One thing New Zealand isn’t short of is beautiful places. The natural beauty of the country is really what makes this such a special place – they don’t call it God’s own country for no reason!

On Monday we finished our break in Hawkes Bay with a stroll on Ocean Beach, an olympic effort throw of stone from where we were staying. It’s a beautiful sandy beach that has great surf breakers and miles of unspoilt views.

Before you get too carried away in the idyllic view – there are plans afoot to change all of that. They want to build 1,000 -yes no joke – by this beach which currently has a few baches. One one hand you think well why not build a community in such a beautiful spot – there’s certainly enough space and there loads of other deserted beaches elsewhere. As you might imagine the local community have different views and there’s a massive campaign to save Ocean Beach.

You can follow the story if you’re interested. If not, simply enjoy the view!

So what do you say – should they develop Ocean Beach?