I recently went to New Zealand for adventures with my friend Lizzy.

A big itinerary was planned and we visited lots of places and saw many things. But some interesting unplanned things happened on the trip as well.

The photos which make up this collage were taken on the deck of a cafe at hot water beach on the north island. Since I was a little kid I have always loved going to the beach and at some point in my earlier life, maybe when I was about 19 or 20 I built up an idea of an “ideal beach moment”. On this particular day whilst we were having lunch I realised as I stood on this hot, bleached out deck that it had revealed itself to me I and quickly snapped these images to remind me that I had found it. I wasn’t ever expecting it (the ideal beach moment) to turn up and still feel so good so far away from home and at the age of 43, but it did.