Welcome to Autumn

My first post for ages - thanks to poor weather, illness, and a heavy workload I just haven't been able to go anywhere! I've definitely noticed that autumn has moved in now, as there have been lots more rain showers recently. That's not to say the temperature reflects it though, it's usually at least 15 degrees here, getting down to around 10 at night. I also had to put on one of my winter jackets the other day, and a scarf! Having said that, today was a gorgeous day, but I was holed up in the Marine Rescue Centre doing training with the Coastguard :( I would have preferred to have gone on a day trip somewhere, but decided that since I'm still in recovery from a bad cold I would be better sitting at a computer all day. I hope to get out somewhere next weekend if the weather is good.

I did manage to get out to 'The Domain' on Saturday to try and get a bit of fresh air. The Domain is basically a large park just on the outskirts of the centre of Auckland; it has some woodland walks, a Wintergarden (although it's open all year round), several fountains, some playing fields, and is home to the Auckland War Museum. I started by doing one of the woodland walks, but it felt a bit odd as although there were leaves on the ground to indicate autumn, there were tropical-looking trees lining the pathway!

After doing one of the walks, I went up to the Wintergarden which pretty much all in greenhouses. It was quite busy, so didn't have the opportunity to take pictures. It's all free though, so no doubt I will go back again in the near future. My favourites were the chilli plants and the cactus house. The chilli plants were great. They had 'Ghost Chilli' growing, which is apparently the hottest chilli in the world. On the Scoville scale (measures chilli hotness) it gets a rating of 850,000-1,500,000. When you compare it with Tabasco red pepper sauce (2,500-3,000), birds eye chilli (50,000-100,000) and law enforcement grade pepper spray (1,500,000-2,000,000) it puts it into perspective. Needless to say I didn't try one!

I then moved back on to The Domain grounds and spotted a really cool tree which captured the autumn colours here perfectly. I have absolutely no idea what kind of tree it is, but I took a picture because I liked it!

On the way back home I took one of the woodland walk paths and found a small waterfall and quaint little humpback bridge. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Crombie Park in Scotland. I have taken pictures of very similar bridges and waterfalls there. It was quite nice to get a little reminder of the UK.

So, I hope you all enjoyed your Jubilee celebrations. We had a gun salute at 12pm down at the waterfront which was nice, but that was about it really. I suppose we did have a national holiday, which was actually the best bit! 

Hope to have some slightly more exciting stuff to tell next weekend, although a lot of it depends on the weather at the moment :(

Pizza by the Metre

This has been a pretty uneventful weekend. Due to work and Coastguard commitments, I've had very little time to do anything fun :( On Saturday however I did cash in on my Yazoom voucher for a metre of pizza from Toto Pizza. Their website claims it uses only the freshest ingredients and is produced in the traditional Italian style. I must admit that I was a little sceptical, as I thought the 'metre pizza' might be 1 metre by about 5cm, but I was blown away! I was even excited just looking at the size of the box - it took up over half of the bench I was sat on :) I also purchased the obligatory can of Mountain Dew and some white chocolate Reese's Cups for pudding.

I realised that shortly after arriving at the harbour with my giant pizza box, I'd made a huge mistake.... As soon as I'd sat down it was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. I think I had half of Auckland's total bird population watching me. The seagulls were pretty timid though so I managed to keep them at bay, and I didn't have an elephant to keep my eye on this time either! I know you're all salivating in anticipation at what is in the box, so I'll just give you an ingredients run-down before I show you the pizza. It was a D'oro pizza, with caramelised onions, champagne ham, mozzarella, cream, rosemary and parmesan. I think that's enough of the teasing now..... Time to unleash the beast!

It was the biggest pizza I have EVER seen, and it tasted phenomenal! I was just sorry that I could only manage 4 out of a possible 16 slices. I hardly made a dent in it... very disappointing. At least breakfast, lunch and dinner is sorted for the next few days! The seagulls didn't get crumb of it either, I very carefully closed the box after each slice. To put what I actually have left into perspective, I took a photo of it once I had carefully cradled it through the streets of Auckland.

Now you've all finished licking the screen, I'll move on to my other story (only interesting really if you are a car enthusiast). I went back down to the viaduct again on Sunday as I wanted to visit the fish market and see if they had anything I was particularly desperate for. I didn't see any fish I needed, but picked up a couple of pots of hummus that were reduced, so not a wasted journey. It certainly wasn't wasted when I came out of the fish market to return home. A couple of weeks ago I had my photo taken with this Maserati, and I thought it was pretty impressive.....

So imagine my delight when I exited the fish market to find a Shelby GT500 parked on the side of the road! I would definitely take the Shelby over the Maserati any day! I just wish I could have met the owner and asked him/her to take me for a spin. It seems I should hang out at the viaduct more often!

Right, enough of looking at things that I'll never be able to afford. Time for some anatomy revision for tomorrow - the flexors of the forearm. I think I might just have a slice of pizza while I work....

Saint Marys Bay

At last - I have time to post on the blog! Been a really hectic week this week juggling uni work, socialising and Coastguard training. I'm so glad it's the weekend. Last weekend I did my Coastguard VHF radio training, on Monday I was doing anatomy dissection and Coastguard operations room stuff. Tuesday was one of my friends birthdays so I baked her a cake, and then hurried off for Coastguard search and rescue training. Wednesday was a full day of anatomy dissection, on Thursday I was collecting data from a pig all day  and went out for sushi in the evening, and Friday was data analysis and histology slide preparation. On Friday evening I went over to a friends house played Articulate and Cranium and had a few drinks. There was quite a group of us and it was girls vs boys so it got pretty competitive. The boys won Articulate and we won Cranium, so we are going to have a rematch at some point!

Today, nursing a sore head, I decided to go for a walk out to Saint Marys Bay. I nearly rented a room in the area, but it was really small and I felt you were just paying for the view so didn't bother in the end. It's really beautiful though, so if I ever have to move out of my current apartment I may just start my flat hunt there.

I started off by walking up to Ponsonby to buy myself a hangover lunch - a chicken, bacon and avocado burger, a can of Mountain Dew and some Reece's Cups. Needless to say it went down well!

I then walked down to the harbour bridge which goes between Auckland and the North Shore. The bridge itself reminds me a little of the Tay Bridge, only it sees a lot more sun and a lot less of the local Coastguard! It was another glorious day, so there were people fishing, kayaking and even one person paddle boarding. I also got a couple of great shots of the Sky Tower from a foot bridge above the motorway. I think they may even be the best pics yet...

There are always loads of people down by the harbour, as there are quite a lot of boat owners in NZ. I think I heard somewhere that there are more boats per person here than anywhere else in the world, and after seeing the amount moored in the harbour, I can truly believe it! I don't think I have ever seen quite so many boats in a harbour.

I had a really good day, and it was nice to just chill out and stroll around in the sunshine. I got back home at about 4pm to find my first NZ Coastguard qualification in the mailbox. I am now officially qualified to use the  Marine VHF Radio! I also know I passed my search and rescue exam, so I'm hoping that there will be a certificate for that in the post soon too.

 Going to see what the weather is like tomorrow and may go out for another stroll, so keep an eye on the blog. The potential for two posts in two days.... on course for a record!

Bay of Islands

After a long and very busy week at work, I decided to take Friday off. I went on the Bay of Islands cruise to The Hole in the Rock. I got on the coach, leaving from Sky City at 7.15am, and we drove for around 4 hours to get to a place called Paihia. We had a running commentary from the bus driver the entire way, and although informative, a little break from his voice would have been nice! Paihia is located on the north-eastern coast, and is apparently a tourist hot spot. It wasn't too busy today as it's autumn now so most of the holiday makers have been and gone. There were still some Japanese tourists though, taking pictures of anything they could find of course! I got off the bus and had a wander round Paihia until the ferry was due to leave. It's pretty small, but has lots of restaurants and souvenir shops to keep the tourists happy. The boat left the harbour at 1.30pm and we travelled a short distance to Russell - a small township across the water from Paihia. It took about 10 mins by boat, but apparently the journey takes over an hour by road.

After picking up a few passengers from Russell, we headed off into the Bay of Islands. It comprises of 144 islands (so the ferry guide says), most of which are either uninhabited or privately owned. We had a look for some dolphins on the way out to the Hole in the Rock, but unfortunately didn't see any. There was some really amazing scenery on the journey, it had clouded over a bit by mid-afternoon, but it didn't detract from the beautiful islands (you can see a little lighthouse on the top of one of them in the picture).

The sea was very calm all the way through the bay, and then we hit the full force of the Pacific Ocean. By the time we reached the Hole in the Rock, the Japanese tourists had replaced their cameras with sick bags, and there were quite a few making regular trips to the toilets! Unfortunately it was too rough to travel through the Hole in the Rock, but we got quite close and took some good photos. This is one of the better ones - it was quite difficult to take with the boat bobbing up and down vigorously!

While at the hole in the rock we heard reports from another boat that they had found some dolphins. We rushed back to where we had been dolphin searching originally, and found a large pod of bottlenose dolphins, They apparently weren't very active as they were about to feed, and were concentrating on herding the fish into a good feeding position. They weren't jumping out of the water like you see on TV, but I got a video of a few of them surfacing every so often. I tried to upload it, but Blogger isn't having any of it for some reason. I'll have to have another go some other time. You'll have to make do with a picture of an interesting ship I saw on the way back to Paihia instead!

After returning to Paihia harbour it was time to get back on the coach to return to Auckland. Another 4 hour journey and we arrived at Sky City. Auckland looked lovely from the Harbour Bridge, it was all lit up, and the Sky Tower was really cool. A definite photo for the future! Despite a lot of sitting down, I am absolutely shattered. It was well worth it though, and something I would certainly do again.

Rangitoto Island

Today, since I didn't really do much over the Easter weekend, I decided to take a trip to a small nature reserve off the coast of Auckland called Rangitoto Island. I got up nice and early and walked down to Auckland Ferry Terminal and caught the 9.15am ferry to Rangitoto. I got a lovely snap of downtown Auckland while departing the port.

The ferry then stopped at Devonport and picked up a few more passengers, then headed on to Rangitoto. Rangitoto Island is basically a dormant volcano; it doesn't have any soil, just lava fields, but still has thick forest covering it. There are a lot of walks you can do to see various things, your only limit is the last ferry back to Auckland!

The first walk I completed was a trek on a nice smooth and quite flat road out to McKenzie Bay and the Beacon Lighthouse. It took me through the mangroves for about an hour but was well worth it in the end. The beach at McKenzie bay was gorgeous, but I didn't have my bathers :( Something to remember for next time though!

After stopping for a drink I took the summit road to the peak of the volcano. This track was steeper,  the scenery wasn't quite as nice, but it was the only way up. Once I got to the top (after a lot of hard work) the views were breathtaking across to Motutapu Island. You could also see the islands of  Motuihe and Waiheke. 

Just when I thought I'd reached the summit, I noticed more steps! I followed them right up to the top where there is a lookout over the volcanic crater itself (which is covered in bush). There was also a great view of Auckland and the Harbour Bridge, so I'm quite glad I found more steps!

After taking in the views I went back down to the main track and headed off towards Islington Bay and Yankee Wharf. Again, the scenery consisted of black lava fields, forest, and traps (they're trying to eradicate the rats, mice and hedgehogs from the island), but Yankee Wharf was great. I decided to stop and have my lunch and take in the scenery looking across to Motutapu Island. I saw a few people on the boats, but nobody invited me aboard for a glass of wine :(

After a brief rest it was time to head back for the ferry. I took the coastal path (about 2 hours) which was pretty tough going. It was quite rocky, undulating, and covered in thick forest. I did see quite a few skinks though, and some weird looking mosses, so not all bad!

I got back to the ferry at about 3pm, absolutely exhausted and ready for a sit down! There are still some things that I need to do on Rangitoto as there just wasn't enough time to complete everything. There are some lava caves which you can wander round (I didn't have a torch, so didn't really want to risk it), and there is Boulder Bay which has the nickname 'Wreck Bay'. I don't know whether you can actually see any shipwrecks, but I'll have a look next time. I'd also quite like to look at the Mine Base - a WWII military site, and possibly walk across to Motupatu via the causeway. 

Anyway, my limbs are aching and I'm absolutely shattered so it's definitely bed time for me. Pity I don't have any deep heat, as it'd be REALLY useful right now!

Feijoa and Swordfish

At the weekend I was supposed to attend the New Zealand Beer Festival down by the quay. I'd been invited to join another of the anatomy demonstrators and some of her friends, and she'd told me to get myself a ticket online, which I did. A few hours later I get a panicked text from her asking if I knew of anywhere she could get a ticket as they'd all sold out. We spent ages looking in different shops and on the internet but to no avail. I decided the nicest thing I could do was give up my ticket and spend the afternoon/evening in the town with her instead. So I advertised my $40 ticket on Trademe (Ebay) and it eventually sold for $120, gotta love karma! We then spent the evening in one of the local bars and had dinner (a delicious pesto, pepper and parma ham risotto) and a keg of beer. It was great :)

As many of you will know I am a huge fish fan, and have pretty much been addicted to sushi ever since I got here. On Sunday I decided that I would cut back on the sushi a little and eat more fish with my evening meal instead, so ordered some fish from a company online. I had a voucher for some money off and delivery was also going to be free so I decided to take the plunge. It's all freshly caught, and really cheap compared to the UK. So cheap in fact that I ordered 1kg of turbot, 1kg of salmon steaks and 1kg of swordfish steaks which came to roughly £15 - BARGAIN! I unpacked the box today and divided up the salmon and turbot into freezer bags. I did have a little problem however with the swordfsh.... when I ordered 1kg of swordfish steaks, little did I realise that it would be a SINGLE 1kg steak - fit that in your frying pan! I'd have loved to have seen the size of the original fish, the steak alone was the size of a dinner plate! I cooked up a small chunk this evening and it was delicious. Money well spent.

This morning my supervisor came in with a small carrier bag, handed it to me, and said 'I thought you might like these'. I looked in the bag, looked up at him and smiled and said 'ooooh, thanks very much'. I spent the rest of the day trying to work out what it was that he had given me! It was a small green fruit, but I had no idea what it was called or how to deal with it.

After much 'Googling' I came up with the name 'feijoa' (pronounced fay-ho-a). It is apparently grown in the highlands of southern Brazil, parts of Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay and northern Argentina..... oh yeah, and New Zealand!

I had two this evening (may live to regret it a bit later), and they have a really unusual taste. I can only describe it as germolene, the antiseptic cream. I found it quite delicious. The very centre contains the seeds and is soft, a bit jelly-like, and really sweet. As you move further out from the centre towards the skin it becomes a bit more gritty and harder, kind of similar to a not-quite-ripe pear. If tonight passes without incident I may eat a couple more tomorrow....

Lunch Theft

Last weekend I decided to take a trip to the local fish market down by the quay. It's brilliant, you can buy just about any kind of seafood you can think of and it's all super-fresh! They even have live mussels and eels that you can take away with you, I stuck with the fillets of fish, although I was tempted to buy some whole ones. I purchased some red snapper, kingfish, a blue-nose thai fishcake and some smoked snapper. The snapper is phenomenal, and apparently you can buy snapper and chips in fish and chip shops, so that might be something for the future. I wanted to take pictures, but thought it was a bit weird so opted for a picture of the Skytower from outside the fish market instead!

On Sunday (as many of you will know from Facebook), I went to Auckland Zoo. I saw loads of really cool animals, and even a Kiwi. Apparently they're really rare to see (even at the zoo) because they're nocturnal, shy, and easily scared by noise so it was great that I managed to see two! I tried to take a photo, but because it was dark and there was no flash photography allowed it's not a great image. You can make out it's body, but the head was foraging in the leaves so it's kind of blurry.

The Meerkats on the other hand were only too happy to stand still and have their photo taken making it 'simples' for me..... sorry, but it needed to be said! I also saw seals, penguins, lions, tigers, zebras, wallabies and emus.

As many of you will be aware, I also had a run in with an elephant called Burma. I was sat in the middle of the zoo (no animal cages anywhere near), minding my own business, eating my cheese and tomato roll. Of course, I was busy keeping an eye on the seagulls that were obviously hatching some evil plan to gang up on me and mug me for my last crumb, so busy in fact that I didn't notice the trunk slipping silently past my left shoulder towards my roll (I think Burma and the seagulls had some sort of understanding). To my horror I turned to see this giant elephant with the end of its trunk about 2 inches away from my lunch with the keepers trying to fend her off. Just for good measure before she left, she also had a quick rifle through my bag for anything that I may have left in there. I was so gobsmacked that I didn't even have time to get a photo, but I did find her again a bit later for a quick snap.

Let this be a warning to all of you. It's not the seagulls you have to worry about, it's their partners in crime.