Stranded!

We decided on a quiet, relaxing day today, to ease T & A into their new time zone.  A look around Founders Park and a quick squizz at the Boulder Bank was the order of the day.

On the drive back home the traffic was plentiful, and moving very slowly as we drove around the waterfront.  As we neared the beach we noticed some activity........plenty of people in small crowds........bright flags...... Nearer still and T (obviously with much better eyes than me!) exclaimed "There's a whale on the beach!"

Closer still and we could all see the very clear shape of a whale in the shallow water, a tail sticking up in the air, moving gently with the waves.

Oddly enough, last night we'd been talking about whale strandings over in Golden Bay....

We took the turn to the beach car park, gathered cameras and headed out towards what we could now identify as Project Jonah flags and not one but two beasts on the beach.  Approaching the one highest up the beach T (with her superior eyesight) exclaimed "Oh my - it's a baby orca..."

As we were heading towards it oohing and ahhing, we passed a man and his children walking away from it.

"Is it an orca?" T asked.

"It's an inflatable" came the reply.

Whaaat!  Laughter and more laughter!!

It turned out the Project Jonah people were holding a training day which clearly attracted plenty of interest and gave us a good laugh at the same time!!

Mental note - must get eyes checked again soon!