Himatangi Beach on a glorious day

This morning I decided to head off down to Himatangi Beach, about a half-hour drive from home. Though Palmerston North is 'inland', it doesn't actually take long to reach the coast. I had arrived by 9am, when few other people were even on the beach. This man was throwing a stick out into the waves for his dog.
And the view just stretched out into the distance. This view is south along the beach, in the direction of Foxton. It was a calm, sunny morning, and it was so peaceful just dawdling along, paddling in the very gentle little waves. (It is not always this calm on the west coast of course: you can experience 'wild' here as well!)
Apart from the odd, solitary gull, I had little other company.
I enjoyed watching the wavelets as they washed over shells etc on the sand, making patterns.
After about an hour walking, I decided it was time to turn back- and this is the view looking northwards back to Himatangi. (When I have all these lovely deserted beaches at home, you can see why crowded European resorts really hold no appeal for me!)
As I walked back you could see the cloud starting to build up inland and over the ranges. Perhaps we will have more thunder this afternoon, like yesterday...
I enjoyed taking this photo of the reflection of the clouds on the wet sand. One thing I have decided to look out for when taking photos in the next wee while is.... reflections... and if you look back at my previous three posts you will see I have put a reflection photo in each post!

OK so maybe there will be another thunderstorm in a wee while... time to get to the Lido for a swim before that happens!