Arabesque

Early start which was lovely.......real soul-food.  As it was a cool morning I decided to take some time at the Boulder Bank so packed up camera and a light jumper then headed across town........gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!  Tide was lower than I expected and with no terns in sight I instead walked to the area behind the ponds in the hope of seeing some fern birds.  Heard them but never saw a single one!  Very different to Okarito.  Did see lots of swallows though......young ones I think, and they kept me entertained for a while.  Heading back to the car I noted that some terns had arrived so spent a glorious hour or so in the now very warm sun just sitting, watching and photographing their comings and goings.  No great pics but some nice ones.  I do think I may need to check my camera's focus accuracy though.  A little further on, a family of stilts wading in the very-low-water-level pond.  Love the little mullets they appear to have!