Oriental Bay

It was a glorious day in Wellington today so I celebrated finishing my judging for the Mix and Mash competition with a stroll to the beach at Oriental Bay. Every time I walk through Wellington I see something interesting and unexpected. Today it was a guy dressed in 1930s gear, playing a honky tonk piano on the back of a vintage truck on Courtney Place.

It's the first time I have taken a wander along the bays, and we walked as far as the point where I could see across the harbour to Miramar. Inspired by Mix and Mash I thought I'd look in the Creative Commons section on Flickr for pictures of Oriental Bay and found this gem from 1955 (note the weight lifters on the left).

Crowd on the beach at Oriental Bay, Wellington, with weight-lifters ca 1955 from the National Library

Instead of weight lifters we were entertained by the Canadian rugby team who may have planned on an afternoon swim, but only got as far as waist deep then stood around shivering in their shorts. There were sunbathers, boats and people eating ice creams. More like the height of a British summer rather than the beginning of a Kiwi spring. Gorgeous.