May 22, 2013
Driving south along the shore road from Mount Manuganui, the businesses peter out quickly and private homes line the inland side of the road. On the other side are grassy dunes and a long stretch of beach. There are any number of places to park and take a path through the dunes to the shore; just pick any spot and go.
The beach here is nice, but it’s the dunes that are really special. There are trails that go among them but short on time, we headed straight to the beach. The surf makes the air misty, and combined with the light makes an ethereal feeling. There are plenty of shells to collect and (today at least) no people. There’s so much beach area in the Bay of Plenty that you can always find a beach to have to yourself.
Of course, being New Zealand, there’s always something surprising and unusual. Today’s surprise was the ring-necked pheasants. In other parts of the world they live in grassy meadows hiding from hunters and their hounds. Here, they’ve discovered the sand dunes. There’s enough grass to hide in, but nothing they really need to hide from. The only thing people hunt for here are shells or great wave, and dogs would rather run and play on the beach than chase big birds.
The pheasants even hang out along the roadside. We parked on the far side of the road and tried to get pictures but discovered that while cars whizzing by don’t bother them in the slightest, park a car and open a window and they flee like Lindsay Lohan evading the paparazzi. Apparently they don’t like to have their pictures taken. Thus, we have no ring-necked pheasant pictures. Oh well, we can always get a pose from a cooperative red-billed gull.–Cyndi
(You click to enlarge and scroll through the photo gallery at the top of this post.)
