http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/children-of-the-sun-1968

New Zealand on Screen has just made available the entire Kiwi surfing cult classic Children of the Sun. Made by Andrew McAlpine and starring surfers like Wayne Parkes, the film follows a group of young surfers with long boards touring from Piha to Noosa looking for waves.

The opening shots of Piha show what waves on The Bar looked like 45 years ago, a distant memory now, and there’s some on-water photography shot with an on-board camera in a homemade perspex box.

Next the surfers with some young lovelies in bikinis risk the big waves at The Gap, hanging onto kelp. And for all the world that looked like pioneering North Piha board builder Peter Way who jumped in. I recognise the Way jaw but will stand to be corrected.

And that’s Piha’s Carol Cranch hanging onto her bikini in the kelp.

Here’s the message from Gemma Gracewood (surely the same Emma from the Wellington Ukes who played at the Barnett Hall) of NZ on Screen: