How many grains of sand...

Shamelessly borrowed from websites, advertising for tourism. I hope I am not breaking any laws, or upsetting any businesses. The Bay of Plenty is a wonderful place to visit, and, a wonderful place to grow to maturity!

This is a pic of the spit of the Mount.

This view, here below, taken from the top of the Mount, looking South, or more realistically East South East,  depicts the Blowhole, with Motiti Island in the more distant background. I hope these give some perspective, to my story and the pics I have posted here.

 Of course here is the Mount, beloved by young teenagers, of my day,  as a 'Conquest'! We would walk our way around and up this Mount, and view the surroudings, and feel triumphant, at having achieved such a feat.
There might have been a hug or two on the way up... even a kiss perhaps.

When we were young school children, we would be bussed from our home town school, for a Picnic Day at the foot of the Mount. There was so much sand! Which I now consider in a different light!!
There were Donkey Rides. Poor docile Donkeys, they were so patient and long suffering.

I happened to notice, a strange item of news, while I was perusing a  Newspaper site, of the New Zealand Herald . It concerned this  beach of my childhood.
A beach, which featured in a large part of my growing/maturing  years.

The 'beach', (which perhaps should be known as Beaches),  is Mount Maunganui, and it has a small Mount, at the end of a spit of land, as in my nicked pic. One side opens onto the Ocean, and the other, is the Harbour side, which is calm, sheltered, and waveless.
It was an ideal beach destination when we were all ages, since the Harbour side was mostly shallow, and ideal for small children to learn to swim or just paddle.

The Ocean side, was where we went to surf the waves and swim in the sometimes,  mighty breakers of foam, as they hurled themselves endlessly to the sandy shore.

I have previously posted this picture of myself, on the left,  and a little friend, Norma, - we still keep in touch today. In the background can be seen, what I think, is either Motiti Island, or the Mount.

This was taken at approximately the same location, as the first photo, but this time I have 'grown up'. I was a trainee nurse, and much of our spare time was spent at the beach!

Looking at the pic, to the left is the Blowhole, and Motiti Is.  is once again in the background.

This next was taken in a rock hollow at the Blowhole, which we frequently visited to watch the water blast up through the hole in the rock.. I can remember the name of my companion, but I am wondering who took the photo?? I have no idea, as I felt just the two of us made the trip, on one of my days off. Obviously not the same day as the bright photos.

This is rather chilling, as it would seem to be in almost the exact location of the "Bones on the Beach" photograph featured in the Postcard. It was taken on the same day as the standing photo, on that grey sand.

Somehow this is horrible to see. I was intrigued/saddened/horrified,  by the postcard, and the accompanying article in the NZ Herald.

I somehow found this unutterably sad.

I do not have any religion, but I do feel much respect, for those of us who have gone before. I have many Maori friends, who were 'local',  and I am so shocked to think we were never made aware of this event. None of my family have any memory of this happening. I am surprised to think it was not local folklore. Why did no one tell us? I feel crass, somehow, not to have been aware.

I find I think of the grains of sand, and how they are filled with the grains of our beloved, who have gone before.

After all, we are all one!

Tina Arena, Now I Can Dance. I LOVE this song!!