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.

Amelia on Her Bike

Amelia's got the hang of her bike without the training wheels.  We've been out learning for an hour each Sunday for about 3 weekends. Last weekend she started to click, but this weekend she was totally away.

Teach a kid to ride a bike. When they click, find their balance, its magic.

It all goes click

 Lucy was in a supporting role on three wheels.

Hot pursuit

I can ride a bike

Lifetime skill taught. More shots here.

Lucy in the Sun

Lucy has taken on the scooter and rides it with a vengeance.  Here are some shots of Lucy enjoying the early winter sun around Lyall Bay while on her scooter.

Bright smile

Enjoying the sun on a rock

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.