Petone Winter Carnival

We stopped off at Petone Beach on Saturday afternoon with our SLG friends to check out the Petone Winter Festival. Beach side parking was at a premium, so we left our vehicles several blocks away and walked down to join the crowds. There was all sorts of entertainment, with jugglers on stage doing their thing as we wandered past. Other street theatre was happening all the way along the esplanade. We stopped to look at the ice sculpturing – not an easy medium to work with, by the look of it. Using chisels and a saw, the tail of a whale was taking shape before our eyes. Hope the ice didn’t melt before he was finished.

Ice sculpture demonstration

The ever popular bouncy castle was a draw card, and further along we watched as youngsters climbed aboard a dragon ride. Up and down the dragon went as he moved along the track, with the kids shrieking their heads off all the way. What fun those youngsters were having.

The Dragon Ride

Down on the sand there were many wooden sculptures to admire. These have been created especially as “fire sculptures”, to be set alight in the evening and burn safely on the sand against the night sky, followed by a firework display. There were free pony rides along the beach for children, and a Polar Plunge for the brave or foolhardy who wish to immerse themselves in the chilly mid winter waters. And for those youngsters who dream of running away to a circus, they could try out their skills at a number of circus activities, from juggling, balancing, hula hoop to Chinese pole and flying trapeze. Something a lot less energetic was the Zippity Zoo Petting Zoo.

Here the children could get up close and personal to sheep, goats, lambs, guinea pigs and rabbits. This was for kids only. What about the grown-ups, I wondered, they might want to pet the animals too!

There was certainly plenty to see, and lots of free entertainment for families. Robin spotted a sausage sizzle and managed to get one of the last sausages on offer, so he was certainly a happy chappie. We slowly made our way through the crowds of people, the pushchairs, negotiated our way past dogs on leads, to return to our cars. It was time to head off to Trish’s home for afternoon tea, we certainly needed a sit down after dealing with all those people!