Misc
Winya_wynah
Fri 12 Feb 2010 22:20
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Over the past few days we have been looking at
various things as we head back up the South Island.
There was the White Heron Sanctuary near
Whataroa, where we were taken in a fast jet boat to the Marine Reserve and
then a short walk along a broadwalk to a lookout, where we could watch the
Herons feeding their young. This is the only nesting area of the White
Heron in NZ. There are only 140 of them anyway so a rare and
beautiful sight.
  Their nesting ground was shared by Spoonbills and
Shags,all getting on with the task of bringing up thier babies
 Here is a witty little message, which sserved to
remind us that despite the rain we are seeing a great country
 Then on to the Pancake Rocks - Punakaiki. The
layers in the rock look like a stack of pancakes, (confused me for a
while!)
  where we were rewarded with a sunset - if you look
closely you can almost see a green flash there in the water!
 An intersesting chat with a farmer in the Nelson
region (Lorraine his family farm in Skirlaugh)!
told us of a walk to see the source
of the River Riwaka. The river emerges from a pool at the bottom of
'holey' limestone and granite
hill/mountain where water has filtered through all
to emerge at the same place, this is a sacred place for the Maori
people.
 In the mountain some caves to explore (with a
guide of course). The Ngarua Caves.
 Bob the builder hats were an essential part of the
trip, as you can see it's very narrow staircase to come out of the
caves
this is because it is a natural tomo (hole!)
through which water, air and animals enter. Hence in the caves we saw
a skeleton of a Moa,
long since extinct but intact skeletons have been
found in the caves as they fell down the tomo(s) unable to get out
again.
 Also on the way we did a spot of Kayaking in
the Abel Tasman - lots of seal pups on the rocks around Tonga Island but a bit
too bleak to show up well on the photos unfortunately.
 These arches, the Tonga Arches, are part of
the mainland coast.
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