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).

SUMMER

I have left my blog alone over the summer, but decided that I would write something today.  Following on from my last post- I completed all my exams from Semester Two, 2014 (passed them all) and then I have also just (yesterday) sat my exam for the summer school paper I talked about doing (Bioscience: Impaired Body Function).

Over the summer period, I worked a little, did quite a lot of study for my paper including spending ALOT of time writing assignments, but I also did some fun things with the family.  These included getting to go swimming heaps at the beach, and in our pool we set up on the lawn, going down the waterslide in the pouring rain, walking up Rangitoto and doing a walk at Wenderholm Regional Park, and I also had all of my wisdom teeth out! It was a rather eventful summer, and I am looking forward to getting back into study again next week as I start back for Semester One on Monday!

Oh, I also did a whole lot of Grey's Anatomy watching... when I could. I bought the first season when I had my break between exams and starting SummerSchool, and then I bought the second season once I was nearly finished the first so I had something to go on with, my plan is to buy the third in the coming weeks, and hopefully watch all Grey's before watching the most recent season which started in NZ last night (which we forgot about and didn't record).

Mangawhai Beach

Volcanic Rock on Rangitoto

Top of Rangitoto!

Going down into one of the caves

Eloise and Anna walking back to catch the ferry back to Auckland

Resting after we had walked back down, everyone was tired!

Waterslide!!! 7pm with rain and thunder (not that it looks like it).

Only Exams to go!

I have now completed all assessments that are internally assessed and just have three exams to go until the end of the semester! Very excited that my first year is coming to an end, to be able to celebrate the fact that I have done eight university level papers and am still going!

I will be doing one paper over the summer period- impaired body function (science); this is to get me ahead for next year, as in the first semester I will be doing purely nursing paper with out this science one meaning I can concentrate on my nursing, and placement without having impaired to do as well.  In second semester I will have four again, including my last science paper of the degree- pharmacology.

By science papers I mean the health sciences that come under their own category for paper numbers, as they are not part of the nursing department, and are used for more than one degree.  Most of my other papers are all nursing based.

Placement is over, and so are lectures (almost)

Last friday was my last day at the hospital on placement, it was an amazing experience and I can't wait for next years Nursing placements! I am nearing the end of my first year at university, I handed my last assignment in on Sunday night (due Monday 9am) and only have tomorrow's catch-up lecture and a lab, and then I'm on study leave for my exams!

I have one next Thursday which is a practical examination, And the a week a half break until my three written exams.

I will finish the Aussie posts at some point... but for now, I should study.

Australia Aug/Sept 2014- part 3

On the third day we were in Tasmania we did the convict trail and went out to Port Arthur.  It was a relatively long drive but ended up being pretty amazing.  We saw some extraordinary sights on the way, as we stopped at "The Blowhole", "Tasman's arch", and also "The Devils Kitchen".  They are various formations and degradations that the ocean has created over time.

The boards I have a kind of photograph of give very limited if any explanation as to the natural occurrences, I suggest using google if you are interested any further.

 I will add a video* of the "action" soon, in another post.

 I will add a video* of the "action" soon, in another post.

*if it lets me.

Australia Aug/Sept 2014- part 2

Tasmania! 

We left for the airport super early in order to get there on time- which we did in plenty, and then learnt that the plane would be delayed by half an hour at the least.  This was due to fog over Launceston (the destination for this leg of the trip).  Once we finally made it into the air, after being called for over the intercom on a final boarding call... (lets just say there were a lot of "firsts" to this trip).  

We had a relatively non eventful flight, until we were above the top of Tasmania where we were yet again, put into a left hand hold and were left circling Tasmania (I think I counted five times at least!- it was for about an hour.)  With at one point during that time when the Pilot said that it was okay that we're just waiting for 600-1000m of visibility on the ground, and we had an hour and a half fuel left (reassuring until we had been the for an hour).  We had a plane that was coming in from Sydney at the same time ahead of us, which attempted landing once, and at last minute couldn't, then attempt again, and if that wasn't to be had, they were diverting to Hobart.  If that ended up happening (which it didn't) we would have followed a similar path I would think.

The plane from Sydney in front of us waiting for the fog to clear/lift.

Launceston Airport

We got off the plane, finally, and got a car (SUV type thing) to drive around in for the next four days and headed North-ish.  We had no itinerary and were just kinda figuring out what to do as we felt like. Not the way I'm use to doing things, but it worked.  

We ended up in Deloraine where we found an info centre and they suggested a few different place to us.  One being the Marakoopa caves where we had an hours guided tour, with the history and how it was formed.  And then we headed to Trowunna Wildlife Park- which was possibly my absolute favourite/highlight of the trip!  

Marakoopa Caves

At Trowunna, we got to hold a wombat, touch/pat a Tasmanian Devil, feed kangaroos, pet the said kangaroos and their joey's, and shake hands with them too.  We saw other animals but the Tassie Devils, kangaroo's and the wombat were the more interactive sorta ones.

Daniel with the wombat.

Me with the wombat.

Cute Tassie Devil!

Feeding a kangaroo- from the bag of pellets.

Joey.

Me with the kangaroo.

The following day we headed down to Hobart and had a look at the Salamanca Markets, and walked around the wharf and looked around a bit before walking up a MASSIVE hill that overlooked Hobart- pretty amazing sites, pity we didn't know that you could drive up there in the first place! The walk was pretty neat though- and we saw a wild wallaby on the way back down.

Hobart Wharf.

Top of the hill! Looking out over Hobart/ Tasmania.

Australia Aug/Sept 2014- part 1

This is going to be much easier for me to write, and for you to read if I break it up into parts.

On August 27th I headed off over the Tasman, from Auckland to Melbourne for a bit of a holiday (Uni mid-semester break) but mainly to go and visit my brother, Daniel.  Flying with Jetstar I was a little sceptical, but the flights were on time (apart from delayed due to fog coming into Melbourne) and were pretty good flights even if I was bored half the time due to no "backseat" entertainment.  They did offer around iPads at a cost, but I had my laptop to watch a movie on, but only got halfway through it due to motion sickness- hence being bored (even though its only a four hour flight too).

My plane through the boarding gate window.

The plane was due to land in Melbourne at 11pm local-time (1am NZ), we were originally half an hour ahead of schedule due to good tail winds and taking off bang on 9pm (they weren't having to hunt down passengers for once!)  When we would have been landing the pilot said over the intercom that the plane was being put into a left-hand hold getting to circle over the city due to fog on the ground.  Half an hour later we were cleared to land, and disembark.

Daniel met me at the airport and took me back to his fathers house where I guess you could call "base" for the trip as I only stayed there for three nights.  Daniel went to work the next morning and so I spent the day with Irene, she showed me around the local area a little, and went to see the new marina development, the beach, Werribee mansion and the mall.  We had lunch out and spent the afternoon back at the house, where I went for a walk to explore the area and finished watching the movie I didn't get to finish of the plane.

That night when Daniel was home from work we looked up places to go and things to do in Australia and ended up booking flights for 7am the next morning from Melbourne to Launcestion, Tasmania!

Early Morning Beach Walk

This morning I woke up at 4.30am.... Yes, that early, and couldn't get back to sleep.  So at 5.40am when I had had enough of lying in my nice comfy warm bed watching the sky I decided to get up and have a shower and throw some clothes on and head out to Browns Bay beach.

Its morning like this where I wish I was back in Orewa and had a the beach a two minute walk away... as it is now a 10minute drive to the closest beach!!

Looking out to Rangitoto Island

North end of the beach

I got out there at 6.30am when it was still pitch black and went for a walk along the beach and took some photos as I went, there were a couple of other people but not many.  The sun rose at 7am and it became a little busier.  Once the sun was right up I went to find the closest supermarket for bread and milk and well... I went to put the bread in the toaster earlier and found it was mouldy. Yuck! And the milk.. well, can't have a coffee without can I?

About 6.45am

Browns Bay

South end of the beach

Browns bay beach at 7.15am

I plan on going into Uni as soon as the library opens at 10am to finish (hopefully) my essay and sheets to do to hand in on Monday.. well that are due Monday.