Heron hurrah

We've had a brilliant day. Rain first thing,so I've now can tick off a West Coast downpour. I say that because this is my 5 th trip to the Coast and up until this morning I'd never experienced the rain the coast is famous for,average rainfall here is just over 5 meters!!
So while it was chucking it down we went to the wildlife centre ,where they work incredibly hard to increase the survival rate of the native Kiwi. They are currently monitoring 60 pairs,every egg is removed as survival rate of the young in the wild( thanks mainly to stoats) is 5%. By rearing them in the centre and releasing them back in to the wild once they weigh 1kg increases their survival to 95%.
We then did a long walk up to view the Franz Josef glacier,through a vast valley littered with massive boulders left behind by the retreating glacier.
Next a quick trip north to Whataroa to join the White Heron tour. The Waitangiroto nature reserve is the only place in NZ that these majestic birds nest. After a 20 min jet boat ride and a 500m boardwalk we arrived at the viewing hide. The beauty of the place is jaw dropping,the Herons themselves, just so beautiful . It is the height of the breeding season,so they were all busy preening their amazing cloak of feathers and attempting to construct the best nest,even if that involved 'borrowing' from the neighbours! Cameras clicked madly and there was much ohhing and ahhing. After nearly an hour our guide,Dion, whisked us away to leave the herons to heron business. This blip is for my Mum,I wish you could've been there x