Writing portfolio task 2 Creative writing – Penrith Bay

STATEMENT OF INTENT – I have written a piece of creative writing that describes a winter evening at a specific section of Lake Wanaka called Penrith Bay. I am going to develop a description of this scene using language techniques to convey an image in the readers’ mind. Through these descriptive language techniques using sight, sound and structure, I will develop the idea of time passing on a Sunday evening at the lake with the dogs yet winters beauty makes time seems frozen. Along with how a world surrounded by mountains can make you feel trapped but darkness opens all your surroundings. I want to convey the final idea of how beautiful moments are often easily forgotten about when we switch back to the reality of social media and our weekly routine work.

It is winter, evening sets into play over the lake. A painted reflection, icy and motionless, enclosed by snow-blanketed mountains channelling a gentle breeze against speckled rocky shores. Protruding rocks, ageless, weather-beaten and washed, decorate the lake like freckles on a face. A snowglobe for a world, in which time stands still. Nature stripped down to the bone, resting so silently you could assume it was dead. 

Listen. It is the gossiping whispers of naked branches, shivering roots like veins beneath the frozen earth. It is the wind humming to the chorus of the birds, harmonious and homebound the diurnal dance of notes that drift into a mere echo with the breeze. Soft splashing polishes the circumference of the lake, rocking small pebbles back and forth in a rhythmic pattern. 

It is Sunday evening. The beginning to the end of a week that always seems so long, signified by a setting sun. Over in the far corner huddles a family, at their feet glows flickering flames shouting out sparks, lighting up screams of joy. Vibrant giggles of children bounce off the lake like skipping stones of laughter, skimming along a stream of sunlight, from the base of the pointy giant’s silhouettes to the dogs splashing paws and claws. The glassy lake shattering instantly into thousands of concentric circles rippling from beneath furry bellies. Buzzing with excitement. Running. Rushing. Faster. Faster. Crunching pebbles beneath their paws, smoking like dragons with every breath.  From the second of the rumbling truck coughing to a start, they knew where they were going. Cantering like horses along the bays parabolic curve, carved out by the eternal erosion of history. Creepy crawlies scatter as sweaty noses snuffle into the frore grounds, away they run, chased by a slobbering pink wall licking up anything tasty in its path. Ancient eyes tower above the lake, peering over the energetic blur which the dogs present, a mere flicker in the eyes of a mountains life. A bark. A blur. A blink. An instant immediately lost to the forever preserved memory of the prehistoric landscapes. Beyond the borders of the snowglobe sneaks the sun, hiding behind snowy peaks, saying goodnight with one last rush of colour. Acrylic hues of blue, fluorescent purples and pinks drip from clouds, for a moment seeming almost touchable. Within seconds the clouds become faint. Colour drains from their rosy cheeks, washing away like water in a sink with no plug.

Look. It is the last light of day greeting the moon’s beaming smile to the sky. Rigid peaks traced by a silver glow, line the horizon and with the fall of night dissipates the enclosing blue dome to an expanse of darkness. Natures clock sets in over the wildlife, once energetic dogs fall to a routine like an alarm signifying the end to playtime. Their soaked, shaggy coats frost over as temperatures plummet rapidly with the passing day. Slowly the shadows melt away, consumed by creeping darkness chasing the light away. Children of starlight come out to play, flickering with laughter and joy, slowly one by one they take their place in the playground of the gloaming sky. It is the abandoned burning embers left to die, the final glow mirroring glittering eyes of stardust.  

Soon you will find yourself in a place unrecognisable. A whole new world, yet you are looking into the same space as before. Surroundings that continue endlessly like a desert of darkness, letting you only see a few feet ahead. Eventually finding yourself back where you began. Panting labradors in the boot, the chuffing warm heaters blowing in your face, defrosting your body chasing away the shivers and goosebumps. The frozen world is suddenly disregarded into the night as your glowing face becomes defined by a hypnotising blue light between your hands that consumes your every thought. A once in a lifetime experience, never to occur again, only recorded down in history with a simple text answer of, “Yes mum, I have walked the dogs!” And with that, the moment passes and the world seems to press play. Reality has kicked in as Monday morning planning creeps back into your mind.