The Mainland has a tall order coming its way as Auckland Zoo's 2-year-old giraffe Shira began a three-day sea voyage south yesterday.
The young female, travelling in a 4m purpose-built crate, is being relocated to Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park as part of the Australasian zoos' regional breeding programme.
Shira's voyage started at 9am with a road trip to the Ports of Auckland where she will board the Quadrant Pacific Liner, Shansi, a 25,000-tonne container ship bound for Timaru.
Although today was the first time Shira had been away from the zoo, she took her half-hour road trip to the port in her stride, deigning from time to time to peer out from her vantage point three times higher than cars lined up behind her along Balmoral and Mt Eden roads.
A zoo spokeswoman said the trip in her elongated olive green float, along a route approved for her height, went without a hitch and "the traffic was on our side".