Mid-Winter Beach Excursion

One of the most amazing things about living in New Zealand is that you’re never that far from the sea. Even if you live inland, chances are, you can get to the beach within a couple of hours.

When I lived in Toronto, I really missed the sea.  That was a huge surprise to me because, if you’d asked me before I went, I would have said that I didn’t go to the beach very often.

When I think about it now, my parents lived at the beach when I grew up and went spent every summer holiday (6 weeks a year) at the bach (small cottage at the beach) while my Mum looked after the camping ground there.  

We have lots of fun stories to tell about that time.

So, yes, I did miss the sea. Even though Toronto is on a large body of water, it’s just not the same as the sea.

Sunday was a stunning day – one of those rare warm, clear, sunny days in the middle of winter, so we headed to the beach.  

If you live somewhere where winter is all about snow, you probably can’t comprehend what I’m about to show you. Where I live we don’t have snow (well, we’re not supposed to but it happened recently).

Days Bay is only about a 20 minute drive from where I live.

You can see the debris on the beach from the recent storms.

It was still quite cold and by the time we got to the beach, some clouds had come in but it was still wonderful.  

It was so nice to be out of the house, having been cooped up all week staying dry, it was lovely to be out and about.

Jenna proved that you are never too old to play on a log.

Even though the sun was low in the sky, it was still wonderful to be out.

There were lots of people on the pier.  The ferry had just come in – it runs back and forth to Wellington regularly.  Lots of people who live out this way, catch it to work.

As you can see, Kiwi kids are pretty hardy – ready to rollup their trousers and paddle in the water any time of year.

Someone built a sand castle – it even has a moat.

I love looking for interesting things on the beach.  I thought this piece of driftwood was amazing.

I always like to look at the houses wherever I go so I thought I’d share this photo of the houses on the beach front.  As you can see, there’s an eclectic mix of different styles.

I particularly loved this one with the large tree in the front.

After we’d spent a good amount of time on the beach, we drove down to Eastbourne to take a look at the little galleries and boutiques there.

It was such a wonderful outing.  Sadly though, it was getting cold and time to head home. We stopped along the way so I could take a couple of photos of Wellington from across the bay.

That’s Matiu/Somes Island  in the distance with Wellington behind.  You can read about when we visited the island with our German friends here.

Here’s a closer picture of Wellington which has a well earned nickname of ‘The Coolest Little Capital in the World’.

I really hope you enjoyed this mid-winter excursion to a New Zealand beach.  We certainly did.

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