A DAY ON THE BEACH

We spent the better part of each day this past week monitoring the flooding in Nadi, Fiji. Over a three day period Nadi received 38 inches of rain. At high tide the rivers backed up, making matters even worse. Over 9,000 people were left homeless, and had to take shelter in one of 118 Emergency Shelters set up by the government.

The military-run government is considered “interim” and has been since the last coupe in 2006. It has postponed the general elections, again, which has brought about a major rift with both the New Zealand and the Australian governments. Consequently, neither of them was willing to provide much assistance. Even the US government sent a token $50,000 in emergency aid.

It took several days to for our people on the ground to get a good handle on their needs. They met with the Emergency Management Department several days in a row before finally getting some direction. It was finally decided that they needed oatmeal (for porridge), hard crackers (known as biscuits), and fresh milk. So we purchased enough of these products to feed 9,000 people for one week. In addition we purchased 2000 kg of clothing and blankets. All of these items were distributed to the emergency shelters within 24 hours of the request coming to us.

By the end of the week both Diane and I were ready for a break. Since we had already spent a lot of time roaming the “bush” admiring all the trees and flowers, we decided to hike along the coastal areas and beaches.

Our first stop was a park on a bluff overlooking the Waitemata (Auckland) Bay. The two hills in the distance are extinct volcanoes on the North Shore. They are about 5 miles from our apartment.

The park had several formal gardens that were absolutely beautiful. Everywhere we go we are so impressed about how clean and well kept everything is. We seldom see litter, but we frequently see someone picking something up and putting in the trash.

Even though it was a very cloudy day, Diane dressed for the occasion – a pretty hat and her “sunscreen” shirt. On the other extreme, I only wore a T-shirt.

When the sun was behind a cloud, the waters turned a deep blue. But when the sun was out, the waters were either green or gray.
(You can see the green waters in the distance).

Again, you can see the line of green water in the distance. We walked more than 16 k (10 miles) and both Diane and I were surprised at how few people were on the beaches. Some of the beaches seemed almost deserted.

After what I said about litter than then this picture shows some… actually, I believe it is a towel of someone out swimming in the bay.

Since some of the beaches ended quite suddenly, our day-long hike took us through some beautiful pasture land (luckily, the cows were all friendly). By mid afternoon the morning clouds were beginning to thin out, and I was beginning to warm up.

Even though we were not right on the beach all of the time, we were still within sight of the water most of the time. This is a view of the Tamaki River where it feeds into the Pacific Ocean. The boats in the distance are sail boats.

The tide was going out, which let us walk more of the beaches as the day went on. The white specks on the beach are small shells. We saw millions of them, and wanted to keep them all; but only returned with one pocket full.

There were dozens of places to stop and enjoy the scenery. This bench was built up to keep it above the high tide waters.

Where the river and the ocean waters met, the beach narrowed to a long skinny “Spit.” It stretched for almost a mile into the water. At high tide it is completely covered.

Leaving the beach, we continued our hike along the marsh lands, which are only beautiful to some eyes (Diane thinks they are ugly.)

A local gent told us that the home on the far side were occupied by the people who “Run Auckland.” We came across this same gentleman, earlier in our hike, sunning himself in places that usually don’t see the sun. When we met up with him later, he explained that that beach was commonly accepted as a nudist beach. (At least he thought so.)

We came across another little stream that was full of brown duck. A little boy was there watching them. He had their full attention, but when he got up to leave, so did they. (The chance for a free meal was gone.)

Toward the end of our hike, we happened by an extinct volcano. We looked at it, then looked at each other and knew that we had to hike to the top. In this view, you can see the remnants of the terracing done by the ancient Maoris.

The wind was blowing pretty stiffly on top of the volcano. Blowing my hair back, it exposed more of my already red face. I was pretty well cooked – mom was in good shape. (Except both of us were tired, dry, and hungry from our 10-mile hike.)