White Heron - Learning to Dance in the Rain

Would have liked to do a walk up to the glacier today but the weather has turned and its raining so we looked for something else to do. Mrs H suggested the White Heron Sanctuary . There are only about 200 in New Zealand and they all nest at the same place. Seemed like a good idea staying dry in a hide rather than getting soaked on a hill......

On the way there in the car the rain started to get worse, when we arrived they put us into a minibus to take us into the sanctuary. When we got off the bus and presented us with the life jackets and oilskins. The next part was by jet boat which was excellent (and completely open so you get the rain coming at you at 30 mph...) They are amazing machines I asked the skipper/pilot - (it feels like flying in a small plane on the water) - how much water they need to operate - "about 6 inches - which is a good job as in places that is about all there is".

So we arrived at the jetty after a thrilling but very soggy ride. But the hide was not there. We then had to sit on what looked like a home made trailer with two benches down the middle and were towed by a quad bike along a muddy track, for 10 mins.

Still no hide as we get off this contraption and onto a another (again rather homemade looking) boat which was basically a platform with two outboard motors and some seats. (still raining but at least there is a roof - if no sides)

Then it's just a 500m walk through the rain forest (well named) on a boardwalk to he hide.

The view from the hide is great there are probably only 50 breeding pairs of White Heron (also know as New Zealand Buthalezi Heron) in the country and you can see probably 20 of the nests from the hide. Some of the youngsters are quite loud demanding food from the adults the smaller ones remain mainly hidden under the adults as they protect them from the rain

I didn't get vey many good shots and this was probably the best one I got. I don't have any long lens with me so this was taken with the 105mm macro . This was one just after he took off - and he only did fly off once.

So after a magical time watching these elegant birds it was time to put the oilskins on and reverse the journey. The oilskins did a good job but anything not protected - like shoes and my camera bag spent the the rest of the day drying out...

Great day and wins the prize for the most unusual modes of transport in a day, and in the end the rain added to the experience.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass its about learning to dance in the rain". We certainly did that today.