Surf and turf

It's the weekend and the surf forecast is awesome; time to hit the beach!

Headed back up to Muriwai, a short 45 minute drive North West of Auckland. Rich had organised another group surf through MeetUp, this time with added twitching, as we took a look at the nearby Gannet Colony before the inhabitants all left for their annual migration to Oz.

Today also happened to be Amanda's first ever surf lesson; she was rather nervous about it - not liking getting ones head wet is a bit of a handicap - not that you could tell.

The conditions were excellent, with MagicSeaweed rating the surf a might 4 out of 5 stars and even the sun come out to play. Quite a good turn out for the meetup, despite one unfortunate car load not making it as their car was broken into overnight!

Half of us headed out to the waves, while the others had their lesson with the friendly Muriwai Surf School.

Those of us who hit the water were amazed to find the water virtually empty, astonishing given the great conditions - lots of clean breakers and manageable white water breaks, all with a nice period in between. Just a shame that our skills are not yet up to the same level as the conditions. Still, Rich is improving all the time; but must learn to turtle roll if not duck dive!

Amanda, possibly much to her own amazement, actually enjoyed being out on the water and surprised herself by standing up on more than one occasion. Not bad for your first lesson - especially for one so famously clumsy!

After the surfing we headed up to the now quite famous (in NZ anyway) Gannet colony , which is located a short walk from the beach. Originally home to 50 pairs which inhabited a nearby island, the colony spread to the cliffs at Muriwai and now numbers over 1000 pairs.

The colony was not quite as full as some photos we had seen, many of them having already started their migration. Luckily for us though, some stragglers had yet to depart...(they are the little white specks!)

Some Gannet facts for you..!

Gannets hunt fish by diving from a height into the sea and pursuing their prey underwater. Gannets have a number of adaptations which enable them to do this:

• they have no external nostrils;
• they have air sacs in their face and chest under their skin which act like bubble wrapping, cushioning the impact with the water;
• their eyes are positioned far enough forward on their face to give them binocular vision, allowing them to judge distances accurately.
• Gannets can dive from a height of 30 m, achieving speeds of 100 km/h as they strike the water, enabling them to catch fish much deeper than most airborne birds.
• The gannet's supposed capacity for eating large quantities of fish has led to "gannet" becoming a disapproving description of somebody who eats excessively, similar to "glutton".

The Coromandel

We had our first holiday of the year this weekend. Amanda needed a break due to work related stresses and Rich had been at work for a full two weeks(!). (We have of course spent a weekend at Waiheke recently but that does not count as a holiday as Rich was not employed!)

We originally planned on visiting Northland (the area of NZ north of Auckland), however we felt there was probably a weeks worth to see and a lot of driving; so headed south east to The Coromandel peninsula instead.

We set off on Friday morning and headed for a town called Thames, gateway to the peninsula and about 1h30 from Auckland. Not much to see here really, in fact this car (left) was the highlight, but grabbed some lunch before leaving promptly and making a made dash for a beach town called Hahei. We had planned a sea kayaking trip but were advised to come a day early due to some inclement weather on the horizon.

Great scenery whizzed by in a blur; the road to Hahei cut through the nearby forest clad mountain range and included many tight bends and steep hills. Amanda started to get car sick and Rich lamented on the poor handling / power of our car.

We arrived just in time, with minutes to spare; we paid, hurriedly changed, and were soon having a quick introduction to sea kayaks which neither of us had used before. Amanda was a little nervous since these were proper sit-in as supposed to sit-on kayaks complete with spraydeck.

We were part of a small international group of 7 (Aussie, British & German) and all using twin kayaks. Amanda took the front seat and left Rich the responsibility of operating the rudder. A quick splash through some breaking waves and we were on out on the water and heading out to sea and the nearby marine reserve. Apparently our group seemed to know what they were doing and our guide decided to take us our further than planned and we headed for the nearby "Pigeon" island.

After kayaking around said island and through some caves we headed for the beach at the world famous Cathedral Cove and one of NZ's most photographed rocks. Had fresh coffee on the beach, prepared by our guide. Took a stroll though an arch to the adjacent beach (Mares Leg Cove) and used the facilities - loos with a view! A quick paddle, followed by some obligatory photographs and we were soon heading back out on the water for the return trip to Hahei.

The water was bright turquoise when viewed from the beach and crystal clear when out on the kayaks. We saw several large snapper and even a little Blue Penguin sunbathing on the water. Entered stingray bay and then gemstone bay part of a "snorkelling trail" on the way out of the reserve and resolved to head back here the next day.

Finished the day off checking in to our accommodation - an annexe of somebody's house in nearby Tairua. Lovely room and friendly people who welcomed us with a lovely bottle of white.

Weather took a turn for the worse on Saturday; changing from brilliant sunshine to gloom and overcast and rather windy. Headed back to Hahei to find that snorkelling was off due to the wind (choppy waves). SO instead we took the cliff top path back to the beach at Cathedral Cove. The sun came out for a while and reminded us of how beautiful it is and why the area is photographed so much.

Headed back to Hahei for lunch where we had some amazing food at The Grange. Headed back to Tairua, stopping off to walk the nearby Twin Kauri walking track that takes in two large native Kauri trees (unique to NZ and driven close to extinction through Victorian logging.

Back in Tairua we climbed the nearby Mount Paku for awesome 360 views of Tairua and around; and also the menacing black clouds that were fast approaching.

A quick descent and back home for a fish supper and that bottle of wine.

The weather improved slightly on Sunday but we decided to have a lie in and a more leisurely day. So, had brunch overlooking the bay at the foot of Mount Paku and then followed a little track through the bush to a great look out. Took in the amazing views before leaving Tairua.

We had done a lot of walking, not to mention the kayaking and so headed back to Auckland via the Miranda Hot Springs - the largest natural hot springs in the southern hemisphere! A popular place with families making a day of it. There was a distinct smell of sulphur in the air and the pools were rather hot - perfect for aching limbs!

All in all a fab weekend in a gorgeous location. And only 2 hours drive from Auckland - we hope to be back soon, although with so much else to explore it might be a while!

You can watch a (very) short video of us on the water by clicking te link below.

Amanda Kayaking

Reunited

We received a rather large parcel in the post today, 5 to be exact! Way back in December we sealed what remained of our possessions into 5 cardboard boxes and 10 weeks later they have arrived.

Packing them was actually very stressful; trying to decide just what to pack and making sure that each box remained under the weight limit. Cortisol levels were not helped by realising, after we had sealed the boxes, that we had packed forbidden items. Not only that, but we had not marked which boxes contained the items that New Zealand's strict Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry would want to inspect!

Thankfully unpacking them was not stressful at all with only one item was damaged; if you don't include the dog eared books. Perhaps we packed some stuff we don't really need - at least not right now anyhow. When we were packing we were anticipating living alone, not in a flat share where most of the essentials are already here.

Some of items of course are well received and we are glad to have them arrive. Amanda's pretty chuffed to have her dressing gown and hot water bottle for example - it is Autumn here after all! Meanwhile Rich is happy that the books, CDs and cooking utensils have arrived.

Clocking on again

Rich's extended vacation came to end today and he is once again part of the rat race (dammit!).

He was actually offered the job way back in January but had to wait for some extensive background checks to be completed before the contracts could be signed.

Alas, with the due diligence completed he is now a Senior Software Engineer at a Spendvision. A NZ based company that provides a web based platform for businesses to manage and report on all their transactions and finances. This involves a lot of financial data, hence the thorough background checks. The work is going to be both interesting and challenging, with LOTS to learn and he is looking forward to getting stuck in.

It is however going to be a bit of a shock to the system; returning to a 9 to 5 after approximately 2 months sans portfolio. To be honest, he felt quite ambivalent when receiving the news of his start date. Glad to be earning money and gainfully employed again, but will definitely miss his recent freedom.

However, it's not all bad....

Warning: This may make you sick!

It looks like Spendvision is going to be a pretty sweet place to work:

• A congratulations cake on arrival
• A fridge stocked with soda, beer and wine (all FREE)
• Free coffee, tea, milk, crisps, chocolate
• Free fruit
• Flat screen TV with Sky including Sky Sports - Premier League with your breakfast!
• Wii, XBox and table tennis in the rec room
• Not only allowed to listen to music at your desk, but provided with iTunes too!
• A casual dress code; wears shorts and flip flops if you so wish
• A NERF gunfor relieving any tension
• Drinks and food EVERY Friday at 4pm
• Bone china crockery for heavens sake!
• With the office 5 mins walk from the train station, the total commute, door to door, is 40 minutes. So nice not to drive!!

And on a more technical level for the geeks...

• Software As A Service platform using ASP.NET MVC
• Agile development using SCRUM; with Monday's stand up in the local coffeehouse :0)
• Test Driven Development
• Regular training scheduled throughout the year

All in all a pretty nice place to work, just a shame Rich does not eat chocolate bars, crisps or soda!

PS. I'm not quite sure what the cake said as it was cut while I was on lunch; this was how much was left when I got back - they like their cake at Spendvision! Just managed to get a piece and damn tasty it was too.