Ohope, part 2

Let's start off today with the view from our balcony. I realize that my video skills are not the greatest, I shake and vary my panning speed. I wouldn't make it in Hollywood. I took this short video the first evening. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWcsdWG0gLk&feature=youtu.be

Some of you who have read many of my posts and watched lots of my videos might have noticed that when I pan, I usually move clockwise, or to my right. I wonder if I were making such a video in the northern hemisphere, if I would pan counter-clockwise? Hmmm.

This post will show you mostly cloudy skies, but don't despair for us. The temperature was in the 70's, farenheitedly speaking, so we didn't suffer at all. In fact, because of the cloud cover, we didn't need to worry so much about scorching in the sun. 

Here we go.

 So, what do a couple of inquisitive lads do when the weather doesn't cooperate? They go to plan B. The boys discovered that under the house was a sort of open slat-sided basement with a unlocked door. They explored it and I caught this picture of them. They discovered too that our house came with a gate at the end of the balcony that gave access to a downward sloping sidewalk that encircled the front of the house at the basement level.  

 In between heavy downpours, we headed for the beach. This path was right across the street from our house.

 I didn't expect to see black sand on this eastern beach, but that's what we found 

 The skies were so changeable.

 This is what the beach looked like.

 In this picture, we've just returned to our street, Pohutukawa Avenue, from the beach path that I showed you earlier. You can see the roof our our house way up there. 

Here is a better shot from just down the street. 

The skies and ocean changed by the minute.

 A rather interesting green color I thought. 

 And at times, the sun broke through. When it did, we got busy again.

 Here, Arram is searching an inland beach, still salt water of course, for crabs. He found one and caught a shrimp as well, which he kept in a bucket to study for a while before releasing them again.
The sign in the park that borders this area said that sea grass is abundant here and is a favorite habitat for crabs. 
We got chased back inside by the rain shortly after this shot was taken. 

 What sort of trees do you think grow in the park along Pohutukawa Ave?

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some sun.   -djf

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A Retiree ponders...

I've been thinking about the sand on the beaches here. I've shown you pictures of black sand beaches and of white sand beaches and of the patterns that result on the beaches where both the sands are present. The patterns are beautiful. But I got to thinking just yesterday, why do the patterns happen? After all this time and all the mixing of sand on the beach that happens because of the wind and wave action, why aren't the two sands evenly mixed? Why don't we have grey beaches? 

I thought about it yesterday because of a little container of sand I brought home from Ohope Beach. 

Years ago, Allie started a collection of sands from many of the beaches she has visited. Since I love collecting shells and driftwood and all manner of beach treasures, I always pick up a little sand wherever we are in case she doesn't get a chance to pick some up herself. She's busy with the boys afterall. I'm busy with me. Here's a photo of some of her collection. (Shown with her permission)  It now contains a few other things besides sand.) 

When I get home from any beach with a sample of sand, I always clean it before putting it into whatever containers Allie and I might use. Sand has organic matter in it of course, and if we were to simply fill a jar with it, that matter would shortly begin to smell. I therefore sift the sand to remove the material I don't want, and disinfect it with heat. That heat also serves to dry it completely so the sand doesn't clump up in our bottles. Because of this process, the sand is thoroughly and repeatedly mixed. There should be no discerable patterns in the sand, right? 

Wrong. I subjected the batch of Ohope Beach sand to my process and as I delivered the container of sand to Allie for bottling, I noticed that there were patterns visible in the container!  Take a look. 

 A very well-mixed sample of sand

That is amazing to me. 

I can think of a few explanations. The particle size of the white and black sands might be different. The surface characteristics of the individual particles might vary. Maybe for example, the white sand has a smooth surface while the black sand surface is jagged? We know that the black sand has a very high percentage of iron. Maybe that means that the black sand is much heavier than the white sand? Are similarly colored pieces of sand actually attracted to each other because of some of the reasons I've mentioned, or for other reasons? Is it because the water helps to stick similar grains of sand together? But, the sample of sand in the picture above is perfectly dry. Is it that the black sand forms the bottom layer and all the patterning is due to the white sand on top? 

I haven't done any research into why this separation of the sands happens. Some one might have done a paper on it for all I know. Maybe I'll get around to looking for such a explanation some time, but for now, I just wanted to share the idea. Maybe you have another sort of theory. 

Personally, while I don't understand it, I am thankful for whatever mechanism it is that produces our beach patterns. I know I wouldn't like a grey sand beach nearly as much.