What makes a Kiwi summer so special? Is it the ice cream slowly dribbling down your elbow from a Rob Roy double? The sizzle of prawns on the barbecue? The crack of a fresh watermelon being opened up? The scent of sunscreen being rubbed onto hot skin? Sand in your bed? Boardshorts and bikini surfs? Stubbed toes? Summer in New Zealand is a lot of things to a lot of people and it was the focus of a campaign I shot for the team at Skinnies sunscreen this past week.
I had some help as we soaked in some of Mount Maunganui's abundant sunshine. Kristin Crook is one of the Skinnies team ambassadors – an outdoor-loving, self-confessed water baby with a healthy passion for travel. She's a barista and a student living in Rotorua and she is thriving on life. She's explored reefs in enough tropical locations to make me envious. Like her manta ray experience in Hawaii.
"I feel like I am really lucky because I have been able to travel a lot with my family," she offers. "It's hard to explain diving – it's so surreal – you have to do it to understand it. Being under the water for that amount of time is like flying. There is so much to see that you don't think you'd be able to see."
"The night dive we did in Hawaii was one of the best I've done," she shares. "We got to swim with manta rays, which was just amazing. They're such big animals and to see them so close in their natural habitat was very special."
"We sat around this campfire-type setup of lights on the sea floor and shone our torches up and the manta rays would slide across in front of us to eat the plankton. They were almost touching us – it was a really good experience."
We didn't encounter any rays at The Mount, but the late spring conditions were near perfect for swimming – completely flat for surf.
Also helping me out with my summer mission was Lewis Ryan – also a Skinnies ambassador and fresh back from his season of international Xterra racing where he showed why he is fast-becoming one of the world's greats.
"I’ve been privileged with the opportunity to travel to some of the more beautiful places around the globe and meet all sorts of incredible people," the likeable Rotorua lad begins as we explore the banks of the Kaituna River. "I enjoyed every second of the adventure."
Along the way Lewis managed to pick up five 15-19 victories on the Xterra World Tour, three Overall Amateur victories, an Elite victory, the 15-19 Asia- Pacific Tour Championship, the 15-19 Pan-American Tour Championship and a second place overall amateur finish at ITU Cross-Tri World Championships. Yep, the lad is supremely talented.
"2016 has definitely been a year to remember," he laughs before leaping into the boiling Kaituna River below.
Before dusk I catch him for a few "wind-down" sprints in his kayak on Lake Okataina. He stands on the beach afterward and surveys the light fading in the bush-clad hills above us.
"I'm looking forward to summer," he muses. "I want to learn to surf, rock climb and paddle the river. I have three weeks to do that before my training resumes," he laughs.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS Want to win a $50 Box of Light voucher or a tube of Skinnies? We have 10 vouchers and 10 35ml tubes of Skinnies sunscreen (just like the ones Kristin and Lewis use) up for grabs. To enter just visit our gallery page and share your favourite photo with your friends (click the "Buy This Print" link to get to the sharing icons). Make sure to tag your post with @boxoflightnz and #iwantthisone so we can find you. Top 20 most creative share posts get the loot. Competition closes December 15, 2016.
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