Shag, Shags, and Shagged!

The South Brighton Spit is always an enjoyable walk - especially if the tide is low, the day is clear with no wind, and you have good company.

Such was the case a few weeks ago. With all that is currently going on in remediating the cliffs after the earthquakes and careful removal of destroyed houses on the road to Sumner, there is always something to watch from afar on the spit at 'morning tea time'!

Rapanui - Shag Rock is certainly shagged. This sentinel (an old sea stack) has sat there for tens of thousands of years - if not longer - until 22 February 2011 when in an instant it was reduced to a pile of rocks

Rapanui - Shag Rock

An End of an Era - perched above Rapanui is Ed Cotter's house.

Ed was a mountaineer that I had the privilege to know through the CMC that we both belong to, and Mountain Face Rescue activities. Ed was at the forefront of mountaineering at the same time as Ed Hillary - another Ed! An awesome man and personality - a man who never hit the highlights like his namesake.

Sadly this photo below is his house - very soon to be demolished. Wrecked in the earthquake of February 2011. I don't know if he was in the house that day, but if he was, it must have been one hell of a wild ride. Sadly Ed is now in a rest home in Wanaka near his son, Guy Cotter.

Ed Cotter's House - top right