Lonely visitor makes a wrong turn
People living alongside Waikanae Estuary might be wondering what they’re missing, as a steady stream of people make their way across the sand spit, armed with large cameras and a palpable sense of determination.
The focus of their attention is easy to miss. The black tern, a small bird of mottled white, grey and black, sits nestled among a group of native white-fronted terns. You wouldn’t know to look at it how far it has travelled.
This unassuming visitor is the first of its kind to be seen in New Zealand, with the species originally hailing from Europe, Western Asia and North America.
Driven On The Akatarawa Rd Lately?
If so, its good to know you are still alive and reading this.
We have a function to go to over Christmas up that way and having heard a few hairy stories about the road, I went up there on Thursday to check it out. The road's ok, narrow and winding, but not much worse than a Wellington hill suburb. What was pretty scary was the behavior of other drivers. Three vehicles heading the other way at speed would have crashed into me if I hadn't been pulled off the road. I had pulled in to check the address when a truck came flying past, taking up all of the narrow road at speed. There is no way the driver would have been able to stop had they come around the corner immediately in front of me. The other two drivers came hurtling past as I had turned in to turn around and come back down the hill. They were also driving at speed and taking up most of the road. Coming back down I passed another car coming up and estimate that the safe speed to pass another car was about 30-35 kms.p.h. So, now we're thinking, do we go to the function or not.? Feels a bit like we're taking our life in our hands going up there. Drivers appear to be overconfident, and they are courting serious injury.
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