Farewell Spit is a fascinating place to visit. The world’s longest sandbar, it stretches some 18 miles out into the Tasman Sea from the northern tip of the South Island. It is the breeding ground for many kinds of birds. Tourists are not allowed on very much of it; if I remember right you are only allowed to walk on the first 2.5 km or so from the base of the spit. We walked out there, across the spit to the outside beach, and back. Actually, Mr. Imagination, Little Miss and I didn’t get that far; we turned back after only a couple of km. The rest of the family did the whole track, though; it took them about 3 hours.
This is looking out along the spit from the base, where we started the walk. I found the ripples in the sand quite interesting. They are very firm. At high tide the water comes way up this beach, but quickly goes way out again as the tide goes down. 
We found this jellyfish washed up. It was about as big in real life as it is on my screen here, about 2 inches in diameter.
Mr. Inventor dug these huhu grubs out from under a rotten log. He wanted to cook them and eat them, but finally decided he didn’t want to haul them around all day!
Paradise ducks.
Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Inventor—not sure what they were doing.
Possibly Roseate Spoonbills? They were too far out to be sure.
Thrilled to be on the ground and able to explore the carpet of seashells! Of course, she had to taste some.
While they waited for the rest of the party to catch up, the boys enjoyed the sand dunes. This is Mr. Intellectual, Mr. Sweetie, Mr. Inventor, and Mr. Diligence.
The beach was covered with shells.
Black swans
There were a lot of dead crabs, or else crab shells, on the beach, too.
Going across the spit to the outer beach.
The outer beach is a lot sandier than the inner beach.
Mr. Handyman, Mr. Diligence, Mr. Intellectual, Mr. Sweetie, and Esther.
Cute one of Little Miss! And–those are amazing dunes!