14 November 2016
Dinosaurs run amuck in Botanic Gardens cafe
Access to the café at Auckland Botanic Gardens was restricted for a period today, following sightings of a Tyrannosaurus
Rex in the dining area.
Café Miko Manager Dereck Owen says, “She ordered the carnivore special but spat out the salad. It was fascinating to see
how she managed a knife and fork with those tiny arms and no opposable thumbs.”
The café was able to reopen as soon as the errant dinosaur had been herded back to the Gondwana Forest section of the
Gardens.
“Our Gondwana Forest contains the descendants of plants that dinosaurs would have roamed among at the time New Zealand
was part of the Gondwana supercontinent 200 million years ago. However, dinosaurs are not supposed to be roaming in the
café, where there is no seating large enough to accommodate them,” says Auckland Botanic Gardens Manager Jack Hobbs.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex is the star of an innovative, larger-than-life dinosaur performance and display that also features
a raptor and a crested therapod. The dinosaur encounters are free and will run on weekends at the Auckland Botanic
Gardens from 19 November 2016 until 5 February 2017, except for a short break over Christmas.
Botanic Gardens staff have already taken more than 10,000 bookings for the encounters.
“It’s already shaping up to be a very popular holiday attraction and we urge Aucklanders to pace themselves and try
coming after the first rush. We’ll have three shows a day on most weekends – at 10.30am, 1.30pm and 3pm – so as many
people as possible get to enjoy our dinosaur friends,” says Jack.
Free activities for children, including digging for fossils, will also take place in the visitor centre, where there
will be a display of fossils, prehistoric plants and reproduction dinosaur bones. While entry to the dinosaur encounters
is free, visitors are encouraged to bring some spare change for activities in the Dinosaur Zone and to buy their own
dinosaur to take home.
“We will also have a “dinosaur ranger” on hand during encounter weekends to provide information about the Gondwana
habitat. Children will be able to imagine life as it was when these giant beasts roamed the earth,” says Jack.
ENDS