More about my favorite beach

Now that you have had a top view of the beach, I can tell you more of the beach itself.

The sand is a heavyish, grey siliconish composition. the slope of the beach is quite gentle and enables one to walk out a good distance so as to be in line to ride the waves in by body surfing. There have been some waves good enough for surfing, but my impression is you need a good storm to create decent waves.

Sailing is possible from pretty much anywhere on the beach although to get onto the beach your only access is at the south end near the river. After getting through the waves you can sail out to the 3 sets of rocks "Noddy's car" "Punch and Judy" and "the Castle" and sail around those, or fish a while. Sharks are infrequent, but they have been spotted so check with the locals.

Picnicing can be done on the "green" areas along the beach. There used to be baches all along the sea front but these got moved back and replaced by turf where people can park and picnic.

For the fit, there is a hill to climb and a track to a waterall and a beach walk that is somewhat adventurous. More on that in the next post!

The best beach in the world

The beach to go to is Kairakau. Of course I am biased, as I spent many childhood days there. But here is a bit of video for you see for yourself:

The beach can be seen in the bottom part of the picture while the rocks in the sea are about a mile out. The buildings at the rightmost part of the pan are at the southern end of the beach by the "river" that flows out to the sea and is a great place for skiing and wakeboarding etc.

I just remembered the line of planes at the Wanaka air show. Parked there were planes from 1910 through to 2008 each with its own style and paintwork. There is the progression from the open cockpit to the totally enclosed cabin, from 2 or 3 wings to the monoplane. Just imagine the huge number of hours taht went into the design, testing, preparation and so on. It is not just a pilot. It is a team of engineers, craftsmen, financiers and so on who all contributed to the final machine.

Those people should all be thanked!

wings over Wanaka

I am thinking over the trip to Wanaka. It was a great day and all too short. However, the sight of the F111 burning off fuel as it climbs away still remains strongly in mind as well as that special roar as the mustangs flew by, and the distinctive growl of the Polykharkhovs.

I did not get the best view and am determined to get a seat in the stands for next time so I can better see the mock battles on the ground. The aircraft are always easy to see when they are flying by, but there was a special event of a Formula 1 racing car racing an airplane taking off. I heard, rather than saw that!

1.5 years to go!