Standing on Karekare beach I can understand why a famous director chose to shoot a movie here.
Apart from a lone fisherman practicing his craft we were the only people. Ahead of us the fine black sand, freshly groomed by the outgoing tide, stretched to the horizon. Somewhere up there, over six kilometres away along the beach, was the entrance to the Manukau harbour.
The colours of the Tasman Sea always seem that much richer alongside the deep charcoals and blacks of the shoreline. Today the waves fought their way in against an offshore wind, finally crashing in a mass of spray and then racing up the sloping beach towards us, coming to a stop a few feet away.
Almost a kilometre away to our left, a few
