Island Bay festivities

Well it was day two of the Island Bay festival today and even busier than yesterday. The Esplanade was closed to cars and a street market offered festival goers arts, crafts, ethnic food and much more. There was a mini fairground for kids and - after a traditional 'blessing of the boats' - all sorts of seagoing craft plied their way around the Bay circling the Tapu Te Ranga Island. Every now and again the boats sounded their fog horns just for the hell of it (the sky was bright blue so they weren't needed for their true purpose).

All afternoon the bandstand in Shorland park played host to a series of local bands. It's so good to live somewhere where: a) the park has a bandstand (i.e. it hasn't been burnt to the ground by vandals); and b) it's in relatively frequent use for community purposes.