The town of Thames has the Coromandel Peninsula on one side and a big tidal inlet called the Firth of Thames on the other. On the opposite side of the inlet is the Miranda Shorebird Centre. There's also a commercial venture called Miranda Hot Springs with, it seems an Olympic sized pool at a constant 38 degrees and big orange flags advertising its presence but we gave that a miss.
After an afternoon walking along the track beside the mangroves, watching rosy breasted Godwits and flocks of Pied Stilts which minced daintily around the inland pools then took off, looking like black and white pocket handkerchiefs trailing long red legs, we visited the 2 hides. While Lawson scoured the birds foraging in the mud I contemplated yet another wonderful NZ view to a plaintive soundtrack of gulls and oystercatchers.
Across the glistening mud, over the white shell chenier or bank, across the dark turquoise sea being whipped by the breeze, to the distant, blurred buildings of Thames and its long backdrop of blue mountains.
As we were leaving the hide and about to retrace our steps to the van, a German couple arrived.
'Are there any Wrybills?' they asked.
The husband was ecstatic when Lawson told him there were a couple of thousand out on the mud. The two men then went back to the hide to look at small grey and white birds with beaks that have a kink at the end while I chatted to the German woman about the difference between a holiday during which you watch birds and a bird watching holiday. We agreed that when you are married to an enthusiast it's usually difficult to differentiate.
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