This Easter we flew back to Auckland to spend time with the family up at Leigh. The weather was welcomely fine, but with a fair bit of wind. So while we were able to get out and about with the kids it was pretty stormy on the beach and out at sea.
The shot below is of Mathesons Bay one morning, with the sun hitting the salt spray in the air driven off the beach by the strong wind and huge swells that were pounding the bay all Easter.
The beach was off but the bush was on. The kids ran through the local Kauri forest near Warkworth.
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| The clan Macdonald cousins |
While the days had grown shorter, the kids managed to enjoy some fun with sparkers after dark. The shot below shows Peter getting a kick out of with playing with light.
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| Gwen writes with light |
On Easter Sunday the Leigh community puts on a local Easter fair at which the kids had a blast. Lucy and Peter had a good time on the merry go around.
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| Lucy on the Leigh Easter merry go around |
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| Peter enjoying the merry go around action |
Probably the highlight of the day was the local fishery providing the ice to make a slide down a slope which the kids attacked with boogie boards.
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| Gwen gets her grin on |
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| Amelia enjoying some summer snow |
Over Easter the full moon was in full swing, making also for some interesting shots.
With the full moon, high tides and stormy seas, the river into Mathesons Bay had been blocked by a large sandbank driven up the beach by the tide and waves. Over several days the river continued to backfill against the sandy dam. One afternoon we took the girls down for a walk on the beach, just as the dam burst. The result was extaordinary. A normally placid bay had a white water river thrashing through it with spectacular results. Huge standing waves were generated that crashed and curled and carved out a ravine through the bay. It was rather impressive, and watched by many. Sadly I didn't have the camera with me, which I dearly cursed myself for. The swollen river drained itself within about 15mins leaving quite the scar through the sandy cove and out into the bay.
Later in the afternoon I took the fishing kayak down into the bay for a paddle and spent an amusing few hours surfing the swells in it. I originally though it would be terrible to surf with but with a bit of paddle action and weighting I managed to catch a number of waves and carve a line diagonally across the face of a wave then pull out before the wave broke and swept me sideways.
On the Monday we returned early to Auckland to beat the Easter traffic. To fill in time before the flight home we took the kids for a stroll along the new developments on the waterfront in the Wynyard quarter. The shot inside the ships air vent sort of fell into place.
