We caught the bus today down to Island Bay
It was a sunny spring day, with a bit of a breeze (as ever) blowing, so it didn’t feel too warm. We walked along the coastal path, spotting red-billed gulls and variable oystercatchers along the way.
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| Red-billed Gull |
The oystercatcher wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to take a picture of it, so here’s one taken by someone else:
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| Variable oystercatcher |
The waves were crashing onto the beach in a picturesque fashion, and in the distance we could see the snow-covered mountains of South Island .
After a couple of hours of leisurely stroll, we reached the red rocks. There’s a geological reason for the redness of the rocks which has something to do with iron oxide. Anyway, they are distinctively red, possibly more so in real life than is apparent from the photo.
There’s also a seal colony further along the coast, but by that stage we decided that we’d walked quite far enough, and headed back to find the Bach Café http://www.bachcafe.co.nz/ and some lunch (that’s a variable oystercatcher on their logo, so clearly they’re a common sight round these parts). Apparently the name of the café has nothing to do with Johann Sebastian.
That's some amazing shots, speshly the one with the snow-capped mountains of South Island lurking in the background. Wowsers.
ReplyDeleteGood shots of Nicola, too. My, it looks bracing there. Is the wind whipping straight off the Antarctic ? Looks more that just a breeze. Thought for a minute you'd spelt 'Beach' Cafe wrong. D'oh. Looks quite Togs-y there.
Am envious of your exciting environs. Not sure the world's largest wind farm off Planet Thanet competes. Powers a whole light bulb, apparently.
Want a picture ? Thought not.
H x
Bracing certainly is the word - it looks as though it would suit someone from the Northern Part of the UK.
ReplyDelete:)
There is a mad oystercatcher that hangs around our office building in spring/summer. I think he's a bit lost from the local zoo. This year he had a mate with him and boy oh boy is their squeaky squwak annoying. Er... oh yes, my point: ours are black and white where yours is black.