Cross

 

My daughter and I take her dog Bug to one of the local dog parks in town every Sunday morning to socialise with the other dogs so we thought we would stop off at Rapahoe Beach the day before to gather sticks for them all to play with. Near the top of the beach near the carpark we spotted this cross with flowers laid around it. I read on one of the community facebook pages that apparently it's in memory of a family's nana who loved this beach. I can see why, it's our favourite too.

Linking up with Tuesday Treasures and Happy Tuesdays. 

Rubbish

 

 

Most weekends we like to take our dog Bug to one of the local beaches (Rapahoe), She loves running around the wide open spaces sniffing at new smells. Yesterday it was a high of 10 degrees celsius so we made sure to dress warmly.

In the last month we have been taking rubbish bags to clean up and beach and some of the things we've been finding are dirty nappies, pieces of metal and broken glass, plastic and household items. There are some bigger items like burned engine parts and car seats that we can't take with us. People are so dirty and lazy. Once we get them home they go in the rubbish bin. 

Winter at Rapahoe

We are still trying to take my daughter's dog Bug to the beach over Winter on the odd non rainy day. 

Oyster catcher birds at the edge of the high tide looking for tasty morsels that have washed up.

The remains of an old pier at the edge of the tide and river that goes out into the ocean.

Looking across the beach to the other side.

But was sniffing new smells for the week and checking out rocks with us.

Lots of old empty mussell shells covered in barnacles. Usually this beach is covered in driftwood and old tree stumps and branches. Sometimes people bring their cars and trailers here and chop up wood to take home.

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world, Wordless Wednesday.

Summer highlights

 

One of our neighbours has a big plum tree that overhangs on my property so every Summer we shake the tree and gather the plums that fall down, this year has been a bumper crop.

This one taken at our favouite beach - Rapahoe on a sizzling hot Sunday morning. We really have had a hot season so far. I've had holiday makers come into my work from places such as Christchurch, Nelson, Kaikoura and Blenheim because we are having hot weather. 

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world, Wordless Wednesday.

Beach

 

Last weekend B and I drove out to nearby Rapahoe Beach to collect driftwood. We recently had a load of firewood delivered but decided some wood from the beach would help.

Lately we've had some cold Winter nights at 1 degree ceksus at 7am most mornings, in fact yesterday before I left for work I had to wash ice off my car windscreen with a bucket of cold water. But with days like this I can't complain.

Linking up with My Sunday Snapshot,  All Seasons, Little Things Thursday and the Weekend Roundup.

An afternoon at Rapahoe Beach

The beaches down here on the West Coast are all very wild and windswept - this one is our favourite.

The old hotel still sits back from the beach over the hill and was once quite a popular spot but is now privately owned as a house.

Rapahoe Beach is about 15 minutes from home and usually it has golden sand further down but today the tide was coming in so we pulled up logs to sit on instead of sitting on the stones. This couple in the distance turned out to be a work colleague and they had their little dog with them.

So this beach is roughly 2km long and in the distance in this photo is Point Elizabeth. I was going to walk down and explore the rock pools but feared I wouldn't get back in time once the tide fully came in.

 Lots of textures - this one is a half a mussel shell attached to some seaweed sitting on the rocks.

The seagulls were quite happy to be nosey on the hill behind us.

And we watched this lone surfer brave going out into the waves in his wetsuit - he ended up being dragged over to the opposite side of the beach.

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Driftwood

This morning we were out at nearby Rapahoe Beach, about 10 minutes drive from home picking up driftwood off the beach. We have been due for rain and thunderstorms (which have now started) but for a few hours the sun was trying to peek out from behind the clouds. Edited to add: for those who have asked what I am going to do with the driftwood; the smaller pieces will be kindling for the fireplace and the bigger bits will go in the garden.

The left hand side of the beach has a row of old posts leading out into the water but I'm not sure if it is the remains of an old wharf. In the end we filled up 3 shopping bags with bits and pieces of wood. Now I'm starting my week off from work today and no doubt I will get bored after 3-4 days.

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

To and Fro

Rapahoe Beach, Greymouth

So right now I'm wishing that the concept of moving house was easy. We are due to be living on the West Coast by the middle of April and so far we have been sort of in negotiations with 2 banks. One was my bank who I spoke to last year about a mortgage, I contacted the same loan advisor since the lending rules have recently changed and after him promising twice in one week to contact me about it he failed to follow through both times which I think is rude. The second bank we don't belong to but they are a bit more relaxed about their home loan rules so hopefully this week we will have some positive updates about being able to buy a property down there we can move into straight away.

At the moment we are feeling like pieces of driftwood, like the ones on the beach in my photo, being buffered by the winds and pushed around by the tide. But on a positive note I have secured a job I can go into once we've moved and B is still waiting for his job contract so that's one thing that's out of the way.

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, Travel Tuesday, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.