Fifty Sunrises

Today I walked on the beach as the sun came up. It was, by my crude reckoning, the fiftieth such walk since New Zealand went into lockdown to combat Covid-19.

I walk on the beach most mornings of course. It’s one of the joys of living in Sumner.  But to see sunrises of varying magnificence for fifty days in a row is pretty special.

When we went into lockdown it was pretty stressful and no one really knew what to expect.  I had read a piece from a Royal Navy submariner who had some advice about living in close quarters with others while isolated.  We have five of us in residence in our home, which to be fair is a lot more spacious than a submarine (with the added advantage that you can open the windows).  Oh and not to mention that we all love each other!   His advice was to have a routine, keep things tidy, exercise regularly, allow for people to have time alone and look forward to meals.  All good advice I thought.

So part of my routine has been to wake early and take Bean (our much loved Cavoodle) for a walk.

The weather has been so kind.  It’s autumn in New Zealand and that typically would suggest pretty changeable weather.  With the exception of perhaps three days I’ve been able to see the sun emerge clear of any cloud each day.  Remarkable. And a source of some delight.

I am something of a creature of habit.  Anyone who follows me on Instagram or Facebook will know that my ‘feed’ is pretty much a series of photographs of Sumner Beach and Cave Rock interspersed with shots of Series Land Rovers I stumble across.  Thanks to my work I also get to travel internationally a fair bit so I add plenty of photos of the lovely places I visit.  Sadly that’s not going to be a feature for the foreseeable future.

The sunrises of these last weeks have been wonderful.

When we were in Level 4 lockdown there were very few people on the beach.  It’s long been a source of surprise to me that so few people in Sumner actually visit the beach.  Our family have a set of ‘rules’ we developed over the years.  We never use a car unless we are driving past Shag Rock.  We walk to the village.  And a walk to the village should normally be via the Esplanade.  If the tide is out we walk on the beach.

I have been pleased to see more and more people coming to the beach in the mornings in recent days.  Certainly when we moved from Level 4 to Level 3 of our Covid-19 status more people ventured out, while being careful to maintain appropriate distancing.  Others have clearly developed morning rituals similar to mine.  In fact in recent days it’s been something of a community of people sitting on the rocks watching the sun come up.

I hope, like me, they’re reflecting on how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place.  How lucky we are to be so far away from the worst carnage that’s being wrought by Covid-19.  And how lucky we are to be moving to less of a locked-down life from Thursday this week.

I won’t be posting any pictures of international locations for a long while.  I am very sure I’ll be posting plenty of beach pictures for a many more days, weeks, months and, hopefully, years.

Here are a few of the Photos from Sumner Mornings.