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We took some wee nippers to the rock pools at the other end of Tahunanui Beach at the weekend. They, and we, had a great time checking out the shrimps, crabs, starfish and limpets. We followed the rules and only observed them, but they did come back with various shells and feathers. It was a long time since we had been there and we thought we might leave a cache to attract others until we thought of high tide and how the road gets splashed.
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Instead we have left one at the Back Beach. This part has memories for Sobad, who was often brought here when he was a wee nipper himself. There used to be both car and motorcycle racing here every New Year and SoBad’s father was a regular competitor. SoBad’s sister remembers a weasel living in a toi toi bush in the area and sharks were sometimes seen heading in the direction of the freezing works. When the tide was favourable, the family would go drag-netting in the channel. They dug holes in the sanddunes and made pits on the flat which were covered with brush as booby-traps to catch unsuspecting passersby. We do not recommend either these days. The area had very large sand dunes and a lot of vegetation, such as lupins, in the past.