/ˈklɔɪɪŋ/

 "Cloying a bit" said Richard in a comment on my last post just because it was sweet and nice.

Oh well, who cares? Here's some more 'cloying' stuff in the hope that it might soften his bitter (fascist) heart.

Today Geoff and I went to Ocean Beach. This is a large surf beach that's just over the hill from where we live.

This is from the ww. web.

On the pacific coastal side of the Whangarei Heads you will find the magnificent 5km long Ocean Beach. The Beach is surf patrolled throughout the summer months and is a well known beach for boogie boarding and surfing. The water is crystal clear during the summer months and there are fantastic views from the sand dunes at either end of the beach. There are some great rock pool exploring to be had at low tide at either end of the beach. This has to be one of the most spectacular beaches in NZ. It will take you approx 35 minutes to drive out to this beach from Whangarei and approx 15 mins from Parua Bay. Highly recommended!!

It takes about 7 minutes for us to get there. 

We parked at the end of the road overlooking the beach where there is a memorial to the sinking of HMS Puriri, the only New Zealand navy ship lost to enemy action in New Zealand waters. This happened in 1941 when five of its crew were killed. 

HMS Puriri was a merchant vessel commissioned into service as a minesweeper. It sank after striking a mine about eight nautical miles northeast of Bream Head, Whangarei, on May 14, 1941. The mine might have been one that had been laid by that bastard German raider Orion which was responsible;e for the sinking of The Niagara. See: HERE

We set off walking northwards. along the magnificent beach. This is at least 5KM long  and is very wide with beautiful soft white sand. At the Southern part of the beach by the carpark and the Surf Lifesaving club rooms we saw a half dozen people. Along the way we walked we saw no other person.

The weather was ideal with blue skies, lots of sunshine and a nice breeze.

This is a surf beach and the waves came in relentlessly, washing up small sea creatures that the waiting birds - gulls, oystercatchers, dotterel etc eagerly sought.

We walked nearly 4kms along the beach which is broken up into three sections, each separated by a small rocky point. As we had to get Geoff to the airport later in the afternoon we didn't complete the entire walk of the beach and turned back. The there and back walk was nearly 8 kms which was fairly taxing walking on sand.

Here are some 'cloying' images: