I.O.W Day 3 - 16/05/07

We had a mission on this morning to find an internet cafe and try to secure Mark some tickets for a sporting event. I had researched and found an internet cafe in Newport on Scarrets Lane... only problem is we don't have a map detailed enough to tell us where this is. We rise vaguely early and set off at 8.50am in search of said internet cafe... I attempt to use the map in our atlas for Newport before Mark points out that it is actually Newport in Wales that I'm looking at :o/

We make it to the centre of Newport and park in a small pay and display - somehow through a stroke of either pure genious, or luck, Scarrets Lane leads from the car park we have picked!! Whats more, we step out onto the main street and there is another internet cafe staring us in the face. We now have an hour to kill before these tickets go on sale. We take a quick tour of all the tea & coffee shops in Newport before deciding on Graces Quality Bakers and Confectioners. Mark has a HUGE belgium bun with tea, I settle for a coffee.

Into pay as you go internet cafe, log on ready for sale at 10am... ticketmaster is shit. Technical difficulties (ie Ticketmaster being shit) means sale is pushed back to 11am. We kill time. Finally log on at 11am - ticketmaster is still shit and crashes. We try for 1/2 hour before giving up and heading for somewhere altogether more fun - Amazon World.

So Amazon World is mostly indoors - it has a number of different areas based on different environments, eg. the canopy / river / desert etc, and also an outdoor area. On the way through you learn about the different Eco-Systems and the effects that human beings have on them. Some favourite animals were the Tamandua which is a small climbing anteater that lives in trees, and the Kinkajou which is a nocturnal mammal and was hanging around upside down by his tail.

Mark was very taken with the Giant Anteater (above right) and I liked watching the meercats (right), who seemed a bit portly to me! There were also some Jackass Penguins, so called because their call sounds like a donkey - and I can confirm that it does! It is from Amazon World that the baby penguin Togo was stolen in 2005 and never recovered. Thankfully his parents have raised a new chick since then - the guidebook also notes that Amazon World is the first place in 55 years in the UK to breed a sloth, and the first place ever in the UK to breed a Tamandua Anteater. They are currently part of 28 conservation breeding schemes. The guidebook here was very good - unique style and very informative.

All in all we very much enjoyed Amazon World - saw some unusual animals and learnt a lot about conservation and the need to preserve the rainforests. Take a look at the website for more information.

We had another picnic in the carpark at Amazon World before heading to our next destination - The I.O.W Owl and Falconry Centre found in the grounds of Appuldurcombe House at Wroxall. Got to the Falconry centre at 2pm - next display wasn't until 3pm so we had an hour to kill. Spent some time looking at the birds on the weathering ground, had a cream tea in the cafe and generally relaxed before the display started. There was only one other couple there so it was almost an exclusive showing! We see a Steppe Eagle (Henry), a peregrine type falcon (Samson) and an American Bald Eagle (Cherokee). They have two other displays at 11am and 1pm and fly different birds at each demonstration. Apparently Chorekee is always last out in case he doesn't come home again - he'd take down any of the other smaller hawks!

Henry wasn't really in the mood for flying but Samson was flown to the lure and was very quick (below left) and crafty trying to catch the falconer out with nimble turns and using the trees as cover. Chorekee (above left) went "fishing" in a small pool which was very cool to watch. I have never seen a big eagle do this before and it is amazing seeing the way they control their approach and manage to grab the tiny peice of meat from the water. The falconer gave a talk throughout and was very informative, although a lot of the information I had already learnt from my visits to the Hawk Conserancy in Andover. I would have liked to have seen the other two flying displays but even if you took the tour round Appuldurcombe house itself, and the gardens (designed by Capability Brown) I don't think there would be enough to keep you occupied in between. Still, the display was good and we also got a close up look at some red kites which was interesting as we have a resident pair that can be seen flying above or house in Lower Earley occasionally.

From the Falconry Centre we went directly to Ventnor Botanic Gardens and walked down to Steephill Cove (right). We had a mooch on the beach - which would be brilliant for rockpooling if the weather was better - and then set off along the coastal path towards Ventnor Esplanade and our destination for dinner, The Spyglass Inn. Mark had scampi and I had seafood taglietelli which was lush, before we headed back along the coastal path to pick up the car and take our weary feet back to the mobile home for a well earned rest!