So here we are 4 months since the time our little man Frank joined us to make 3 in the Rutcoe camp. It seems as if he’s been with us forever and is still yet only 4 months old. We love being parents and the joy that he gives us every minute of our lives. A babies development is something to be in awe of, just today we put a glass up to his mouth, he held it around the edge and went to drink from it, like we do! There was nothing in the glass to drink, but he knew this was what he should do. He’s starting to let us know what he wants through more hand gestures, cries and laughs and we are greeted by more and more giggles each day.

In our backyard we have a wonderful array of English Bluebells growing wild, they look stunning at this time of year and so a week ago we decided on an impromptu family photo shoot with our old best friend the Leica M9. Getting stuck into parenting has meant less time with the Leica, more time with Frank…this is to be expected surely? I mean the Nikon D600 gets daily use but we tend to save the Leica for those one off moments, when the light is lovely and golden and we just know that something special will be captured. Just like when we were exploring the world, we often felt that if it was an image worth keeping it should be shot on the Leica, we didn’t really think we’d have around 30,000 or so images but this is how it is when you explore so many amazing places.

And so it was on this late spring evening that we felt we would create some imagery that would be something we will go onto cherish for a long time to come. Of course it helps when it’s all there ready for us, a wonderful backdrop and willing participants – us! Frank is getting more and more accustomed to the camera now so he makes it easy for us.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0)

Up early once again we packed, ate breakfast and beeped our horn goodbye to the other happy campers and set off for the east-side of the peninsula. We had to back track on the route and went through picturesque Coromandel Town once again with another stop at The Chai Tea house, they remembered us and so we felt even more at home. We enjoyed more chai and one of their super-foods style savoury muffins as well as more free wifi before making our way off again. Our destination today was to reach Hot Water beach and join the masses by enjoying a turn in the beaches natural hot springs.

Another long morning in the van but by lunch time we were at Opito Bay one of the most secluded beaches in the area. At this particular bay there are quite a few Bach houses, much nicer than the norm and apparently only 16% of which have permanent residents so it’s definitely a summer area. The beach is lovely, although the sun kept hiding behind cloud and we enjoyed a very windy lunch with a few greedy seagulls. Helen wanted just half a day on the beach but it wasn’t happening! We walked up to a lookout that took in most of the bay and beyond. We waited for the sun to come back out again to get some more shots looking back over the bay and then journeyed back to the van.

We continued around the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula and ended up at the Seabreeze Holiday Park, they’re located on the H25 heading south from Hot Water Beach. They offer camping at $16 per person with a shower coupon, kitchen and laundry..the usual stuff for a motor park. It was a really good place to stay and had a nice backpackers vibe going on too. We even used the gym the next morning and they’re better priced than the resorts down at Hahei Bay.

We loaned a spade for the evening and drove to Hot Water Beach so we could dig ourselves a hot spring. It was already busy when we got there and we couldn’t find a warm spot in the sand. After a while a group of locals offered for us to share their pool as they were right next to the hot spring. It was boiling coming out of the spring and so we dug spaces for ourselves and let the hot water flow in. It wasn’t exactly a relaxing hot spring experience but it was unique with the tide coming in to cool the pools down. There must have been over 100 people there with more on the way. Once we’d had enough of our hot water beach experience we went back to camp, cooked and enjoyed the luxury of having a sofa to sit on and a film to watch.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)