AT THE BEACH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23483, 21 October 1939, Page 9 (Supplement)

AT THE BEACH

TJEAR ANXE SHIRLEY,—About a month ago wo wont to the coast to gpe if our bach had survived, the printer. When we arrived, wo found it •was still there, so wo wont down to the beach. * The gorge we go to is called Maules' Gorge. There is a big fresh-water stream and a small tributary. On each side of this, about 10ft. on one and 20ft. on the othc/r, are largo sandbanks. The higher, one. about six years ago. was different. It had the form of n man standing like a sentinel on the tip. Now, however, the giant, as it is called, has almost fallen away! In the afternoon we went for a walk " along the beach. About half a mile up. one comes to two or three parallel rows of rocks reaching into the sea. Wo crossed these and went on to the "black rock," which is a very largo piece of lignite. Just before we got there, we saw a thing we had never seen before on the coast. It was a live black albatross. It was sitting on the beach and pfobably had a broken wing. We went on a little way, and there, just above the rock, was a dead whale.

It is only the third whale that I have seen at the coast. It was a small one, weighing about a ton. AVhcn we saw these two unusual things on the beach, my brother and I hurried and told our mother and father. They came along, and when we reached the albatross it was facing the pther way, -so my father crept up behind it and put his hat on it. He then held it by the hack of its neck, so that it would not tear his hands, and took

his hat off it. We came up then and patted it. Its black feathers were beautifully soft and smooth. We let it go and then went on to the whale. My father said it was a black fish (1 have seen one other and it was olivet, and had probably been stranded in a storm. —Yours sincerely, Mary Hyland, Dargaville.