Auckland Zoo's young female giraffe Shira has been unloaded from a ship at Timaru and begun a three-hour road trip to a new home in Christchurch.
The two-year-old - just under four metres high - left Timaru on a flat-topped truck just before 5.30pm in a tall crate in which she was loaded aboard the 3100-tonne cargo vessel MV Shansi at Auckland on Wednesday.
She is able to poke her head out of a large opening in the top of the 4.2m crate and has plenty of company, including three Auckland Zoo staff and two from Orana Wildlife Park, which she is expected to reach at about 8.30pm.
Orana spokesman Nathan Hawke said he understood Shira she had enjoyed a fairly smooth two-day voyage, but had been showing signs of looking forward to getting back on dry stable land.
He hoped she would reach Christchurch early enough to be introduced to his open-range zoo's giraffe enclosure tonight, joining two adult giraffes and three-year-old Harriet.
