Sep 24 2008
Weird Blobs of Lard Mysteriously Wash Ashore
Waikanae Beach resident and shopkeeper Sue Wilkie discovered a large, white, barnacle-covered object at the water’s edge while walking her dog yesterday morning.
“It really stood out. At first I thought it was an old float covered in barnacles.
“When I got up to it I thought it was concrete, but when I looked around the other side it was greasy and crumbly, just like the lump found at Breaker Bay.
“My German shepherd Bella was attracted to it, gave it a good sniff but backed off fast.”
Mrs Wilkie was keen to cut the greasy lump into blocks and sell it as moisturising sunblock. “It could be a godsend for nudies on our beach.”
John Jaspers, of Lower Hutt, was on his dune buggy at Waikanae Beach with dog Conrod when they spotted a white blob on the tide.
They both leapt off the buggy and Conrod sniffed the blob, but was not game enough to take a bite.
After the first lump was reported at Wellington’s Breaker Bay at the weekend, opportunists tore into it, hoping it might be ambergris, a valuable spit or vomit excretion from sperm whales that is used in perfume. But it now seems more likely to be tallow or lard.
Kapiti Island landowner Karl Webber also spotted three similar objects - two floating in a bay and one on the shore - at the northern end of the island.
Hoping that it was ambergris, he took a sample and lit it, after being told that, if it burnt with a blue flame and had a pleasant odour, it could be the prized whale excretion.
“Unfortunately it just melted and really stank,” he said.
“It was awful, like rancid fat or lard.”
