A day in the rain in the alpine rainforest. Even though there is a steady rain fall, we are all excited to be walking to the the view point for the Franz Josef glacier. We have an eco guide who is an excellent speaker & teacher about glaciologist, geology, geomorphology, flora and fauna, local legends and history. He points out interesting plants, tiny orchids and ferns. Even though this is a West Coast rainforest it is alpine so there are no exotic flowers but dainty little treasures on the forest floor. New Zealand = ferns! Their national symbol is a fern frond. There must be millions of different types of ferns: dark green ferns, light green ferns, silver, ferns, yellow ferns, red ferns, maroon ferns, black ferns, brown ferns, tiny ferns, monster ferns, short ferns, tall
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