Contents

COVER : Few human footsteps ever sully the sands of Twilight Beach, between the northern tip of Ninety Mile Beach and Cape Maria van Diemen. Like most of Northland’s sand, this deposit probably had its origin in volcanic eruptions in the central North Island.
CONTENTS - Features :
DUNES : THE WATERLESS SEA [when sand accumulates behind beaches, it forms sculptured landscapes of great beauty and variety. Nowhere in the country are there more extensive dunelands than in the Far North];
UNITED WE STAND : BLACKBALL AND THE WORKING-CLASS STRUGGLE [Blackball may be just another small West Coast town struggling to survive, but it played an important role in the birth of the organised labour movement and is buoyed by a proud history of militancy and camaraderie];
SKINKS ON THE EDGE [In a land that was once as alive with lizards as it was with birds, New Zealand’s skinks face a tenuous future. Attempts to retrieve them from the edge of extinction may be just in time];
ACROSS THE ALPS [The hardships encountered by explorers Lauper and Whitcombe while traversing the Southern Alps via Whitcombe Pass quickly dispelled notions that the route could usefully link Canterbury and the West Coast. Two adventurers revisit this pass and its remote hinterland];
CONTENTS - Departments :
GEONEWS [quest for the kokako; the rocks of Ur; rata around the Pacific]; WEATHER [the snows of ‘39]; MUSEUM [Wellington history gets a home]; BOOKS [Ammunition for the gene wars; the diversity of life]; COMING UP [what’s in store];