April 19, 2013
Just beyond Whakatane is Ohope Beach, a popular destination for seaside holidays. We found Ohope to be different from the golden sand beaches of Mount Maunganui. The sand here was dark and hard packed enough to drive on (although no one does). And it’s covered with driftwood and shells, many of them clam shells (which would turn out to be a bad thing later). It’s the kind of beach where the waves make a low constant rumble, that noise you hear when you put a shell to your ear. This is less a beach for sunning and swimming and more a beach for walking, beach combing and collecting shells.
So, that’s what we did, walking way up the beach and finding all sorts of wonderful things, enjoying the sounds of surf and sea and the warmth of the afternoon sun. We took our treasures back to the car and were about to leave when Rich realized his phone was gone. It had been in his shirt pocket and had fallen out as he bent to pick up shells.
We headed back the beach and the dismaying sight of about a million clamshells that looked a lot like his small white cell phone. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack, but we had to try. We split up and went hunting for the phone. About 15 minutes later, I saw Rich raise his arm, phone in hand. It was a miracle he found it as it was half buried among clamshells. The second miracle was that in spite of it being wet and sandy, he managed to revive it. (And it still works to this day a year and half later as I write this post). –Cyndi
