John Hardcastle and the Sands of Caroline Bay

John Hardcastle  1904  Caroline Bay: How the sand comes in.  Timaru Herald 24 September 1904

"The transformation of the southern side of Caroline Bay, from a bay of moderately deep water, margined by a narrow beach of travelling shingle upon a rocky bottom, to a broad, gently sloping and continually growing deposit of sand- from a fishing ground  and a frequent scene of wrecks and strandings, into a favourite bathing ground and site for shrubberies and a band rotunda, is a truly remarkable phenomenon, with many curious minor details.

One striking feature of the sand deposited in the bay is its remarkable evenness of grain; it is perfectly sorted, from finer sand or coarser silt. By what means is the sand so delicately weighed, brought into the bay and left there? And how and where did it all originate?"


John Hardcastle  1913  Caroline Bay: How the sand comes in: a problem and its solution.  Timaru Herald 17 December 1913

The attractive features of Caroline Bay are so numerous and so varied that persons of widely different tastes find there something to interest or please. The sea, with its freshness and infinite variety, the all-the-year-round  verdancy of lawn and shrubbery, cliff shroud of ice plant, the chromatic gamut of the flower beds, the picturesque buildings and quaint line of dressing boxes, the smooth softness of dry sand the delight of infancy, the firm footing of the tide-wetted sand that makes a peerless promenade, the beautiful freshness of ozonised sea air, the enjoyment of the holiday feeling, even for the space of minutes, as one passes along the cool beach to or from business in the dinner hour, the sense of thankfulness that so near to the scene of one's daily toil and worries one can get away from them, the pleasure of sympathising with the pleasure of others- these things are among the many that make Caroline Bay what it is so reasonably claimed to be- Timaru's best asset."