If I had not seen it for myself I would never have believed it. I have heard of traffic jams and crowded beaches but to see them at Opononi was a wonderful experience. This did not happen once or twice but every Saturday and Sunday. Cars, buses, trucks, vans and motor-bikes were seen parked on either side of the road for half a mile or more on each side of Opononi, with barely room to drive along the centre of the road. If a vehicle was held up or was to meet one coming the opposite way a traffic jam was the immediate result. Traffic was so congested at times that officers had to be brought in to direct it. Two officers were on duty most Sundays and they did a very good job in untangling traffic. Two Sundays before Opo died a special parking place was made available which was a very real boon. These are my own reflections after her demise. I had never seen her with her mouth open. When she died I had a look at her mouth and I was surprised at her teeth. She had conical teeth about one and a half inches long, about one inch apart in both jaws. If she had a notion to be savage she would have been able to rip a person to pieces with one bite. With the record traffic on the roads I never heard of a single motoring accident in coming to or returning to Opononi. As for swimmers there were easily over a hundred young and old in the water but there was not a single drowning fatality. With all these people coming during the weekends, Saturdays in particular when up to 1500 people were jammed on the beach, there was no case of drunkenness, fights or arguments. Everybody was in the gayest of holiday moods.

GAMES WITH OPO As for herself she was really and truly a children's playmate. Although she played with grownups she was really at her charming best with a crowd of children swimming and wading. I have seen her swimming amongst children almost begging to be petted. She had an uncanny knack of finding out those who were gentle among the young admirers, and keeping away from the rougher elements. If they were all gentle then she would give of her best. When playing with a rubber ball no one could help but be thrilled by her antics with it. She would push the ball along the water and then flip it in the air, catch it on her nose then toss it in the air again, or she would try and sink the ball by pressing it under her body or tail. She must have got it fairly deep at times as the ball bounced nearly four feet up in the air when it escaped from under her. Then she would toss it in the air and hit it with her tail. To watch her was one of the most fascinating sights imaginable. Then there was her game of playing with empty beer bottles. Toss her a beer bottle, empty or full, and she would treat it with disdain. She had to find her own bottle from the bottom of the sea. How she balanced it on her nose I cannot imagine but she really did and she would toss it quite a distance up in the air. I have tried to make her play with a glass ball, a float from a seine net, but she never seems to use it which makes me think she could not see anything clear like glass. It had to be coloured before she would take notice. She even tried to toss a piece of brown paper which I threw overboard.

THE LURE OF THE MOTOR Opo had a real weakness for the sound of an outboard motor. Many times I have gone to watch the people playing on the beach with Opo. I would be about a quarter of a mile away with the motor idling when I would hear “Oh” from her admirers on the beach. Next thing I would see Opo coming towards me. Many times I have rowed away from Opononi, started my motor only to find Opo had left her admirers and was following my boat, but I always returned her to