Kotuku- white heron

Today we braved the weather and went on a tour of a Kotuku nesting site.  These birds are very rare in NZ and there is only the one place in the country where they nest.  It is a reserve and can only be entered with permission by DOC (Department of Conservation) with an authorised guide.  We walked through the rain forest to the hide and spent about 45 minutes watching these birds on the far side of the river.
The walk to the Hide was just as magnificent through pristine Bush with some trees up to 1,000 years old, lots of beautiful ferns and some tiny native clematis.
We have now travelled north along the west coast and are staying in smallish town called Greymouth, a great little motel looking straight out onto the sea.
I feel l ought to mention the weather at this stage  - this part of the world gets  a LOT of rain there is nothing to stop the weather between here and South America and it regularly records rain of 2 - 3 metres of rain a year.  The forests around here are temperate rain forests.  At the moment it is sunny.