A walk on the beach

On a hot but a bit blustery day, which happened to be our 44th wedding anniversary, (13 December) we went for a walk along Waikanae Beach. It was lovely to be walking in the breeze, keeping cool while in the sunshine - I am not sure if you know that I do not like the heat much ...

A lot of people go for walks along the beach, and even though there were quite a few people along the span of the beach, it is so long that it almost never feels crowded - in fact, it feels positively spaciously empty. That is a prerequisite for being on an NZ beach - ask any Kiwi that you know, and you will get that same response! Go on, give it a go, and see if I am right.

We met a man who grew up in the UK who has lived in NZ for a long time - he had the usual british complaint about immigrants - Poles this time in the area of Luton shopping centre. Note to self: I MUST remember NOT to engage formerly English people in conversation because of the fear of having to rebut their arguments about how full the UK is of people who weren't born there. What these people don't seem to understand is that they are living in NZ (and other places in the world) as ex-pats, i.e. immigrants. DO THEY NOT SEE THE IRONY???

Anyway, back to the man - we started to speak with him in the main because of his dog - an ageing and totally blind (the most obvious cataracts I have ever seen) labrador. The dog was happy as a sandboy, and as long as she could smell and hear her owner, she wandered around - down to the water and back. When we spoke to her, she came to us - given her blindness, she would walk right into our legs - and therefore on to our feet! Dog claws are sharp ...

So some photos of the lovely Waikanae Beach:

44 years and still together - a testament to the stoicism of us both ...

All day, the forecast had been saying it was going to rain. The clouds were coming in from the east, but it was lovely on the beach. See how empty it is - there is only one other person on the beach, away in the distance!

Part of Kapiti Island - doesn't look far away, but it is really. Kapiti Island is a Dept of Conservation (DOC) sanctuary: no predators, so that means no possums, no goats, no stoats, no rats. Therefore it is a bird sanctuary. We are planning to go there for a DOC accompanied visit this summer.

That evening, we went out for dinner to Maison 8, a local restaurant. Lovely food. By the time we left the restaurant, the promised rain had started - so walking home we got rather wet ...