10 Oct: Sunshine and a Weka Walk

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At dawn the sky was clearing and a snow-capped peak could be seen.

So we headed out early up the Motueka river valley.

The light was magic and there was just too much to photograph.

For example we stopped the car to take these back-lit trees,

Then turned around to get back in the car and saw this,

I mean, come on.

Eventually we got to Lake Rotoiti. The air was a little chilly.

Actually "roto" is Maori for "lake." So that's Lake Lake Iti.

From here the road leads down the supposedly-scenic Buller River Gorge. And it was nice, a heavily-wooded river valley that seemed like many river valleys we've driven in the U.S.—actually the first time NZ scenery has seemed ho-hum familiar.

While driving down Buller Gorge we both saw a large, reddish-brown bird scurry off the road and into the roadside jungle. It was the size of a pukeko but not a pukeko. Marian looks in the bird book and says "Could it be a weka? It's the right size and color." We debated whether we could legitimately say we'd "seen" a weka.

So now we leap ahead to Cape Foulwind (named by a grumpy sailor clearly) where there is a nice walk around the headland to look at a fur seal colony. And about 30 steps into this walk, what crosses the path about four feet in front of us?

OK, now we have definitely "seen" the weka. In fact, further on we had to step aside for another one, and this one had a chick.

Oh yeah, fur seals. Ocean. Whatever. You seen a weka, you seen it all.