By Justin Atkinson, 28 November 2024
Sutherlands (Hut) Zoo is two and a half hours drive from Wellington, via the cute vineyard town of Martinborough. It's sure to be a fun day out for the whole (tramping) family! Come meet plenty of (mostly) friendly animals, they (mostly) won't bite or make you sick:
- A large rat infestation in the roof, their squeaks ended once our Conservation Officer Liam jumped onto the roof with a knife, this showed his commitment to his role
- Worms, aka mosquito larvae, swimming in the water tank (they excreted paint flakes)
- Friendly dogs from several hunter 4wds (one photo bombed our group photo)
- Pink butterflies (aka Cinnabar Moths or Tyria jacobaeae)
- Cows, who left their mark on the landscape
- Sheep (one of whom was hit by a speeding hunter's ute, which came close to hitting us too, the sheep was bleeding pretty bad, we did our best to help it, we picked it up from the hot gravel road and moved it to the nearby grass, this was in an area with no signal, 30min later with signal we reported it to the local SPCA/Council)
- The speeding hunters (nuff said)
Along with its diversity of wildlife, Sutherlands Hut exhibited a gross residency. Apart from the rats and mosquito larvae, the floor was coated in a layer of dust and grime, the windows were dirty, the fireplace was filled with rubbish, mould was on the ceiling and walls, the water tank leaked a little, and the walls had multiple holes to the outside.
As part of FMC's "Love Our Huts campaign", we did some basic cleaning tasks and reported the problems to FMC and DOC so they can fix them in future. We took a pretty alternate track on our way home called Pig Ridge, this was steep in places but with nice views over the Aorangi Forest Park.
Zoo rating: 6.5/10 - Bramble, Ari, Liam, Oscar, Lauren, Melanie, Justin
