Off the Beaten Track – Wai-inu Beach

What a gem this camp was – 8 km off SH3.  The undulating grounds made finding a level site a bit of a challenge, but with a bit of manoeuvring, the five of us all managed to park up satisfactorily.  There is nothing like a sea view, is there?  “Wai-inu” means fresh spring water, and is named for the many springs along the beach. 

The start of our safari, at Wai-inu Beach

We chatted to a local on our morning walk who told us that there have been changes to this beach side camp recently.  The council has built a new ablution block and dump station.  The biggest change was to start charging a modest fee, and this drove away all sorts of undesirables - at one stage there were 900 tent, vans, and old buses all cluttering up the camp as the parking was free.  These days the fee is $10 per night over the Christmas holiday period, and $5 per night for the rest of the year.  According to the neighbour, once the fees were introduced,  the riff raff just melted away.

The beach has black sand and is a playground for those with quad bikes or motor bikes.  We trudged along the tracks, keeping listening for the noisy backs, and ready to jump aside should one come hurtling around the corner.

 

On a beach track

I’m pleased we didn’t go paddling in the waves as we saw many blue bottles with their long tentacles washed up on the beach.

Wai-inu Beach

It was delightful sitting outside in the evening air.  The sun had cooled down, and the wind had dropped.  Twilight appeared as the sun sunk below the sky line.  What a lovely sight it was.

 

  Evening at the beach

What’s this, we wondered, as we watched a neighbour in a house bus treadling away the next morning .  He was using a treadle driven “Hobby” machine to do fret work.  This happy camper makes wooden items to sell at Gypsy Fairs.  All his tools and machinery are stored in a covered trailer and towed behind his house bus.

Treadle powered fret work

We had time for morning tea before packing up and moving on.  Peter had things to put away in his caravan locker and Muffy jumped in to check things out.

What’s Muffy doing in there?

One by one we all hooked up, drove away, and left Wai-inu Beach behind us.  We will return again, we decided, to this delightful place.