A few evenings ago I was on my way home, but stopped to admire an interesting cloud formation over Island Bay. Looking from the beach a line of lumpy clouds echo the lumpy shape of Taputeranga.
There were many seaweeds - red, green and brown, washed up on the beach and decorating the sand. I thought the shape of this group looked like the outline of a large fish.
Although they had mostly dried up and had been partly covered by sand, I enjoyed taking a closer look. This seaweed looks brown but I know enough to know that doesn't necessarily mean it is a brown alga. It had a red coloured fringing on some of the blades. So I wondered - are they part of the seaweed or another one which has jumped on for the ride?
The force of the waves that dump the seaweeds on the beach is reflected in the number of holdfast anchoring structures that were evident. This one had a multicoloured decoration of other seaweeds - very pretty.
There were more curiosities to come.
A little bladder-like structure amidst the seaweed debris. One of many.
Here it is more obvious - the remains of a bluebottle (a jellyfish, the long blue thing a stinger) and a sea lettuce (a green alga). I think.
And what on earth? The only thing I can think of is a sea cucumber, but this doesn't look like the few pictures I have seen of the local one.
There's always lots to learn!