Wednesday also held one of the best parts of this trip so far. We were scheduled to visit the Mines of Spain and the EB Lyons Interpretive Centre, but I wasn't sure what that was. Turns out, Mines of Spain is a regional park that was originally a lead mine, back in the early days of the settlement. Now, it's a very pretty hiking park, filled with all kinds of creatures. The EB Lyons Interpretive Centre is an educational facility primarily aimed at kids, that teaches them about the history, the flora and the fauna of the park. Up top there is a floor of exhibits featuring taxidermied examples of many of the animals that inhabit the park, such as eagles, beavers, snakes, squirrels, foxes and deer, plus a screened observation platform that lets you see the birds and squirrels feeding from the perches outside, without disturbing them. It lets you get pretty close to the animals without spooking them. Very nice. But the real magic is downstairs. They have live exhibits of some of the animals in the park. What I saw was mostly fish, turtles, toads and snakes - no live eagles downstairs. Our guide Jackie said that they were all perfectly tame, trained to be okay with humans, especially kids, as they are part of the educational centre. So she took out some of the turtles, to demonstrate how relaxed they were. The turtle she held up looked pretty resigned to its fate, and its legs just drooped sadly as it was dangled in the air for probably the millionth time. Similarly with the toad, which she put into a bucket to demonstrate its defence mechanism - when "threatened" it vibrates and croaks, which it did when we pressed down on its back, a bit like a door buzzer. And when I told Jackie that we don't have snakes in New Zealand, she was determined to get one out for me to hold. It's fair to say I was nervous. Spiders are my main phobia, but I've never been overly fond of snakes either. The one she brought out wasn't on display though - it was a reddy/goldy coloured "corn" snake she called "Coraline." Coraline was crawling over her arms, snuggling into her back, and seemed pretty relaxed. Jackie was great, and her enthusiasm was hard to ignore, so I somehow found myself petting Coraline. That was pretty cool, though, I still don't know how I came to be holding Coraline. She somehow teleported from Jackie's arms to mine and before I knew it Coraline was wrapped around my arms. And it was great! She was cool to the touch, being cold-blooded of course, and she must have liked my warm-blood because she started to snuggle around my arms and into my waist. I didn't feel creeped out at all; in fact, it was a real buzz to be holding an actual, live snake. I don't know whether I would be so brave for a larger snake, or for spiders (they're still off-limits), but I ended up having a bit of a crush on Coraline - she was fantastic!