Yesterday we went ZooMusic at the Auckland Zoo, knocking out two of the things I wanted to do while in New Zealand: go to a zoo and attend a concert of Kiwi music.

I forgot to eat a kiwi while looking at the kiwi birds, which for some strange reason is a goal of mine.  Oh well, I’m just saving something for next time.  We did wander around looking at the animals before the concert and saw many of the normal characters, like birds, rhinos, and hippos.

At 5:30 they closed the zoo and we lined up outside to get back in at 6 for the concert.

Lisa Crawley opened up the show

and the main acts were Anika Moa

and Sola Rosa with some singers whose names I don’t know.

Sola Rosa was the only one I had any previous knowledge of before ZooMusic.  I love this song from them and Iva Lamkum.

The concert turned out to be pretty cool. We grabbed some grass front and center to sit and enjoy the show then danced during Sola Rosa’s performance. Luckily the rain held off until we were leaving! I never thought it would rain, or threaten to rain so much here.

Despite being a lot of fun, the concert was a Concert for Conservation. Part of ticket price and all the additional money raised that night will go toward conservation of the Sumatran tiger. From the Zoo:

“Worldwide, there are fewer than 160 Sumatran tigers in zoos and less than 400 in the wild. Along with captive breeding, zoos are increasingly working together to support conservation projects in the wild. Through our Conservation Fund, the zoo has joined with Australasian and European zoo partners to assist the 21st Century Tiger project’s Kerinci Seblat National Park. A World Heritage Site, Kerinci Seblat’s 14,000km is one of the most important conservation areas in South East Asia, and has tiger protection and conservation units working hard to halt the poaching and trafficking of tigers. Funds raised from Anika Moa and Sola Rosa’s ZooMusic concert will support tiger protection and conservation units in this national park.”

Listening to music and saving the tigers…. good times. ;)

It’s the best time of year, right?

Hehe.  Christmas is actually not my favorite day of the year, especially when my family acts out a drama of epic proportions like a few of them decided to do this morning.  But it is all good.  At least we celebrated Festivus this year without much incident!

And since I did a virtual “talent” show video for my other blog, so I figured I would share with yall too.  Merry Christmas, from me to you: