At the beach, at the beach etc
And Auntie Birdie Uncle Bob and Valerie and Tony Heather too
And Auntie Dorrie Uncle Ken and Pamela Bay and Claire were there
At the beach
And naturally there was Mum and Dad and Bruce and me and Beverley
At the beach by the sea
In our tents en famille
With a stretcher for you and a lilo for me
And a primus to cook with and fresh fish for tea
Oo-oo-ooh what a lovely time we had

Oh the sparkling of the water
And the burning of the sand
And the glistening of the seashells
As I held them in my hand
And the tall pohutukawas
Were full of crimson flowers
And happiness was easy to reach
With the family at the beach

( Spoken: “Now what did we use to do there?_… I remember”)

Now Uncle Stan would often go out fishing
Sometimes one or two of us went with him
At the beach
On rainy days we played a game of cards
Or played the ukelele
Or some of us would go exploring
Clambering and climbing round the rocks
To the next beach
Examining the little pools for sea anemones
And other tiny sea life
At the beach on the sand
Arm in arm hand in hand
And the redheads got burnt and the others got tanned
And the pleasure was endless and nothing was planned
Oo-oo-ooh what a lovely time we had

Oh the sparkling of the water
And the burning of the sand
And the glistening of the seashells
As I held them in my hand
And the tall pohutukawas
Were full of crimson flowers
And happiness was easy to reach
With the family at the beach

(Spoken : “And one particular Xmas holiday we went camping on the East Coast at a place called Te Kaha”)

And no-one else at all was camping there that year
And so we had it to ourselves
Just like a private beach
Though sometimes Maori locals came a galloping their horses down the beach
And stopped to say hello
And once a week we went to see a movie at the local hall which had an old projector
At the beach
And laughed because the sound was so distorted
But it didn’t really seem to matter
And my sister and me
Sang in close harmony
And were judged second best
At the local talent quest
And we all had a ball
In the Te Kaha hall
Oo-oo-ooh what a lovely time we had

Oh the sparkling of the water
And the burning of the sand
And the glistening of the seashells
As I held them in my hand
And the tall pohutukawas
Were full of crimson flowers
And happiness was easy to reach
With the family at the beach

(Coda,Spoken:
“There was Uncle Stan and Auntie Betty, Colin, Barry, Auntie May and Uncle Roy and Auntie Birdie Uncle Bob and Valerie and Tony Heather too and Auntie Dorrie Uncle Ken and Pamela Bay and Claire were there and naturally there was Mum and Dad and Bruce and me and Beverley…”)