Soccer, lunch, and Howick Beach on 5/04/19

As we adults sleepily assembled this past Saturday morning to start breakfast proceedings, the boys intoned seriously, "May the fourth be with you."  Gotta love 'em. 

Arram's soccer game that day was way over in Howick. (South and East of downtown Auckland.)  The Athleticos played the Howick Fencibles, and beat them soundly. Arram says it was 11 to 1.  I had lost count. He did really well and was named player of the day.  

After the game, which ended at noon, we headed to Subway for lunch and then Allie found our way down to Howick Beach for some relaxation. 

The pictures today are from that beach of course. We found that it was a combination rocky and muddy beach and the perfect habitat for crabs. Arram is especially fond of these crustaceans so he found it very much to his liking. It's the first one we've found with almost unlimited 'Krusty Krabs.'  (Reference to a SpongeBob character.) 

Hope you enjoy the photos.

 From the car park. 

 It looks like sand, but is very fine. I'm not sure if the correct term would be mud, muck or silt. 

 See what I mean? Rocky and 'muddy'.

And since we're on the Pacific side of the island, we can see Rangitoto.

 Allie always picks up trash when we visit beaches. It's a shame that in such an amazing environment there have to be those who toss their trash anywhere. Of course I realise that some of it gets washed in from who knows where. 

Look how big these guys are getting.  Arram is still in his soccer uniform. 

Here is one of the 37 crabs that the boys caught. All were released. 

Arram's splint should be off by the time you read this post. 

I think this is little Motukaraka Island in the foreground and Waiheke Island behind it.  

 Shells accumulate in the low spots in the rocks. Much of this 'rock' is actually very firmly pressed mud, muck or silt. 

 Checking out the crab count. 

 Over in the corner, under some trees, I found this World War II bunker. 

 These must be the steps that led down to the bunker from the top of the hill. Now they disappear into the dirt. 

 Entry into the bunker was on the right in the very back. Unfortunately, collapsed dirt and rocks and very large tree roots now block the door except for a very small opening at the top. 
The steps I showed you in the previous picture start to the right of the border of this shot. 

An mature southern black-backed gull. The juveniles are almost as big as the adults but are dark brown (they look black against the sky) all over. There was one circling around the beach but I couldn't get a picture of it. They're common all over the island.     -djf