Update 12:15pm: Not too much happening, it looks like the last Tsunami warning we had. No reporters getting swamped away on the news even.

Update 11:41am: Taking me and my cats to see if we can get closer to the action. Northwestern, here we come.

Update 11:30am: The boats moored near my house are moving around a bit, maybe its just the wind…

Update 11.16am: I haven’t even heard the sirens that they were testing a couple of years ago. Just like I thought, nothing much may happen.

Tsunami Alert for New Zealand:

The tsunami is supposed to hit Auckland at 10.52am so I have less than a minute to post this if I’m about to get swamped. I’m watching the water from the deck and it doesn’t seem to be moving much. It is semi-low tide anyway so I can’t really see if it’s gone down.  Hmmm, I’ll keep you posted if there is any destruction.

Check out this New Zealand tsunami gauge where you can see readings from around New Zealand. At least people are taking precaution with this one (even though it’ll probably be reasonably benign again).

The walk there gives you two options – walk over the massive dunes that’s like a desert, or walk around them which takes about twice the time. On the way there, we decided to walk over them which was ok but a little tiring.

After boiling in the sun (which wasn’t at it’s hottest because we went mid-arvo), we arrived and I was real glad I brought my mini-tent because there isn’t much shade.

We eventually went for a swim and I decided to swim to the ‘rope swing’ which is no longer there. It is probably a couple of hundred meters swim each way, so I was pretty annoyed at having wasted all of that energy to find that it was gone.

It was such a good afternoon, listening to the likes of the Black Seeds, Shapeshifter and stuff (who I want to go see on Friday at the one of the uni o-week things) and just relaxing by the lake. We decided to head back at around 5pm so we could go and get those amazing $10 steaks (that come with fries, eggs and the best sauce ever).

Yus, $10 steaks: the best way to start the week

Summer Haze by Shapeshifter (awesome NZ music) is one of my all time favorite songs. Over the summer I’ve built up a whole lot of small clips on my phone, and so I put them together to go with this song. I hope you enjoy it.

After getting our tents done we headed straight to the beach. The surf was a real good size and perfect for body boarding, but I did get dumped and scrape my back on the seafloor, which then began to bleed. I also hit my knee badly because it was getting pretty dumpy, so I started making a pool with Hailey and Nikki joined in later on.

After a few hours at the beach, we headed back to the camp site (right next to Anchor Bay) and had ‘dinner’ (all of my food was bread / fruit / stuff that doesn’t go off in blistering heat). We didn’t get up to heaps that night, just relaxed and stuff. I woke up the next day real early to the sound of a seagull picking at some of the food we left outside, so I decided to get up and go down to the beach by myself. I took a whole lot of videos and stuff which I am putting together at the moment, but the water was just so nice I decided to go for a swim (even though I didn’t bring a towel).

Some guy drove past on a quad bike and gave me a wave from ages away, I assumed that it was the ranger. I got in the water and it was real nice and refreshing, after being in for a while I decided to start drip drying, so I was just standing with my legs in the water. All of a sudden, I see this old guy walk up to the rocks and start taking off his clothes, (yep, naked) and gets in. It was pretty brave really, it was about 8.30am by this point and he had seen me on the beach. Not knowing what to do, I stood there to pretend to be cool about it for a while and then realized what a good status update it would make (I’m so thankful for Facebook mobile). Still, I don’t really blame the guy, because I would be lying if I said that it didn’t cross my mind earlier on (but it wasn’t so light and there was no one on the beach).

He left soon enough, and so I started walking back to the campsite because I thought everyone would be up by then. I saw them all heading back to the beach, so I just went back in again. Nikki brought her surfboard (mini mal) and I had a go on that which was nice (the surf was pretty clean and small).

Later on, we headed to the Mill Ponds which was real fun (that place with the big rope swing). We were there for hours, and the water was a perfect temperature. I also tried my hand(s) at eeling, but they were just so shy and slippery. I got my hand around one guy a couple of times but it was just too slippery to get it out of the water in time.

It rained a little bit during the evening, but I resolved to dancing in the rain instead of being zipped up in my tent or standing under a tree.

Once it fined up we went for a swim in the evening which looked like Venus (because the sun was covered and the lighting went purple).

Around midnight we went for another dip (with a certain novelty factor), and there was blue light up phosphorescent things floating in the water. They were about the size of a pea, and made the entire waves light up when the wave broke. The next morning we went to this cafe nearby and I ordered the best panini that I’ve ever had. We chilled at the Mill Ponds for quite a while and then drove back to Auckland. It was such a good trip, but I hate unpacking. I had a quick powernap before going out to dinner for Steen’s birthday. What a week eh

1. Ukulele is smaller and easier to carry around
2. Ukulele is easier to play because it only has 4 strings
3. Ukulele is better for left handed people -- the chords aren’t as complex and you can more or less re-string it the other way round (depending on what sort you get)
4. Ukulele is more fun

I’m slowly learning, but it is taking me a while because I am learning to play it right handed (and I’m left) but I think it shouldn’t be too hard (as both hands have a more or less even work load).

I’m learning this cover at the moment which I think was even originally written on ukulele anyway.

We taxied back to Nick’s where I picked up my car and then hit the sack finally at 4am (don’t worry, I wasn’t drinking ). I woke up at 8.30 to start getting ready to go to the beach (Anchor bay). The weather was good, but then got a little cloudy on the way there which worked out well because I didn’t need sunblock.

As always, Anchor bay was amazingly clear water and nice white sand, and I jumped in this massive clear rock pool that I saw last time except was too cold to get in. Sam had been talking up this ex-quarry (in a secret location) all day and how good it was, so we went and checked it out after. It was an old limestone mining operation that is now flooded with water – I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I hope it was just mother nature getting back at them for taking the limestone… There is apparently trucks at the very very deep bottom.

The rope swing off the cliff is really high. I know it doesn’t look high at all from the photo (try enlarging it), but it is about 10m, it looks double this when you are looking down. The blue sign was quite a bit taller than me, so it was probably 2m high, if you stack that up you could easily get five in there. What scared me so much was the fact that the swing barely cleared the rocks / cliff down the bottom – only about 1.5 – 2m of clearance. Steen’s friend, Callum went before me, and he landed on his side which completely put me off wanting to do it haha.

That place is so awesome to go play, but is probably more of a boys thing than a girls thing. The water was nice and warm too. After catching up on some sleep from the night before on the way home, I threw something together for dinner and then went and caught up with a friend. Nice day. I was considering going out still, but it’s 10pm and I’m feeling a little tired with only 4 hours of sleep behind me.

Just got back yesterday from a ‘fully fledged mini-break’ (you will get that or you won’t) to the Mount in Tauranga. I drove down on Saturday in my car, which is a 3.3 litre so petrol cost me $120 . Not wanting to drive for ages by myself, I headed straight for Facebook chat to see who was online – and Zac won the lucky spot. We met everyone down at the beach, and bodysurfed for a while.

Later on, we tried our hand at night fishing which hasn’t been so successful in the past. At least no gangsters showed up like the night before (that I wasn’t there to see). Who gets drunk and staunches people out fishing at a wharf anyway?

After some late night discussion we finally hit the sack, and the girls left before any of us woke up the next morning cause they had to head back to Auckland. We went and hung out at the beach, and then got some good ol’ fashioned Burger King. I’m such a sucker, I only wanted a larger drink, but had to get larger fries too, but then I realized after buying it that you can just refill the small cup as much as you like anyway.

I also saw a guy walk in with two thermoses, fill them with drink, and then walk straight out of b.k. with a massive smirk on his face – I wish I’d taken a photo of him.

I watched the superbowl today, complete with jerky, so I feel like a real American now. I must say, the half time show was pretty disappointing. The performance was ok, but the sound was about 10 seconds out of time with the picture which made it a joke. Also, everyone’s costumes stayed on.

Just got home from a really fun day at Waiwera doing river crossing and survival techniques (should I ever feel the need to leave the security of the big smoke) and enjoying Waiwera hot pools. It’s kind of annoying how whatever you wear to Waiwera absorbs the smell of the naturally hot hot springs and sticks with it for ages. I didn’t even go on the slides which shows my age. I did manage to fully immerse myself (not my head of course) into the 48°C pool (lava pool) which was burning hot. The first could of attempts I completely chickened out but it seemed to cool down.

Last night was fun too, went to a local beach (in tat city) and got some haddads. I love it how late haddads is open, but it is a hate-love relationship (mainly cause I always regret going after). Nice as, oh and I was driving with my lights off for a bit too as I haven’t made the transition yet to being used to the separate switch on my car. Nice.