Doggone it!

Another scorcher today, so off forthwith to the beach with picnic and dog. Except that it turns out that dogs are PNG (that would be persona non grata, not Papua New Guinea) on East Coast beaches in the middle of the day - ie just when fur coats are at their most unbearable - so we had to drive past miles of sparkling sea, wide sandy expanses and shady green reserves and end up, still illegally, at a muddy river mouth.

We thought we could get away with our inoffensive old Labrador and boxed-up leftovers as it was deserted when we got there: tide out, so the boaties gone for the duration, and no-one else around except for a couple of depressed-looking blue herons by the water's edge. That was before the procession began of lovely horses squelching down to the water to splash through to the other side and a bouncy canter along to the point; and the trail bikes that did a few messy donuts before, thankfully, departing again; and the walkers manfully wading through the river; and the helicopter clattering over...

But it was still very pleasant to sit in the shade of a pohutukawa and look out to sea (even if the foreground was mudflats and mangroves) and eat our nice food and tut over how sedate the old dog is these days. I would have liked to swim, though - or, even better, go for a ride myself. I hope there'll be more horses for me this year: that's something to work on.