An eastern blue tongue skink, similar to two recently moved to Brooklands Zoo, shows off the blue tongue that gives it its name.
Brooklands Zoo’s latest arrivals have borrowed more than their names from Sesame Street’s resident odd couple, Bert and Ernie.
Just like Bert, who’s famous for his bad temper, these Australian skinks behave badly when upset – poking out their iridescent blue tongues and hissing.
New Plymouth adventure tourism operators Heliview have bagged another award, this time from an international travel website.
TripAdvisor, which describes itself as the world’s largest travel website, has awarded the Breakwater Bay business a Certificate of Excellence.
Jolanda Foale, who runs the helicopter passenger service with her husband Richard, said she let out a big “wahoo” as she read the email advising them they had won.
“We really appreciate this award as a thank you back from our customers for our hard work and thanking us for their experience,” Mrs Foale said.
The award recognises hospitality excellence and is given to businesses that consistently achieve four or five star reviews from people who have used a service.
“We have received 28 reviews with 27 being excellent or five-star and one being very good of four- star,” Mrs Foale said.
Into the wild : Eltham couple Audrey & Brian Thomas arrive with Squeak for his release onto Mt Taranaki.
Article and photo by SHARYN SMART – Published in the Taranaki Daily News – 22/05/2013
Eltham farmer Brian Thomas saw the reward for months of hard work when he released the kiwi chick Squeak on to Mt Taranaki earlier this month.
The young bird, which carries Mr Thomas’ own nickname, is the first chick from the Taranaki Kohanga Kiwi at Rotokare project to be released into the wild.
“I originally got involved with the project by being a volunteer, working on the predator fence at Rotokare,” Mr Thomas said.
