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.

Grandparent and grandchildren

We had been consuming ourselves with summer jobs around the house recently, so with Christine visiting from Auckland we decided to take a break and focus on some having fun with the grandparent and grandchildren.

On Saturday we took a spin around the waterfront and gave the kids a run on their scooters. Typically we stopped for a play where I got some fun shots of Lucy in action.

 In the afternoon the girls played in the sun on the back yard in the pool. There were some tired kids afterwards.

On Sunday we took a walk around the Wellington Botanical Gardens.

 The girls had a blast exploring the path ways at pace, playing on the flying fox and swings and checking out the gardens.

The ducks were a bit of a hit with Lucy. More shots here.

Paekakariki Beach

Monday was Wellington anniversary. In an effort to make the most of summer we took a break and headed up north to the beach at Paekakariki. Spending Christmas up at Leigh, we had spent a bit of time on the beaches with the kids and probably been a bit spoilt by the northern beaches.

Paekakariki beach, however, was a different kind of experience. It was more typically the windswept, rough and black sand of the west coast beach experience.

Windswept

The girls had a great time in the sand, building a large, Ngauruhoe-like,  sand castle.

Construction begins

Division of labour

More photos here.

Leigh Coastline

Dawn is my best time of day. On this day I took advantage of a clear sunny new day to capture some shots of the local Leigh coast line.

The local waters offer some productive fishing. In fact the Leigh fishery is well renown.  In the following shot shows the light on the bay in front of a silhouette of a pohutukawa tree.

Pohutukawa over the bay  

Morning light on Ti Point

Morning light on a dingy in the bay

 The Leigh coastline is over rocky reefs, boulders and cliffs. Its interesting terrain that shares some basic geology with Little Barrier in the background.  While it lacks the easy luxury of a sandy beaches, it is fertile coastline for the local fishery.

Leigh coastline

Mathesons Bay

Over the summer holidays we spend a lot of time with the kids at this beach. It doesn't have the wide open feel and power of a sandy surf beach. However it does offer a safe secluded spot for the kids to play and swim in an attractive native bush surrounds.

Mathesons Bay

It gets very crowded in the middle of the day due to the easy road access. However between 4 and 5 pm is golden hour, where the beach clears, the bay is warm and the environment is local and relaxing.

Ruakaka Races

Over Christmas we travelled up to Ruakaka, just south of Whangarei, to visit family for a day at the local races.

It was a scorching hot summers day in the north. However that did not stop locals and Auckland visitors coming out to speculate.

Tight finish

If it gets boring, as I usually find horse racing, you can always look at the crowds. There where some interesting juxtapositions of people there to place a bet.

Locals vs Ladies

Local nag experts

 The kids enjoyed the free entertainment and generally kept themselves amused running around and jumping through the inevitable bouncy castles.

Cats and Dogs

More shots of the day at the races are here.