They're just MIMICKING our behavour!

The hounds - yes, PLURAL -  had as much to say as ME this morning!

First time I've seen the Sparrows feeding off a Callistemon shrub.

... and that’s REALLY unusual.  

Or is it?

Sam belongs to one of the FEW people who has MORE words falling out of her mouth than even I do.  

Yep you better believe it.  

There’s someone else on this planet who’s NEVER at a loss for words. 

 It’s an oddity that she’s called Carol too.

Even when he's dirty, he's gorgeous.

It’s not much of a mystery then to understand why our hounds are so vociferous when they’re together. 

They’re just mimicking our behaviour.  

It’s so obvious I can’t understand why I didn’t work that one out sooner.  

And NO, it’s NOT because I’m blonde.

The closest I got to the Kingfishers today was along the telephone lines.

I think the hounds like the sound of their own voices but I don’t think the elderly locals find it quite as amusing as we do.

One Labrador barking on the beach is quite enough. 

TWO Labradors barking on the beach is a CANINE CACAPHONY.  

Add Indy to the mix and it’s definitely NOT a Labrador LULLABY that you’re listening to.  

Anything but!

It starts off quietly enough.  

Both hounds minding their own business, busily digging trenches in the sand

 .... until one hound finds a log.  My hound.

Look Sam .... look what I've got!

They’re just like toddlers.  What one hound has, the other one wants.  

That’s when the conversation begins.  

Sam wants the log.  

The hound won’t let him have it.  

He’s persistent.  She’s stubborn.  

He sneakily tries to grab it.  She tells him off.  

He yells at her.  She yells back.

Sam trying to sneak it away from her

I join in and tell them BOTH to stop barking.  

They yell at me so I yell back.

.... but she's having NONE of it!

The cycle’s broken when I throw the log in the waves.  BOTH hounds charge after it.  Sam’s usually the FASTER swimmer but he’s light and when the waves are choppy, she has the advantage. With log to hand, she twists and turns to prevent Sam grasping the log too but he’s got wise to that trick and just leaps over her!

Tranquillity is restored ONLY when we leave the beach.

The elderly locals must breathe a sigh of relief when they see that happening.

Talking of elderly locals  ... I think we might have met our nudist this morning.  

Fully dressed fortunately!

No, he's NOT young and NO, he's NOT a fine physical specimen ... as the daily tabloids would say.

He's just an elderly gentleman who likes to swim 'au naturel' .

Browns Island looking gorgeous in the morning sun.

"The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means NEVER losing your enthusiasm." 

~ Aldous Huxley

Mr. Heron having his morning tea.

This young chap put on quite a skillful display this morning.

Impressive jumping by our Kite Surfer!

What defense would a naked man have against the hound and I!

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”

~ Franz Kafka

Sunshine, blue skies, Kingfishers, low tide .... what more could a girl possibly want!

I’m OBSESSED with mornings that begin like this!

The only thing missing from our morning ramble was the male nudist who dives of the rocks at Ladies Bay.  That might have something to do with it being low tide. 

It’s a tad difficult to dive into the waves when there aren’t any there.

I’m quite expecting him to wave at us one of these fine mornings.

Each to their own I guess.

I mentioned to a customer today that WITH the warmer weather has come this nude gentleman swimming at Ladies Bay early in the morning.  She asked if it didn’t make me nervous seeing him there.

With a chuckle I replied that he’s the one who should be nervous.  

What defense would a naked man have against the hound and I.  

It’s laughable!

We are invincible and, when the significant other’s in tow, even more so.

The one advantage of having the significant other join me on my rambles is that the hound gets her logs thrown further.  That’s an advantage at low tide as the waves are MILES away.  Well, maybe not QUITE miles but certainly a lot further than what I can toss a caber.

Whilst he tosses log after ball after log for the hound, I torment the Kingfishers.

There was only one this morning but it was the little boy Kingfisher.  He’s been the most elusive to photograph and this morning was no exception.  The light was awesome though so despite his inability to sit still for longer than a few seconds at a time, I was able to shoot off several pics.

He made up for all the moments when he’s flitted off before I can get my act together!

Suitably satisfied I headed back to the beach.  Ramble time is over far too quickly on the mornings I have to be at the shop and I still NEED my caffeine fix.

Herons have bad hair days too.

“Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” 

~ Desmond Tutu

Overwhelm the world .... I kinda like that.  I like the thought of harnessing a power so huge that it would overwhelm the world with love, compassion and kindness.

Bandit, the Australian Shepherd, loves to join in the hound's game.

I can dream, can’t I.

He's a dreadful tease and their play gets rather vocal.

Mornings like today make me think ANYTHING is possible.  With the right attitude and the right approach to life I’m capable of achieving anything I set my mind to.  

And yes, that would INCLUDE overwhelming the world

 ... one ramble at a time.

He only wants to help .... yeah right!

You know that you spend TOO much time on the beach with your hound and a camera for a face when, whilst taking photos of the heron having a bad hair day, you get asked where your hound is.

She was on the beach with the middle lemming having her log fetish satisfied.  I was sat on the sea wall trying to capture the heron’s outlandishly frazzled hairdo.  

The heron WASN’T having a good day.

Not only was the tide incoming but the large Brown Skua that frequent our bay weren’t happy about his proximity to what they perceived as THEIR territory.  Skua are naturally aggressive and rob other birds of their food. There were 2 of them on the rocks where he’d landed and they cackled and cawed at him in a very vocal display of this aggression. 

The more he tried to restore some semblance of order to his hairstyle, the more these 2 cackled at him.  The Red-billed gulls didn’t give a toss, they were too busy with their own ablutions.

I left him wandering disconsolately out into the incoming tide. 

“There’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline no matter how many times it’s sent away.” 

~ Sarah Kay (Spoken Word Poet)

When I first moved to New Zealand a few years ago I had thought there was a dearth of bird life here.  How wrong have I been proven.  The more I ramble and see the variety of birds around here, the more astounded I am by the diversity of them .... especially amongst the seabirds.  

On my beach alone there are Red Billed Gulls, Black backed Gulls, Brown Skua, Pied Oyster Catchers, Black/Variable Oyster Catchers ... which are quite rare .... White-faced Heron, Reef Heron, White-fronted Terns, Black Shags and of course one of my favourites, the Kingfishers.

There are other more elusive visitors to our bay but I’m seldom able to get photos as they’re rather camera shy.  They don't seem to like being stalked up and down the beach.  I guess it doesn't help that I have a chocolate brown 4-legged furry photographic assistant.

The water feature at the Memorial Park.  It was an awesome day on Sunday so we did an extra long ramble!

Close-up view of my city

These Black-backed Gulls aren't stupid.  There's a sensor on top of the light and he's sitting on it.
The street-light's on and he's as warm as toast.

Rippling reflections and silhouettes as the sun gets higher in the sky.

This morning's double rainbow ... followed by a spot of rain.