March 5, 2014. Franz Josef, New Zealand. White Heron Colony.

No white herons were in residence at the Nature Sanctuary but it was a wonderful trip anyway. First we drove to the river in a very old van, pulling the jet boat. Dion launched the boat in about 15 seconds flat and soon we navigated the shallows of the river down to the Tasman Sea, where we entered another river leading to the sanctuary. Jet boats are different than normal boats. They draw 5 inches. During the thirty minute boat ride, we saw hundreds of black swans and thousands of ducks. It was a birders paradise. The foliage is unique too, a true rain forest. When we stopped at a small dock, it was clear we would walk through this jungle along a two foot wide boardwalk, three feet above the ground. The west coast of New Zealand gets buckets of rain but today the area we walked through was dry. The sun was shining on us today. Everyone kept telling us about the unusual and beautiful weather. The spoonbills were still nesting but the herons had gone. The white pines are over a thousand years old. Amazing foliage. Our drive today took us along the coastline. Another superior sight was the pancake rocks. No one really knows how they formed but they look like pancakes piled on on top of another. The half an hour walk out to the shore was worth every step. The west coast of New Zealand is rugged and sparsely populated. There are only two ports on the west coast and they are in rivers and are very small. The road we drove on today was only built in 1968 and is the only road on the west coast. But it is beautiful. We overlook the Southern Alps. The Franz Josef Glacier is visible from our room. It is a beautiful sight.