An Evening at the Beach.

  It was a hot afternoon, when we met up with a group at the beach, for a picnic-barbecue.

When we arrived, we parked looking out to sea while waiting for other members of the group to arrive. While we watched,  there appeared much splashing and spraying  a wee way out in the deeper water. Sure enough, there were frolicking whales, probably on their way back down south. My camera shots were n't fast enough to capture any great photos, however it was fun to watch.      

About an hour later  my DH noticed smoke from the dashboard of  recently parked car. A young Mother was frantically trying to remove her children, belongings  and baby equipment.  Several folk ran to help, within less than a couple of minutes or so,  the car became a major fire

Many folk, ran to remove their vehicles which were parked nearby, ours included. There was an onshore wind so the black acrid smoke was billowing across the picnic area and up the face of the coastal  foliage  cliff to the  coastal road. Our car windows were covered in black soot when it was time to drive home. Such a small vehicle, burnt for a very long period of time. It was sporting an aero dynamic roof compartment when the car arrived. It just melted completely. there were many small explosions, probably airbags or electrical components. Several of us were watching from behind a massive trunk of a Norfolk Pine, using it as protection as we anticipated an explosion from the petrol tank. Thankfully, that did not occur. 

The fire brigade arrived about 15 minutes later, to extinguish the blaze that was still burning furiously. We also noticed the police, interviewing the young mother, at the other end of the picnic ground. The fire brigade said it appeared to have started from the air conditioning vent.

However, we did enjoy delightful company and delicious food  after such an alarming incident. We washed the windscreen of our car so we could see out and drive home safely.

K.