August favourites

Here I am going backward. This photo was taken last Sunday on Te Henga (Bethells beach), the closest beach on Tasman Sea from our home.

I guess I have already had tens of pictures from this place, but I always make new shots when I see the ocean. It is now cold and un-friendly, the wind plucks foam from the wave tops. But the sea is always beautiful.

Te Henga (it is a Maori name) is a black sand beach on the Auckland west coast. Black sand differs from white one as it is volcanic ash, while the white (golden) sand is the result of crushing rocks and sea-shells. Black sand has tiny particles which easily go among your swim-suit threads; it also looks like dirt and is very hard to clean up. This sand is brought by sea currents from Mt Taranaki (Mount Egmont), a big volcano located about 250 km to the south. Nobody has seen its eruption, but scientists claim it happend recently - the last major eruption occurred around 1655 - from Wikipedia.

Google Earth has a pretty detailed picture of this particular beach where you can see even the rescue shed.

Another photo, now it is from the winter gardens in Auckland Domain taken a day before. Just a funny effect of the water lilly growing from a lamp.