In March, Stegosaurus returned from England, but he shortly decided that he hadn't traveled enough.

"England was great and it is good to be home again, but I would like to visit some other places and visit other friends. Where can I go?" he asked himself.

Stegosaurus thought, and thought, and then he thought some more. He spent a long time thinking, because thinking is hard when your brain is merely the size of a walnut.

Then, in early May, he had an idea, and upon the morning got back on his raft and floated forthrightly to New Zealand.

"It has been some time since I visited with The Moa Birds, and saw the Haast's Eagles," said Stegosaurus. "I would really enjoy some relaxing time eating the greenery in the swamps of New Zealand with my more evolved bird friends The Moas and Haast's Eagles."

The trip was long, as such trips are, but nothing of note happened. The journey was uneventful.

Stegosaurus arrived in New Zealand on May 4th, at Lake Wanaka Ray's Peak. Stegosaurus observed that the lake was beautiful, but this area was not swampy, and the Moa birds did not live there. Still, he remained for a few days drinking from the lake and enjoying a meal of grass before stomping to the swampland.

"This is a very wonderful place, I shall have to ask the Moas if I can watch them here for some of my visit.," he said to himself.

Once he had climbed upland, ( being thankful for his claws, ) he found the Moas grazing peacefully and they were happy to see him.

"Friend Stegosaurus!" exclaimed Moa. "What a grand surprise ! What brings you to New Zealand?"

"I was hoping to visit with my friends The Moas, to watch you and the Haast's Eagles," said Stegosaurus.

"Well you are welcome to watch us and graze with us," said Moa. "We are a little skittish around our friends The Haast's Eagles, as they do like to eat us from time to time but as long as they aren't trying to put us on their menu we can get along. We are mild mannered vegetarians so we forgive and forget easily."

Stegosaurus stomped around the wetlands with the Moas, where you know, the swampland is much smaller than it used to be from the late Pleistocene to the late Medieval period because so many mammals cleared it since; but in more recent times conservation efforts have taken hold because the mammals got wise and started thinking long term, something that is hard for a Stegosaurus to do. Every now and again mammals use their larger brains for very good causes, for which we are all grateful.

They all observed with great awe the giant Dacrycarpus dacryidioides, 197 feet; Stegosaurus determined he would have to bring his college classmates to New Zealand to help him eat that..... it is wonderfully majestic. The mammal government of New Zealand estimates that only 2% of its native habitat remains, most of it is conserved, with some areas still on private property. But these are long lived trees; they are older than the Moas as they were standing tall when Stegosaurus was just out of his shell; and even back then the Jurassic period, they could live up to 500 years.

Then, leaving the Dacrycarpus dacryidioides, Stegosaurus and the Moa birds stomped into the peatland forest and found the smaller but much more common Manoao colensoi, which can only grow up to about 66 feet. Stegosaurus felt okay eating some of those as they have some to spare. The Moas enjoyed some leaves from the Manoao colensoi, but they generally do not eat whole trees.

One thing that is interesting about them is that they have different leaves when they are young, from when they are older. Stegosaurus couild not decide decide which tasted better; He ultimately decided that he'd have to eat more of them to form an opinion. The Manoao colensoiIt is a resilient tree; it grows in hard soil and can grow shoots from the roots of older trees. Forests of them can be quite dense which is why I don't have any question about consuming them, given their abundance.

Then the Moas and Stegosaurus wandered into the waters to investigate the Avicennia marina in the very comfortable sub tropical North Islands. The Avicennia marina is the only tree of New Zealand able to live in the sea. subsequently Stegosaurus tried some algae, a rare treat, as such grow around their trunks and roots. Their tendency to create intertidal forests is sometimes an annoyance to the mammals who want to play in the sea, but they have some positive environmental impact for the ecosystem. They can prevent shoreline erosion during storm surges, for example. They also trap some contaminants and prevent them from going further out to sea.

After we were done playing in the water we went back to the upland, where we just grazed in relaxing silence for a time.

The silence was eventually broken by the arrival a small number of Haast's Eagles, being three. Two remained in the air while the third landed next to me. The Moa Birds looked on nervously at first, and then quickly scattered into the forest for their own safety.

"Hello, Stegosaurus ! How nice of you to visit. What brings you to New Zealand?" Haast's Eagle asked.

"I am visiting my friends the Moa Birds." Stegosaurus told him, "Which I hope you would have the decency not to eat while I am visiting. I like watching you too, as we all know I'd like to evolve someday into a bird, but I advise you to be kind to my friends remember what I did with my tail the last time!"

"I know, I am the one you struck," said Haast's Eagle, and all I wanted to do was let you know that once we saw you were here we all agreed that we would not eat your friends. When you are gone, Nature must take its course and the Moas must defend themselves but we will not attack them when we see you here. Instead, we will live in harmony so that you can enjoy watching us both; we know you will continue to use your cool, spiky tail until you evolve out of it. "

"Make no mistake, this is true," said Stegosaurus. "I appreciate your candid honesty, and thus, will apologize for having to strike you."

The Haast's Eagle rejoined to the generosity of the forgiving plate lizard, saying, "Thank you, Stegosaurus." and took flight. Stegosaruus called the Moas from the forest, and explained to them the conversation he had just had. Some of them were still nervous, but generally viewed the news as good for them. The Haast's Eagles circled beautifully as the Moas and Stegosaurus grazed peacefully. It was quite a bucolic scene.

Stegosaruus had to leave before there was a chance to graze upon the shores of Lake Wanaka; but the Moa birds promised him they would graze there with him when he returned. Stegosaurus once again got on his raft, floated forthrightly, and returned to Colorado in time for his birthday in June.