Despite heavy rain further north, the day in Dunedin was warm and sunny with only a light breeze which was a good sign for a walk along Green Island Beach. We arrived at Blackhead to a full carpark and waves crashing onto the sand making it easy to see why this is a popular surfing beach. The cliffs of Blackhead are basalt columns similar to those we had seen at the Organ Pipes last weekend and the Pyramids two weekends ago. The Blackhead headland of basalt columns juts out into the sea and there are some interesting rock formations that can accessed by scrambling around the base at very low tide.
Today, though, our mission was to walk along the beach from Blackhead to Brighton and with one and a half hours to low tide there was plenty of beach for the 9 of us to walk along. The walk of 7km each way was very pleasant in the sun and with a tail wind on the journey to Brighton making for an enjoyable walk where we saw a sea lion and only a handful of people walking their dogs. The dogs looked to be having a lot of fun chasing balls and sticks in the water. We passed the Waldronville estuary without even noticing as there was no water flowing down the estuary.
The further we walked down the beach the more sand was exposed by the retreating tide and there was plenty of opportunity to walk with different people which made the 1.5 hour walk to Brighton pass quickly.
Once we reached the end of the beach, we found a large rock to sit and replenish the energy with a drink and some snacks in the sun while we contemplated the walk back. We were all a bit jealous of Laurence and his cinnamon scroll but he wasn't keen to share so we contented ourselves with our own horde of lollies.
The second part of our journey was the return to Blackhead, however this time we had the wind in our faces. This made for some lovely patterns in the blowing sand and with the tide out we looked to have a massive beach all to ourselves. The bulk of Blackhead kept beckoning us on and before we knew it, we had passed the Waldronville estuary again and were back in amongst the dog walkers again.
Once at Blackhead, it was a final scramble over the rocks and up to the cars. The beautiful weather meant this had been an enjoyable 14km beach walk with great company.
