Karitane - Warrington

Not too many flyable sites along the coast since leaving Christchurch - at least none that I could get easy access to. This shot is looking back over Karitane harbour/town/beach. I tried to fly off the beach cliffs in the middleground, but no smooth air from them - just too jagged and knarley, and not very high either. That big south facing slope in the background looks tempting, but no access (unless I spent 2 hours slogging uphill) plus it probably isn't steep enough.

So I just have to make do with touristy pictures at the moment. Here's a sea cave opening to the sea where some eloping maori couple in legend were cast to there deaths. Nice.

And here's a cute little railway scene just before entering the sandspit town of Warrington.

Basicly there is nothing here in Warrington except a great surf beach with lovely white sand and a harbour that sports 12,000 tonnes of cockles with a managed commercial harvest(it's a big estuary). A really nice place with free camping facilities, including a dump station, ablutions and rubbish bins plus its got cellphone/internet reception. Many places I've stopped at have been out-of-range. Quiet and plenty of coastline to explore. Almost perfect (no shop). I tried to get a look at the Milky Way here, but it clouded over after sunset... but I did wake up half way through the night and got a good look through the window. It was amazing to see just how many stars are up there at a decently dark site. So many I found it a bit differcult to navigate, but clouds threatened so I didn't get out of bed. Been cool at night too. Finally, I messed around with some sand textures and came up with this.