Living fossils and a glacier

We awoke to a bright sunny day, and rather wished we had booked a helicopter flight over the mountains as a few other hotel residents had. We gained the impression that more flights are cancelled because of low cloud than actually fly, so they were lucky today. We visited the  nearby West Coast Wildlife Centre and learned all about Kiwi birds and the unique Tuatara reptiles. We saw  two Kiwi birds scampering about in the nocturnal house and then a group of Tuataras, which are the only surviving species of the order Rhynchocephalia making them almost "living fossils". They are related to, but not true lizards. 
We then drove  the short distance to view the  Franz Josef glacier  (see extra) and a walk in temperate rainforest. 
Our final destination today  was Hokitika, a small town on the coast, which was the centre of a gold rush in the 19th century (and the setting for the "The Luminaries" novel and film.) We took a walk on the beach, which was the  scene of many ship wrecks due to the strong currents. It was very misty, and it wasn't difficult to imagine how treacherous the sea here can be. See second extra.