The Petone Winter Carnival is kind of like a mini Burning Man. Sideshows, burlesque, and impromptu wooden sculptures on the beach are set ablaze at nightfall. It was somewhat hard to be impressed coming from a culture where novelty and spectacle are carried to the n-th degree, but it was nice because everything was on a more human scale.

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For the first time in a long time, it was almost sunny on a Saturday. Naturally, we celebrated outdoors. We went to Queen Elizabeth Park, which is known for it’s mature costal forest, tram (which is one small car on an equally small track), horse stables, model aeroplane club and most importantly sand dunes. We were sold on the sand dunes and took our camera for the special occasion. To our dismay, the glorious sand dunes were covered in native plants. So, we enjoyed more rolling hills by the sea.

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