Upper Dam as the Upper Lake. Originally, however, The Lower Dam was named The Lower Reservoir, which was an earth dam completed in 1878. Due to the European settlers wanting farmland, large fires in 1850 and 1860 cleared that area of its broadleaf forest. Some of the valley was farmed uptil 1906, then any remaining catchment area was bought for waterworks.