Hello Beaches

If you spent the weekend digging out your car or shoveling your driveway this will not be one of your favorite posts. Jen and I spent Saturday and Wednesday on the beach. The water is still a little too cold to go in, but it's still a nice way to spend an afternoon.
On Sunday we headed to Mount Maunganui, known as "the mount" around here. It's about an hour from Waihi. It's a cool little surf town with lots of food and clothing shops. Jen picked up a few things at the farmers market. There was a big shipwreck in the Bay of Plenty that dumped hundreds of tons of oil into the ocean. Oil has washed up ashore, coated a few animals and angered beach goers. Luckily for Jen and I, we picked a stretch of beach that wasn't hit with oil. It also helped that the sun was out in full force after raining all day Saturday. We weren't the only ones taking advantage of the great weather. The beach was filled with people, some in the water, many just enjoying the sea breeze.
On Wednesday, we went to Whangamata (remember WH words sound like an "F"). The sea was rough, perfect weather for all the surfers. In a few weeks I'll be out there with my boogie board.
 
Here are a few pics from both trips: Pictures 1-4 and 8 (somehow things got mixed up) are from The Mount and pictures 5-7 and 9 are from Whangamata.