Tuesday 7 January 2014

BUT ... she had wings!

“When she transformed into a butterfly, the caterpillars spoke not of her beauty but of her weirdness. They wanted her to change back into what she had always been.
But she had wings.”
~ Dean Jackson
Sun worshippers and wave-wallowers enjoying our bay.
Change IS inevitable.  

Apparently the weather’s supposed to turn ape this week.  
Wouldn’t you know it.
Looking back towards our bay from Kohi Yacht Club
The sunshine and blue skies in paradise are about to go awol.
It’s fortuitous then that the hound and I don’t mind rambling in the rain.
Sunshine on a stalk!
We haven’t had to do much rambling in the rain of late as the weather has been superb.

So much so that not only has my bay been filled with sunworshippers and wave wallowers during the day, but at low tide the waves are brimful of kiteboarders too.
Browns Island in the distance ... it looks way closer than what it actually is.
They make for a gorgeous vista.  

Unbeknown to me, and only visible when I viewed the photos on the big screen at home, was a nudist walking across the beach at Ladies Bay.  I hadn’t realised how visible Browns Island, Ladies Bay and the staircase down to Ladies Bay are at low tide on a sunshiny afternoon
 ... especially when photographed from Kohi Yacht Club.
You can even see the nudist on Ladies Bay ... it's clearer at full resolution on my big screen.
Ladies Bay isn’t QUITE as private or invisible to the general public as I'd thought.
Might have to rethink my swim sessions there.
The jogger this morning came clambering over those rocks ... socks and shoes and very little else.
It’s not EVERY morning EITHER that the beauty of one’s early morning ramble is disturbed by the appearance of a naked man jogging along the sand ... the sand of Ladies Bay that is.  This gentleman was only wearing shoes and socks.  All the better to negotiate the rocks I guess.  He sprinted up and down the beach several times and then did push-ups on the sand.

Quite bizarre.  
That supermoon on New Year’s Day has a lot to answer for.
If you look closely on the LHS of the photo you can just see the bee going into the flower
.... and there he is, busy as the proverbial bee!
Sting ray carcasses on the beach have had the hound’s nose working overtime.  She’s seldom bothered by scents on the sand but even WE were left reeling by this sensory overload.
A completely cleaned sting ray carcass
One or two sting ray carcasses isn’t unusual, but a dozen or more are.
This is MY beach!
  Sting rays are the primary food source of Orcas.  
The recent sting ray smorgasbord is indicative of them having been chased into the bay by Orcas.

The Yellow-bill Gulls and Skua weren’t complaining at the unexpected breakfast bounty.

Nor were the hounds.
Marco ... saying hello to everyone is exhausting.
Considering there are estimated to be less than 200 Orcas in New Zealand waters,
 it would have been special to have spotted them. 
 It wasn’t our lucky day for Orca sightings though.

I had to content myself with Herons and Hounds 
as even the Kingfishers had abandoned the rock pools.

“Life is for DEEP kisses, STRANGE adventures, 
MIDNIGHT swims and RAMBLING conversations.” 
~ unknown
No wonder I love life.


Hercules ... friend to the hound.
She wasn't keen on going home this morning and lay on the grass trying to convince me to return to the beach




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