Beach Treasure By Becca

It was already hot and for some reason Mum was rushing around grabbing stuff. "Come on." She said, "We're going out." Could this have anything to do with the surprise she was talking about the night before? When I went to the car, in the back seat was Mum's purple backpack that she usually uses when she goes to the gym. Now THAT was weird! Was Mum taking me to the GYM?! But no, the dogs were also in the car so it couldn't be that.

"Mum." I asked as we were driving past the dairy at the top of the hill, "Where are we going?" Mum just kept looking at the road. "Is it the pool?" Still silence. "The mall?" More silence. "The Library?" This was getting annoying. "How about the beach?" This time at least I got a reply. "Maybe" Mum said. 'YES!' I thought. I know that when mum says maybe, she usually means yes. We were going to the beach!

After what seemed like a million years we drove into the familiar car park of Karekare beach. The second I stepped out the door I was almost knocked off my feet by a howling wind. While I was waiting for Mum I went around to the back of the toilets where I could see the beach. I could see the hot sand, where it was made mud-like by the pounding waves, the soggy debris scattered by the tide, the volcanic rocks in one corner of the beach beside the towering cliffs. Then Mum called me back to the path and we walked down to the beach.

We put down our stuff in a corner of the beach beside the rocks. Mum gave me a plastic bag and told me to go look for shells. I walked over to a bunch of rocks that looked like a good place to find shells. I looked behind a rock and... "WOW!!!" I exclaimed! There was an amazing array of shells, some broken or dirty with sand, but all with fascinating colours and shapes. Suddenly I saw something shiny out of the corner of my eye. I turned around and I saw it, even though it was five large rocks away. It was huge, and coloured like the rainbow.

It was the most beautiful shell ever. I HAD to get it! And to do that, I had to climb over the rocks. The huge, slippery, sharp, granite rocks. What would YOU have done? Maybe put your bag down and shoes on first, unlike me. I scrambled onto the first rock. After a few painful minutes, I was close enough to reach the shell. I reached out, stretched a bit more... "GOT IT!" I yelled triumphantly. I sat down on the rock to inspect my shell. Suddenly, out popped a head. Followed by a claw. The little crab decided that he'd rather be back on his rock, and nipped my finger before I could drop him. "OW!!" I yelled and, without thinking, I threw the shell away!

I sighed. I guessed I wasn't meant to have the shell after all. "Come on, Becca!" Mum called, "Time to go!"

"Coming!" I called back, as I climbed over the rocks. 'Oh well,' I thought, 'Maybe it'll be there again next time.'