25 February 2009

Beachcombers, Birdlings Flat

On Birdlings FlatSome live here and search the beach every day; others just visit. Out there somewhere lies Antarctica.

Birdlings Flat is just South of Banks Peninsula, in the South Island. We visited in January this year.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

7 comments:

Relatively Retiring said...

That tiny figure gives the scene such poignancy.
I love the words, 'out there somewhere lies Antarctica.'

pohanginapete said...

Thank you RR. I too am struck by the power of that tiny figure. 'Poignancy' is precisely the right word.

michael.offworld said...

I would enjoy a day combing that beach.

pohanginapete said...

New Zealand has great coasts, Michael. Many aren't great for swimming — downright dangerous, in fact — but those tend to be spectacular. And with a few exceptions, they're mostly deserted.

robin andrea said...

I just left a comment on the later post that is equally (if not more so!) apropos here. What a stunning beach, and how other-side-of-the-world-from-me interesting to note that somewhere beyond that horizon lies Antartica.

pohanginapete said...

Thanks robin andrea. I can imagine you and Roger walking that beach, appreciating the birds, the sea, what's washed up, the exquisite emptiness. And I have a fair idea how you'd respond to the knowledge that Antarctica's the next land. Would places like this feel the same if, over the horizon, one were to find cities and teeming millions? I think not.

butuki said...

Since I was a boy I've always wanted to be somewhere where Antarctica was a nearby possibility ("nearby" relatively speaking, of course). Japanese beaches are, shall I put it mildly, slightly overpopulated and dirty as you can't imagine. Though I'm lucky to be living 10 kilometers from the longest beach in Japan... 90 kilometers long... where, in winter, hardly any people go. Out there somewhere lies Hawaii!