Up early on Saturday morning and by 3.15 am three of us were city bound off to Mission Bay to have a look around at around low tide. We know that this beach gets detected regularly and rich pickings have been reported over the years but hopes were high for something special as we arrived at the beach. A small gang of young lads dressed like NBA basketball team were enjoying the remains of their RDT cache outside the main toilet block but soon sauntered off to another place unknown leaving us alone on the beach. The sea was like a mill pond and a bright moon gave assistance to our headlamps. We split up. I headed to the wet sand at the tides edge while Ritchie and Gareth patrolled the dry stuff. Richard found a foreign coin straight away, a Thai Baht. I too immediately had success with three coins in the same hole. I like it when after recovering something another sweep over the hole gives you another target and even better yet another. I pulled $1.70 spending out. I did venture into the water up too my knees but without a proper scoop the couple of targets that were indicated went uncovered. Scoop is a must. So back on the sand I continued and after many bottle tops and disfigured lumps of iron I too moved up the beach a little. A coin hunters dream really. I had six hits in a row all legit spending but small denomination.
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| Mission Bay sunrise |
The morning was arriving fast and the beach slowly sprang into life. A city council worker arrived to open the gates, more descended to clean the toilets and another lot to empty the bins, then another one to check the bins were already done. Early morning joggers and dog walkers started appearing out of the dusky light. The clubs had also emptied out and a few worse for wear clubbers staggered along the beach. One couple bought blankets and after wrestling for a while fell asleep. Another group of four ladies were interested in more than the metal detecting we were doing, one even writing her phone number in the sand for our future reference. Not sure of which one of us it was aimed at but looking at the ugly twats I was with it was probably aimed at me. Anyway after a bit of slurred banter the group thankfully wandered off no doubt to assail a poor coffee shop owner somewhere. After a wee break, literally, I went right to the top of the beach where I recovered my first tent peg for a few weeks, a pen from "Performance Roofing Systems' whose contact number shows it originated from Oakland, California and another few dollars spending. At around 8am we decided to call it a day. Backs were aching and tummies rumbling as we packed up and headed for a nice coffee ourselves leaving the now quite populated but much cleaner beach to the locals. The shagging couple, still mostly under the blankets, lay entwined like some Greek sculpture and were oblivious the constant ringing of the mobile that sat in the sand next to them. I fear someone could be in trouble there. Ritchie our cameraman forgot to take any pictures, (again!!) so the ample opportunities for him to make the coveted 'New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year award' final passed him by once more.
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| One baht, Richards Retirement fund. |
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| Value 4.063 NZ cents. |
I ended up with $7.20, Gareth only $3.90 and Ritchie reflex lens $6.80 plus the one baht coin from Thailand.
No other finds that really piqued any interest but another enjoyable jaunt.
