We New (or old) Brightonians have to pinch ourselves every now and then, to avoid taking for granted the magnificent vista in our very own backyards.
And there is always something to get involved in, so wind up the pace-makers as recreational activity is not slowing down in our fine Coastal suburb, over next two weeks the New Brighton Residents Association will be highlighting some more of these up-coming events.
However this post is a bit about the week that was, and with a couple of hours to spare on Saturday, we wandered down to view the ‘Duke Surfing Festival’, the biggest in NZ. The great thing about this event is how the organisers have stretched it over four days from Thursday to Sunday, incorporating music, art, skateboarding and party nights. Congrats to the local business sponsors, Ray White, Switch, Burger Joint, Penguin Arms and others.
Over a couple of mid Saturday morning hours, we managed to get these photos, and what they show is talented artists, great surfers, but above all a magnificent beach, all these shots taken of New Brighton’s panorama.
The wonderful organisation ‘Sustainable Coastlines’ and the 120 plus local volunteers cleaned up our beach during the weekend, making it look even more pristine. Sadly the new pollution problem following on from plastic is now polystyrene foam, people are dumping because you cannot put it in a red bin.
That breaks down into little balls and enters food chain, and it also releases toxic chemicals under heat. Keeping our beach clean is absolutely important to our suburb’s reputation and future.
The second observation from the Duke Festival was, finally we see events aimed at youth and there was plenty of them about, having fun.
During the week there was ‘Pride at the Pools’ and it was absolutely packed, and this party rocked from 8pm till 10 under a starry sky and colour coated pier. The comments from visitors (many first timers to the hot pools) described it as a highlight of the week.
Well New Brighton, you have once again excelled.