Amazing things closer to

 

I took this picture of the rare White Heron (the bird sacred to the Maori) and properly known as the Great White Egret. In breeding plumage it has long white streamers. It has only one breeding site and that is on the West coast, where I was last week - indeed I passed the turning for it! However, once they have finished breeding, they spread out over a wide area.

Again, a photo taken with my camera of a Yellowhammer (quite common here) on a walk down by the Maikuku estuary. It's Rosie's local beach.

A gull at New Brighton.

Cave Rock at Sumner.

Memorial at Scarborough. We had a good walk along the promenade and then of course it rained and it was like a wet t-shirt competition!

This is known as the Christmas tree in NZ as it has these lovely red blooms flowering at Christmas.

Some lovely old wooden cottages at Taylor's Mistake.

Lovely roses and some unusual plants at the Botanic Gardens at Christchurch.