Sorry these posts are out of order. I know I’m violating some cardinal rule of blogging, but the timestamps are from the photos and I actually took this one at the beginning of the walk. Oh well….
After taking a few group shots at the viewpoint, we walked back on the beach. It was all stones…looked like a Power Point background I’d seen somewhere before. There was lots of stuff that the sea had coughed up, including some huge driftwood trees. Gnarled wood was everywhere. There was some kelp pieces on the stones, an occasional leaf and clamshell too. When the beach started climbing again though, it was lined with all the green stuff. Where it did actually get sandy (and it was very coarse sand), there were Tane’s Eyebrows, or a golden red sand sedge called pingao. It’s pretty short, but serves as susbstitute for the sea oats the princess’ great grandfather planted on the Outer holding the sand in place and making space for other plants. The Maori weaved it into hats, mats, etc., but now it’s endangered and protected. It’s quite beautiful…it’s the reddish clumps of grass in the pictures. The legend is that Tane, god of the forest, had a dispute with Tangaroa, god of the sea. Tane, plucked out his eyebrows and threw them into the sea as an offering to Tangaroa. But Tangaroa, like a Cubs fan in the bleachers whose caught a St. Louis home run, threw them back and they landed on the beach – where they took root and have served as a border between beach and forest ever since.