Pakiri Beach

There is something magic about Pakiri Beach. It is a classic remote wild northland surf beach.  Each visit is a memorable experience, even if it is only a trip over a hill and down a dusty country dirt road from where we are staying at Christmas.

This year I took the kids over for a visit with the camera, determined to get some shots of them in action in the white sand and surf.

Lucy took to her heels and ran of course straight down into the surf. It took some convincing to remind her that the waves where not as forgiving and tame as the beaches she is used to.

 On the beach was a surf club in action teaching their nippers.

Both the girls enjoying running down the sand dunes. 

More shots here.

Santa Parade

This weekend we took the kids to the Wellington Santa parade. It sure was hot but the kids enjoyed it.  

Some of the costumes where rather well done.

 And people seemed to be enjoying getting into the act.

More shots here.

Shore Life

The change in Takapuna's development while I've been away is pretty remarkable. While it still retains element of its laid back shore scene, there has been a massive proliferation of bars, cafes, restaurants. Along Hurstmere Road the amount of establishments that are devoted to putting something downs ones throat is amazing.

Here's a shot of a the new Shore, with its bar culture now well embraced.

Next drink...

Takapuna Beach

While visiting Auckland I took the camera down Takapuna Beach one calm spring evening. It was a beach that I'd grew up around so it was great fun to return with a camera to get a for shots for nostalgia.

Looking south down to the Clifton Road end. I quite like the way the crumbling white cliffs march off in the distance.

Looking from the boat ramp back across the curve of Takapuna Beach.

Hercues Morse, as big as a horse, off for a walk with a stick. Its a great beach for dogs, who as always, are as odd as their owners.

More shots here.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves on the back lawn.

Waitarere Beach

This weekend we travelled up to Waitarere Beach to spend some time out of town. It was a gloomy winter weekend but the wild west coast beach was welcomely remote.

 On Saturday morning, in a quick gap in clouds the sun managed to peak through making for some rich autumn light on the driftwood.

 The kids enjoyed running wild and playing on the driftwood.

Probably the most amusing aspect was that the accommodation we stayed in. It was an 100 year old church that had been converted to a bach. Complete with organ and roaring fire it was a comfortable way to spent time next to stormy beach.  There is always something about going to bed with the surf rolling in your ears.

More shots here.

Lucy Turns Three

On Saturday we threw Lucy her third birthday party. It was much anticipated by Lucy and she used her new found candle blowing skills to good effect.

The following day we took Lucy to another highly anticipated event. She had been  longing to join her elder sister on the local bungie swing, but could not harness up until she was three. Well, the three year old promptly rocked up the day after her third birthday and got stuck in.

Bring it

She had a blast. Higher the better and not a squeal.

Mountain Girls

The girls at the mountain over Queen's Birthday weekend.

Lucy turned three on the Monday. And discovering the mic.

Some pensive time on the swing.  Plotting how to be three.

Staglands

The grandparents visited this weekend to bring their grand daughter Amelia back to Wellington.  We had a fun weekend entertaining them and Wellington turned on the weather.

An interesting and different highlight was taking the entire family on a visit to Staglands wildlife park in the Akatarawa's.

The walk nestles through different farm wildlife settings with the animals pretty much doing their own thing. A very refreshing change from a typical zoo.

Sitting pretty - swan glides past the ugly ducks.

The prize ram at Staglands is a pretty interesting character. Ironically he's keeping that grass like carpet. Things could go full circle for this guy.

Going full circle

The main attraction for the kids is the chance to get involved and feed the animals.

Feeding the fish

The grandparent's really enjoyed seeing something quite different than they normally would each Wellington visit. It provided a great chance to hang out with their grand daughters as well.

Grandparents Granddaughters

Easter at Leigh

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.

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.

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. 

Lucy on the Leigh Easter merry go around

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.

Gwen gets her grin on

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.

Fight at the School Fair

While I've suckered you in with the blog title I may as well explain why you are here. There I was down at the local school fair with my kids, and happened to came across a Taekwon-Do school doing an exhibition. 

My kids where quite enthralled, and I must admit so was I.  While watching I managed to get these shots in.

Ngaio Sunset

There was some impressive cloud formations at dusk tonight. While out cooking on the BBQ I managed to multi task and capture this shot of the sunset.

I don't normally go for the typical sunset shot, but this one kind of made me grab my camera and shot away.

Sunday Chill Out

After a busy Saturday there was a general chill out on Sunday with the kids.  The dawn had some thing to wake up for with the view over the local horse paddock.

After breakfast the kids enjoyed handing out at the local playground. For some reason this playground usually gets some fun shots of the kids at play.

More shots here.

Martinborough Camping

Last weekend we packed up the family, the camping gear and the car and drove over to Martinborough for a quiet weekend get away. Well as quiet as possible with two families and four noisy little girls.

Last year we got well and truly washed out when we tried this. However this year, the weather smiled on us with the hot and dry Martinborough micro climate we come to expect.

Saturday awoke like this.

So we packed up, for a day over in Masterton for a local A&P show. Time to get some country into those city girls.  They were naturally pretty fascinated with the local live stock on display.

Not to mention the activities in the sheep race where the realities of handling live stock where on display.

All the city girls, go round the outside, round the outside.

The moving onto the "P" part of the A&P show, there was some good looking produce on display. The strawberries and blueberries were hard to go past.  The vendor wanted $20 for the shot, I'm not sure I was meant to pay or she.

The old tractors, scrubbed up as well as the strawberries.

Afterwards we drove back to Martinborough to chill out in the sun and swim in the local pool.  The local town pool is actually pretty low key and good fun. Reminds me of the old school pools when I was a kid. It definitely was just the thing to relieve the heat of a hot Martinborough summer afternoon.

At the end of the day I caught this shot of Amelia on the local swings just as the after glow of the sun was burning away. I quite like the narrow depth of field and bokeh in this shot. She's happy to be on the swing also.

More shots here.