Wild beauty & time well spent

Rock pooling, rock climbing and tossing the largest rocks we could carry into the sea was a great way to spend an hour of our time this afternoon. Wellington’s south coast is wild, rugged and forever changing with the tide, weather and shadows of light from sunrise to sunset.

I don’t think we’ll ever tire of the beauty here and wherever our lives take us we shall always hold this special coastline close in our hearts. There is a magic in the sea spray that weaves a thread around the heart.

The sky was beautiful this afternoon, with rounded clouds changing slowly in the light of the day and the gentle breeze.

This is a coastline for playing, creating, exploring and discoveries. Perfect for inquisitive minds. I love that children can spend hours playing here, without any need for manufactured toys; though of course we do bring down the odd frisbee, bucket & spade from time to time.

They test their bodies physical limits, balancing on rocks, climbing boulders, lifting the heaviest stones they can find. They peer into rock pools and bring me treasures.

Moments spent together doing the simplest of activities really are the most memorable. ‘Who’s the Mummy?’ blog has posted an interesting blog post – ‘How much time is enough‘ – in reference to a report about how modern parents only spend ’49 minutes’ a day with their children.

Well, we certainly spend a lot more than ’49 minutes’ a day with our children and feel very fortunate. Our bedtime rituals alone take longer than 49 minutes. We often all head up the sleepy ladder early, so that we can delve into our favourite books together or play quiet games snuggled up in bed.

Today, being the weekend, was of course all about family. And this afternoon’s beach frolicking followed a busy morning of swimming and sports. Time well spent and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

* Unfortunately we’d left our quality camera at home, so took these photos on the iPhone. It would have been a perfect day to experiment with the SLR, though in all reality we’d probably have struggled to have found a free hand or moment to take many photographs!