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)

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...

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).

Holidays!

Over the semester break/holidays I got up some pretty awesome stuff! -Never ended up doing Rangitoto because the weather didn't want me to ;)

LOTS of stay at home- relax days! I spent a day colouring in, drawing, reading, and writing in pyjama day one day.. other days I watched movies/ TV, and some.. I just sat and did not all that much, it was really good, and rather relaxing!

I took Libby (Toni's daughter) down to the Auckland Domain to meet someone to take her to her Dads, with Toni and Sam (her son), and we went through the car wash on the way back (something apparently neither had done..) IT WAS COLOURFUL FOAM!!

When I was due to go down to work to meet someone for a catch up I had to sit in stopped traffic because they were chopping trees down and doing landscaping work down the Waiwera hill to make it safer I am assuming because of slips an rock fall that happen there quite a bit!

Back on the bike

And so today, it marked the day of my first time back riding my bike- I had no pain in my knee it was so good! I haven't ridden my bike since at least May (when I had the surgery) and so to be back on it as the warmer weather is showing now, getting warmer leading up to summer!

On the way we stopped for lunch, then we saw the damage from the recent storm that passed through which happened to be at its strongest when it is high tide, on a king tide so the sea levels were rather high and took out a lot of the built up sand around the coast, you can see evidence of this all along the Orewa Beach stretch of the coast which is a good few kilometers long (five I think).  There is barriers all up along the beach front and the grass just goes straight down and all the tree roots are showing- that is all that is holding the beach front.  There is still a lot of debris on the beach as well.

I don't have pictures of the South end of the beach where the damage is a lot worse as the height of the sand/grass walls are a lot higher!!!

Even old steps were uncovered... 

This use to be covered in sand...

Saw this mailbox too- very cool!

We then went and got ice-creams...

And Allie got licks too- her treat :-)

Weather and Procrastination

Poor little Nashi Tree getting bashed around in the wind and rain loosing all its leaves.

Both these taken from my bedroom- looks out to the backyard- tincey, and also Orewa North Primary School.

Yes, I like to know whats going on with the weather- I find it rather fascinating (maybe I should change my career direction into being a meteorologist??).

Friday it was a rainy, cold, and yicky day- two jumpers worthy (which is actually pretty normal for me from about May or so).  

Yesterday it was actually a rather nice day until about early afternoon when it decided to turn dark and spit, then back to sunny again by late afternoon.

Woke up this morning to rain pouring down outside my window!  And it has been ever since with high winds and freezing cold for us (10degree temps maybe?) So after sitting reading on the internet on my bed for the last two hours I decided to go eat something and crawl back under my blanket and start my.. ahem.. homework- well Classics internal due tomorrow (3/4 the way through, been at it for a month+).

Ended up procrastinating.. to write this.

Another post also in the works- maybe I should finish that too? Lol.

Oh yeah- it was the school ball last night.  I didn't go.  Not my thing- my money can be better used elsewhere.  I sat up reading for hours on end after planning to go to bed early.  (ended up online reading until 11.30pm.)