Waikune prison

This minimum security prison opened in 1921.  It sits 'in the middle of nowhere' and the inmates worked in various capacities, including doing the laundry for the nearby Grand Chateau Hotel, a ski resort in a World Heritage Park. 

According to the internet, it was closed in 1986 due to lack of funding to upgrade. According to word-of-mouth, it was closed because prison families complained because it was too far to travel to see the inmates.

*edit* From the little information I can find, this is one of the two main buildings that held about 100 prisoners.

Rubbish Tuesday

Good Fences

animal encounters

This is a wild ruru (native owl also called morepork) that Hubby captured at Owlcatraz. You can read more about that park on my other blog by clicking here. It was quite exciting to see since we can hear them at night but have never seen one.

The cockatoo is Joey, greeter at Owlcatraz. I don't know what kind of birds these little guys are--they were at Owlcatraz, too. 

The peacocks were part of a larger wild bunch on the side of the road.


Sunday in my City

Weekly Top Shot - Ruru

The Bird D'Pot