The Pink Stump on Te Horo beach has been there ‘forever’ says local identity Liz Hird.
“I think that it was put in by a neighbour Nick Penman who lived in Nicolas Street. He was a fisherman and he got it down with a tractor and dug a hole and buried it. It marked half a mile down the beach. It was here when I came here about 32 years ago.
It had been set on fire a few times, but gets repainted by locals.
It has had splashes of colour, different colours sometimes white or blue, once multi-coloured but predominately pink and always known as the ‘pink stump’.
There is a connection with a young man who died by the name of Andrew Prendergast who used to ride on the beach.Some of his friends carved a ledge into the stump and had a metal horse attached as a memorial.
There is a rival down the beach closer to Peka Peka called the Blue Whale. It marks another turning point at about 4k.
But that is just a Johnny come lately!”