Spotlight On// Piha

I would not commonly classify a Monday night as night for spontaneous activities. In an ideal world one would have just had the weekend off to relax and ‘see friends’ but sadly I’m a poor student and so the weekends mean slugging away at my retail job.

But despite that fact, it was a Monday night when I finally found myself free of linen blends and geometric homewares and decided to screw sitting at my computer trying to act busy and take a trip out to Piha Beach.

I found myself a partner in crime and we sped off into the sunset………..

………..only to be met with rush hour traffic. There’s nothing quite like bumper to bumper traffic to ruin the thrill of a sunset chase. It’s almost like god placed rush hour and sunset at the same time to spite potential instagrammers. Tension was palpable.

It was mildly calmed by head banging to this stellar tune. Can 10/10 recommend for when u want to shake off ur haters (also appropriate for when u just want to feel like a boss i.e. always)

 

but we made it and were gifted a cracking sunset for our valiant efforts. Looking back at the photos I can hardly believe they were all taken in 40 mins. Cheers to Mother Nature for being as varied with her sunsets as I am with my moods.

After the thrill of taking photos of beautiful things during my travels in Europe, I’ve only just started to pick up my camera again. I got kinda scared of it for some reason, terrified to take a ‘bad’ photo (I think i’ll blame Instagram for that one, #perfectionisasocialconstruct) It didn’t occur to me that no one would see them unless I wanted them to (yikes, soz for unintentional internet therapy) However, some sunsets just demand to be captured and it was exciting to not chase the ‘perfect photo’ and just crazily snap whatever I wanted.

(the downside to this of course is that while I’m frolicking in my new found camera bliss, my Canon wasn’t having a bar of it and sat there taking photos with overexposed settings for quite some time, refusing to take a good photo until I came to my senses and had a twiddle around. Cameras always have the last laugh, they’re real bastards like that)

Enter the beautiful Harriett. It’s a truth universally acknowledge that it’s always good to have a friend in life who will look at you and say ‘maccas?’ at the exact moment the idea of a tender packet of large fries had started to enter your mind.

This lil lady is the full package. Talented, intelligent but also quotes The Office like nobodies business. She’s also blimmin hardworking so I hang around her quite often hoping some of her prodigious skill rubs off on me (oh but also she’s really funny so it’s mostly that).

Thank you Harriett for always being there to capture a candid when I need you ft. me trying to look ethereal and peaceful but the result ended up just looking like mild constipation.

Harriett is also mostly responsible for introducing me to some amazing parts of entertainment/culture/arts that I generally remain pretty blind to because I refuse to engage with anything other than Harry Potter and Gossip Girl .

As we piled sandy and tired into the car we listened to Cabin Pressure all the way home. Because in car entertainment is a must for any self respecting road trip.

It’s a radio show lead by Benedict Cumberbatch pre Sherlock days (think young and naive but with undiscovered Sherlock swagger) , but he’s not even the best part. It’s the kind of cynical comedy that makes you absolutely laugh out loud, if you’re a fan of shows like Parks and Rec, The Office or Peep Show then these guys will be your new favs.

Packing up everything and rather spontaneously going on an adventure is not something I do very often. People that know me can you tell you I am not a forward planner but I do like my life void of surprises (I know what you are thinking, and no the two do not often work in harmony). But there is something to be said for giving in to the monotony of life and just following the fun.

It gets the blood pumping in your veins and rattles out the cobwebs that form surprisingly quickly from life in the city. Screw juice cleanses and Bali, getting out of the city for an hour or two is the best meditation anyone needs to see them through the week.

 

So that was Piha.  If you can stomach it there might be some more cheeky photography posts on the blog as I carefully inch towards total lack of blogger integrity. First cooking posts now this…

No but seriously ending with a take home message here, grab a buddy, get out there and do something different this week kids (i.e me attending lectures for a change) it’ll make all the difference!

 

 

 

Lovingly edited with VSCO cam