‘Surfer Girls’
After the storm on Sunday at Mangawhai Heads, the sun broke through the following day and the waves became less messy.
With that, two intrepid surfer girls made ready to challenge the ocean.
Camaraderie and anticipation; clean breaks, churn and spray awaiting the pair.
.
‘To Keep Out The Sea’
A new seawall on Auckland’s Tamaki River, filled with rock and brave intentions.
Nature wore down its predecessor.
‘Salty Dog Day Afternoon’
…oh, to be happy and free as a dog amongst the waves…
‘The Red King’
The historic red iron fence along Auckland’s port area features heads of kings.
Apparently its Neptune/ Poseidon, the god and ruler of the sea, replete with pointy crown, large proboscis and flowing beard.
Magnificent!
‘Down At The Dockside At Dawn’
Down at the dockside
at dawn
a ship
set to wander
contiguous seas
in isolating days
‘Anderson’s Bay At Low Tide’
‘Prow’
‘Endless’
I was binge watching the second series of the Ricky Gervais Netflix series ‘Afterlife’ during the weekend.
Wickedly funny, but also filled with pathos and ruminations on our common mortality.
Right at the end of the series the soundtrack featured Iron and Wine’s song ‘Passing Afternoon’ from the 2004 album ‘Our Endless Numbered Days’.
Key lyric:
“There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days”.
Quite.
The photograph above was recently taken looking over a coastal cliff on a walk ( I haven’t spent all of lockdown on my arse watching TV! ).
The gradations of colour, the deepening sea and the pattern of the waves held me in quiet thrall.
As I took in the view below me; as I watched Gervais’s character grapple with life and death; as Iron and Wine’s gorgeous song played, I found myself drifting….
Listen:
‘Sandstone And Sea’
…the view over a nearby cliff on one of many, many pandemic inspired (forced?) recent strolls in my locale. I am grateful, as always, for beauty in the mundane…
‘Steps Down To The Sea’
steps down to the sea
rusted out old bastards
purpose all served
tread then with care
descend, descend
alight the last
and carelessly
walk on water
without weight
or thought for depths
cross ocean’s sheen
and twisting tides
transfigured
‘On The Beach’
“Now I’m livin’
out here on the beach,
but those seagulls are
still out of reach
… I follow the road,
though I don’t know
where it ends.
Get out of town, get out of town,
think I’ll get out of town.”
‘On The Beach’, Neil Young (1974)
Listen here:
‘Dark Promontory’
I have been here before ( see Battered Protector ).
A different depth of field to the picture this time around, and so too another thought perspective.
The far shore of this arm of the sea is now visible in the distance.
The dagger-like groyne protrudes into the water and points to a spot on the horizon.
It is a affirmation of sorts, giving direction to destination:
” You can get there from here . I will show you the way.”
Sea Cave, Muriwai, NZ
Water swirls at the mouth of this sea cave at Muriwai.
The darkened gap in the cliff face speaks of ancient mysteries and evolution through irresistible forces of wind and water.
A door to secrets I cannot fathom or be privy to…
Heal you that is…
Graffiti on a stone wall by the sea in Fife’s East Neuk proclaims the possible healing powers of Christ.
As I have stated here before, I am no theologian, so cannot affirm the truth of the painted statement, or otherwise.
But I do know that the sea has magical healing effects.
Not just in the salt and minerals in the sea that assist with wounds (I once had cause to wash out a bleeding wound after been nastily bitten on the leg by a dog on a beach).
It is in the constant nature and rhythm of the ocean tides , the freshness of the salt air’s tang and the might and power of the waves.
For it has been my comforter as long as I can remember, the magnetic thing that draws me to itself without effort.
No day is worse for gazing upon a marine expanse, no mood so forlorn that it is not uplifted.
There is no logical explanation, so in that I sense am in the same proverbial boat as the Christians!
Geometric swirls of a carved gateway to a Maori marae ( meeting place) reimagined in blue, and mirrored.
Not as the carver intended, but how it was in my mind’s eye, on a day where the mood was blue, little was calm in my head and mental waves churned like the sea below the marae.
And, after a little reflection (so to speak), I’m okay with that.
North Sea waves piledrive into the breakwater of the harbour at Pittenweem, Scotland yesterday.
The title of this post has an exclamation mark to bear witness to the velocity of wind and waves that roared and smashed during my stroll along the breakwater at dusk.Spectacular!
Powerful and unrelenting forces of nature versus man’s cunning engineering.
The breakwater protects fishing and other vessels in the harbour, where it is artificially calm.
Of course ,there are a lot less boats owing to the decline in the fisheries.
One day there may be no more haddock, crabs, lobster and prawns.
And,maybe no more breakwater if the sea has its revenge…
Auckland’s narrow Okahu Bay Wharf (seen from a different angle in the previous post Above The Wharf, Over The Sea ) tapers to a point in the distance.
Where it ends,the sea begins.
An end is always a beginning of something.
“You only grow by coming to the end of something and by beginning something else.” – John Irving, ‘The World According To Garp’
(Questions tossed up by the tide: So we know the pier ends, but does the sea have an end?… and if it does, what begins after the sea?)
This was one view I had today.
Above a wharf stretching out over the sea.
Elsewhere on this blog is a series of pictures entitled “Under The Wharf, Above The Waves”. About being between worlds; neither/nor; other.
Not today. Things must be better and my outlook more optimistic for me to take this photo, make this picture.
Progress.
A different perspective from before.
Stretching out, and over…
What a match up! The Pacific Ocean against Sentinel Rock in Northland, New Zealand.
Continual surf crashes upon,and tidal motion swirls around and over, the rocks.
Pummeled.
24/7.
Every day and every night.
It’s epic, and relentless.
But still the Sentinel holds its ground, and stands guard.
Life is just as relentless as the ocean waves and tides.
It is hard to be rocklike in the face of attrition, I know. It’s easy to let your guard down when it feels there is no respite.
And there are times when I feel submerged but still manage to pull through,somehow.
And at those times I am grateful to people who are my “rocks”, shining concepts I cling to, and whatever higher power there is that guards me against destruction…
