Summer's Closed

We've been having such great summer days that it's hard to find time to see the indoor exhibitions at Puke Ariki museum. We went to the show, "At the Beach: 100 years of summer fashion in New Zealand" on the last weekend before it closed and was refreshed by a new exhibit. The next day, we got tons of rain, here in New Plymouth, from a front of a cyclone. The day after that, we lost power for four hours due to strong winds. So... can we have an extension on the show and get our summer back?

Summer fun in wide screen

I've enjoyed hitting the beach and pool so far over the summer and taken along the wide A4 sketchbook. I love this format but it doesn't work well on screen. Luckily the French sketcher Lapin sent me some code to add these slidey windows below so you can see them in closer detail. The top one is Cheltenham Beach on New Years Day which was pumping with sketchable action with kids (of all ages) jumping off the floating platform, America's Cup yachts zooming past, paddle boarders and swimmers.

New

Then a few weeks later down to the Hawke's Bay for a couple of days. The kids have been at us to take them to Splash Planet again. It's been quite a few years since they were there and the weather was so nice we caved in. It's a crazy place, a bit like a Disney Land for water slides and how I imagine the Gold Coast water parks must be. This is the 'Lazy River' below where a continuous stream of people mostly grinning from ear to ear float past propelled by the current.

Remembering Summer at Waimarama Beach

Here are some sketches I did back in January while on holiday at Waimarama Beach in Hawkes Bay. It's a lovely spot. We stayed in a classic kiwi bach a few streets back from the beach.

People launch boats on the beach. The vehicle of choice used for launching is the classic old tractor. There are dozens parked on the beach in summer. You can see Bare Island in the distance.



The bach. It's only two bedrooms, not big enough for all of us. We also had a tent and caravan on the lawn.

'Rusty' my brother-in-laws rusty beach vehicle. Waimarama beach is huge and it was fun driving around in this beast.

My niece sunbathing.

 

Doodling on the beach. It gets very busy between the flags. 

My brother's sea kayak. 

Seagulls hanging around.