Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Okarito lagoon

Swade pushed out from the landing stage, read me the safety instructions –the lifejacket was a good windshield, and my personal guided tour began.

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There are a few white herons resident here throughout the winter and several of these fairly rare birds were out fishing today, as well as white faced herons, black shags, pied shags, black and white fronted terns, black-billed gulls, royal spoonbills and my favourite, the pied stilt. All feeding on the shallow waters of the estuary and lagoon.

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Not so many birds as we turned into the rain forest but plenty of trees and plants including Rata flowers and dead Tutu’s.

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After an hour Swade pulled into a green jetty, brewed fresh coffee and offered me a home baked cookie –how wonderful is that!

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More birds were out and about on our return journey –the rain was starting but nothing could have spoilt a perfect two hours.  On land once more I wandered around the village that was once a thriving gold rush town; now its a sleepy haven of a few houses, holiday accommodation and a campsite, and no shop. By then the rain had stopped so I hastened back to FJ for a walk to the glacier terminal .. continues

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