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".