Hokitiki: Sunday, 8/2

Today was a huge travel day as we left Christchurch (which is on the east coast of the South Island) to drive all the way to Fox Glacier (on the west cost). Like the past few days, the ride was extremely scenic and time passed quickly as I looked out the window trying to soak in as many views as possible.

For lunch we stopped in a town called Hokitiki, where we got to stop in a museum to see the endangered Kiwi bird! Some things I learned: the Kiwi bird is nocturnal. When we went in to see it, the room was extremely dark so the bird thought it was night time even though it was day (tricky tricky museum). It's also bigger than I thought it would be - about the size of a chicken! Finally, the Kiwi has remarkable similarities to mammals that make it an unusual bird. Like mammals, the female Kiwi has ovaries. It's feathers also resemble more of a fur, and it has bone marrow like a mammal. The Kiwi also doesn't fly, and there are extreme laws about protecting the endangered bird because they often fall victim to family dogs as well as other predators. It was great to check that off of the NZ to-do list!

When we eventually made it to Fox Glacier, it was a bit rainy out and a few of us have been feeling exhausted/sick so we took a short rest in our hotel rooms before playing pool and eating dinner together in the hotel's bar. Tomorrow we hike to the terminal end of Fox Glacier and then drive to the adrenaline capital of the world- Queenstown!