Karekare, and the winner is...

The other day I went to Karekare, my local beach. This is one of my favourite places in New Zealand. If you have seen the movie The Piano, you may recognize it, this is a popular spot for filming.

In fact the light here is unique, the sand is black, and the landscape wild and breathtaking.

To reach the beach you must cross a stream (up to your knees, so wear shorts, or a skirt, and sandals).

Every two weeks my kids do surf life saving here, and to reach the surf life saving club house you must also cross the lagoon (up to your belly button, depending on your height, of course!)

Here is the surf life saving club house

I like to go to Karekare in the afternoon, the light is at his best, and for me this is a place for long beach walks: the current is too strong for me to swim, and I don't surf, but it is great to see my kinds learning to handle big waves. Surf life savers patrol the beach and they are all volunteers. They start training young, like my kids, and most of them are locals.

But this afternoon for the kids was horse riding rather than wave surfing. They go every Monday afternoon, after school, in the bush. Today they had a long ride, they were taking the horses from the bush paddock down to the beach paddock.

At twilight they reached the beach, and took the horses to roll on the sand. They are really lucky to learn to ride in an environment like this. My 11 years old girl has been riding for a few years now, she loves horses (a real girl!). Her younger brother is learning now, it is going to be good for him: when he grows up he wants to be an archologist-explorer.

 

After each day at Karekare they come home so hungry, they eat like wolves, go to bed early, and sleep like logs!

 

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

And now for the winner of last week Giveaway:

List Randomizer

There were 22 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Civette
2. Arabafelice
3. Frances
4. Anna Luisa e Fabio
5. Zia Elle
6. Arfi
7. Enza
8. Torie
9. Astrofiammante
10. Peasepudding
11. Eleonora
12. Elifla
13. BarbaraGF
14. Barbara
15. Feliz
16. Claudia
17. MariCrea
18. Red nomad
19. Ananda
20. Swati
21. Angela
22. Mary

Timestamp: 2011-02-19 20:22:32 UTC

Congratulations Civette! Congratulazioni civettine, mandatemi il vostro indirizzo a alessandra@clear.net.nz
Thank you to all who took part, till next time
ciao
A.