Let me tell you about the picture above. We had just arrived at Hokitika that afternoon, and after a quick wander around, I suggested taking the car to a lake and a waterfall, which looked on the map to be a few miles out of town. 20 minutes of driving later and no sign of the lake. I had misread the scale of the map. Still, we persevered and finally reached the lake. Impressive, with wooded mountains looking down. We drove on to the waterfall, but after a little way, the road disappeared and became a dirt track. We pressed on (it was a rental car, rather than our own). Eventually we found the waterfall. Time was now getting on, and the light is a bit gloomy, but decided to walk through a short wooded track down to the lake edge.
It was on the way down to the lake that we saw a kiwi. This ball of fluff with a long beak suddenly walked across the track in front of us. It was half way across when it realized that we were there, and head down, walked quickly to the other side and disappeared into the undergrowth.
The lake view was magical - that still moment before dusk, the only sound the qentle lapping of the waves on the shore. We probably had the lake and surrounding mountains to ourselves. Happy, and with the camera's photo reserves seriously depleted, we headed home.
