Wild and Wonderful = Ward Beach

Ward beach was everything I'd hoped it would be - and more. And as it was only a few hours from home, it was put to the top of our 'To Visit' list.
The spot we stayed, was right beside the beach. It's owned by local farmers (Herb & Pip Thompson). The Thompsons have generously put aside an area at the north end of the Ward Beach Picnic Reserve area. No overnight parking is allowed in the reserve area but Herb and Pip have set up a place where NZMCA members and self-contained vehicles can stay for a donation.
I know I've said this before but I've just got to mention it again ... the simplicity of pulling up in our wee bus, turning off the key and knowing you're now set up is bliss. So quick. So easy.

And better still, we had the spot to ourselves - just how we like it. Isolated and private, no need to pull the curtains. The photos below show our view. 

Not long after arriving, it began to drizzle. An ideal time to sit back and enjoy a cuppa, while admiring the view and listening to the sea pounding onto shore.

Luckily the rain didn't last. So the dogs and I were off to explore.
I apologise if some of the photos seem a bit strange ... unfortunately my camera started playing up. I can't really blame it - I've had it for about three years now and it's been well and truly thrashed. For some reason it altered the ISO whenever I took a photo, so the light randomly changed with every photo I took.

The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake (7.8 magnitude), uplifted the seabed about 2 metres, which exposed a range of rocks. In the photo below you can see where the original tide mark had been.

As a result of the earthquake, Ward Beach now has its own type of 'Moeraki Boulders'. It  took about ten minutes to walk (north) to find these new 'Ward Beach Boulders'. The beach is covered in small stones, making walking quite slow. If you're keen to see these spherical shaped rocks, low tide would be the best time.

I decided not to walk any further, as the sky was darkening and rain clouds were moving closer. 

We stopped to explore the rock pools as we wandered back. Oakly had to peer into every pool and investigate every crevice. Just like me, he gets so much enjoyment from nature.

Although we didn't see much life in the tidal pools, the different formations made it interesting.

How do these plants manage to grow and thrive in such harsh conditions?

Back at the bus we had dinner, watched the sunset and settled in for an early night. I don't think Oakly slept all night, he'd spotted a rabbit and spent the whole night sitting in the drivers seat watching and waiting!

The next morning I was up early, hoping for a nice sunrise and also hoping the cray boats would be launched.

Oakly, watching the sunrise with me.

An hour or so later, I heard a bulldozer start up. Yahoo - that meant, the cray boats were heading out.

After walking over the stones, I could see why a bulldozer was needed to tow the boats down to the water - everything else would sink and get stuck.

Bernie chatted to one of the fisherman and discovered, before the earthquake the cray boats only had a short beachfront to launch from. The photo below, shows Bernie and the fisherman - prior to the earthquake, the beachfront (where they're standing and several metres to the right of them), had been underwater.

Once the boat was skilfully backed into the water, it powered away to check the cray pots. 

Occasionally, the sea becomes too rough, making it too dangerous for the boats to be brought out of the water. When this happens, they wait further out until conditions are calm enough to approach shore. And as you can imagine, this may take several hours.

Time was marching on, so we wandered back to the bus for breakfast, but not before Boo struck an early morning pose.

Again, organising the bus to leave was effortless. As we were leaving I spotted a pile of painted stones beside the gate (I'm not sure how I missed these when we arrived). Campers had decorated rocks and/or written their names on them. What a cool idea. 

We loved our stay at Ward Beach and look forward to visiting again.