Beach Bach View

Today I shot a picture of the beach from the house (or Bach as we call a holiday home in NZ). This combined with yesterday's blip will give you some perspective as to the Medlands Beach bay (Oruawharo Bay is it's maori name). The photo I took yesterday was looking back at the house from the opposite end of the beach. The surf had dropped a bit from the previous day.

I have been suffering a bit of flu or virus of some sort that I picked up recently either in Thailand or most commonly on the long haul flight. I have therefore spent most of the weekend house bound and recuperating but hopefully over it now. It therefore hasn't been much of a creative blip weekend but there is plenty of opportunity out here for that in the future.

It is worthwhile to set the environmental stage so you can at least familiarise yourself with the location.

Looking at this photo you will see a sort of rock island on the left edge of the picture which is half in the sea and half surrounded by sand. This is called Memory Park and has a memorial on the top of it dedicated to Grace Medland one of the early settlers in the area. It is a great vantage point to watch the surfers or the commonly wave frolicking dolphins which often put on spectacular shows in the surf.

At the far end of the beach there is a volcanic cone which was used by the early Maoris as a defensive pa site.

In the greater distance you can see the rugged landscape of the island and a tiny glimpse of the next door beach called Kaitoke which stretches for nearly 4 times the length of Medlands Beach. This is relatively uninhabited. There are several amazing beaches all the way up the coast of the island which you will find uninhabited most of the year round.

There is so much to discover on this island which is the 4th largest island in New Zealand behind the main North Island, South Island and Stewart Island.

I only had a short visit this weekend but will be back there soon to deliver some slightly more creative perspectives of Great Barrier Island life.