Mumford and Sons

Last Tuesday afternoon, via Facebook, the Accommodation Manager put up a post selling tickets to the Mumford and Sons concert at Vector Arena for that evening! I saw the post and said to Sarah (flatmate) that there were two tickets to this concert going...

She messaged the Accommodation Manager and got in contact with the person selling them as he had spares after buying them at pre-sales and negotiated a price.

Sarah and I decided, on a whim, to just do it- and go, with less that four hours before it started!

This was the day I was also suppose to be packing up my stuff to move back home.. that ended up on hold!

It was Sarah's second to last night up here, in Auckland, as she is transferring universities to complete her degree, we are both doing Nursing, and so we thought it would be a good last big thing to do, and random, a little bit like our bungy jumping trip earlier in the year, and neither of us had ever been to a concert!!

It ended up being an awesome, loud, experience- and very well worth it!

Second Year of Nursing is DONE!

Okay, so I can't officially say it until exam results are released.. (so I guess I should say second year exams are done) but we are all pretty confident we have done well... my group of nursing buddies at least.

So second year is complete with only one more year left- which majority is clinical placements, so thats super exciting, and this time next year I will be sitting my state exam to become a registered nurse! Yay!

Just some celebratory drinks!

Seals and The Weather

Seals: I don't know how often this happens... Or if it ever has is Mt Wellington.... (I know a couple were seen in Mangere a month or so ago, but apart from that I have never heard of seals coming down the rivers).

Whilst visiting Mum yesterday someone spotted a seal in the river, so naturally, everyone ran over to the windows to take a look- surely enough, a seal who was eating a fish and then clapping his finns at us! Happily swimming around for a good 20 minutes or so- it looked like it was going to tip a kayaker over at one point!

And the weather. 

I'm pretty sure this is not "normal Auckland weather"...

It has hailed four times in three days so far, and the second lot today did this:

(My car- took about 5 minutes to make the windscreen clear (and the car warm) enough to drive!!)

(You could hear and feel the ice crunching and making the road slippery under the tyres when driving too! Wasn't overly pleasant, and then the melting of the hail caused it to flood a little too).

The roads and cars and everything was covered in hail stones for ages (an hour later it still is a little bit) while it rained and hailed and rained some more! 

It was funny watching people take photos of all the cars covered in it- shows how not normal and rare it is here!

The last time I remember something like his happening was in year 12 (2012) at school lunchtime where people swore it was hail/ sleet/ and some said snow..


Here is a link to the national newspaper story about it too (if your interested)- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11494851

(There was also a funnel cloud spotted about the North Shore area as well, which people were worrying about becoming a tornado)

Results and Holidays

Exam results got released this afternoon! Happy dances all round, with a pass for my placement and both B grades for my nursing papers- professional development (law & ethics) and long-term adaptation.

These holidays I have spent a lot of time at home, but also back at my flat, where I have been doing a puzzle for a change! Here is the beginning of it... I have done quite a bit more since this photo.

Photos from walks

Tawharanui:

The beach

A panorama from near the end of the track

Just a random bunny/guinea pig shot

The bunny, the bunny, ooh we love the bunny... (Eloise and I made it up one day, we often call him the bunny instead of BamBam (his name))

Piha:

The waterfalls: you can only see the bottom '3' from the rocks where the lake is as see below: the top one is the one we walked up to.

A plane flew above us... was very clear (not so much by picture)

The top waterfall at the end of the extra not so much of an official track walk

Semester Break 2015!

Exams are finished (campus wide), and I have already been on holidays for a week!

Its funny when there is no Uni to do or even think about (unless I jump ahead into next semesters textbooks) and none of my flatmates are here... It has become very quiet and very cold as no one is constantly in the lounge resetting the heater when it turns off (every half an hour...)

Although I have spent the last 4 days at home (yesterday I came back down), and I'm going back tomorrow...  (so my car can get new brake pads and its oil leak fixed and so I can go and see Mum Friday).

Last Tuesday (16th June) I went to Piha with Caitlin as the others were going into the city, and we went for a walk/hike to the waterfall half an hour or so into the Waitakere Ranges.  It was beautiful! Once we got over the rocks around the waterfall we found a track of mud and used tree roots as footholds to climb up a further 15minutes above the waterfall and found a second one.  (We did have a little difficulty getting down though...)

After going to the waterfall we drove over to Piha beach to walk along it and make footprints in the sand... and ended up shin-deep in the ocean- boy was it cold!!!

Photos to come...

End of Semester One

With only one more exam to go, I am nearing the middle of my Nursing Degree.  I am taking a break from study because it seems to be all I have done for some time now.  My next exam is Monday so I do have five days left before it.

This semester apart from writing assignments and being out on placement I have done some extra uni and non-uni related things:

- Bungy jumping in Taupo with Bianca and Sarah (flatmates)

- I have done an 11km hike

- Been in a flight simulator 

- Been on flat outings with my flatmates (beach, dinner, pub quiz (we won!), JUMP)

- Had nursing class dinners

- Learn't all about Auckland traffic in the mornings and evenings (before/after placements)

Basically I have been a lot more social things than previously...

Throughout this semester I have also in a way conquered my fear of public speaking... well, gotten over it, as I have had to do two presentations! One marked and one not marked (just course work).