GREAT WHITE SHARK !

Great White Shark!!

It's not every day that we get to see a Great White Shark close up, so when Auckland Museum decided to dissect one outside the Loading Bay (it had been caught and killed by accident) we decided to give it a go, and see how squeamish we were about such things.


Shark from the viewing platform


Public dissection of the jaws


Around 1500 people joined us at the Museum to see the first public dissection of a great white shark in New Zealand.There were tiered seats, camera crews and reporters.


The temperature was 31 degrees in the sun and we joined the single queue to get a glimpse of the giant female shark. Everyone was allowed to go right up to it, in the hot sunshine, to get a chance to touch and take photographs of it. I didn't touch it but the girls said it was soft and silky to the touch; not what you'd expect.


Queuing to see the shark


Girls with the Great White shark


Nobody seemed too squeamish despite the amount of blood, and people posed with the great white and even touched the serrated teeth when the jaw was extracted (lots of blood there!)


TV crews making a film

The museum and the Department of Conservation (DOC) performed the necropsy, (or fish autopsy for the non-biologists), on the shark, with running commentary throughout, which was also relayed to a live video inside the Museum.


Necropsy


Great White close up!


The event was to raise awareness and was broadcast live to millions of people on the internet.Everyone who came was allowed to touch the shark and children queued up to ask questions, which were answered directly by the scientists there.


Answering questions


The shark was about three metres, and was caught in Kaipara Harbour last week. It was tangled in a gill net, the fishermen who caught it were there and told us that they had also caught it the day before, but released it back into the ocean. However the second time, it was too late to save it. So, it was frozen for the public event to be planned.


Mrs Jaws


The spinal column section


I have to say it was sad to see such a magnificent creature cut into bits, but it all hopefully inspired people to protect it and understand it more.It is a protected species in New Zealand.


Scientists working on the shark


The last great white shark attack in New Zealand was in 1968 and the last attack in Auckland was as far back as 1911 but there have recently been several sightings of Great Whites near shore. It makes us worried for Greg in his kayak!


Newspaper photo showing the jaws in action

SWEET SIXTEEN !

Jess is Sixteen!!

Hey it's Jess here!
Mum decided to let me on the 'blog' for my birthday so I can give a first-hand account =)
Well, the picture above is meee in front of mum's favourite toi-tois, in some summery clothes for my birthday at the beach.
Unfortunatley the rest of the family didn't get much of a lie-in as I was up just after 7am feeling fully awake...which sent everyone into a half-asleep panic to get my gorgeous breakfast of pastries and scones ready =P


Birthday Girl!



Lots of pressies!

As you can see I was pretty spoilt for presents, and my breakfast on the cute pink tea-stand was scrummy. Mum & dad got me some lovely clothes, an underwater camera (generous since my disaster in Fiji...), a birthday mug & plate as well as a HUGE beach ball (which I blew up later on).
Other presents included jewellery, hair accessories, clothes, a flying (screaming) monkey, books and money, so I think I did pretty well =)


Jess got Party Rings from England!

The beach I had chosen to have lunch at, before meeting my friends for a day in the sun, was Mission Bay. Lunch was mainly prepared by Sophia under a very particular menu from me, including free-range egg sandwiches, grapes, cheds (cheesy NZ biscuits)and some British confectionery such as jelly babies (another present from mum & dad) and party rings (from our friends The Wilkos)


Jessie blowing up her gigantic beach ball



Jess is having a ball!

After lunch, dad, Sophia and I tested out the gigantic beach ball (which I'd spent pretty much forever blowing up) and we got quite a few stares as we tried to get our arms around it. One man stopped with his little girl in a pram and held her up to watch our game!


Jess by the toi toi

Mid-afternoon I met up with some friends and got some more wonderful presents. We spent the rest of the day chatting and walking along the beach, eating ice-creams and trying to solve a rubix cube I got from Sophia.
At 6.30pm we got changed into some glittery evening wear and headed to an Italian restaurant on the beach called 'Mama Mia'. Anyone living in nz...go there...the cannelloni vegetriani is AMAZING.

Overall I had one very, very happy birthday, and the cake (which we ate at the beach after dinner) was amazing. Actually I think I need to force mum to put a picture up, because she made it beautifully.
Chocolate gateau with rasberry conserve, covered in chocolate ganache and decorated with both white & dark chocolate leaves. It tasted soooo good =P and Sophia and I were responsible for the leaves...and a depletion in our neighbour's rose bushes leaves...!!






I had a great day, and thank you to everyone for my presents =) 16 at last!

HOME SWEET HOME !

View from the balcony today

Today was lovely, slight breeze and sunshiny. So, I thought I'd send you some pictures of our balcony view... not bad..
We're revelling in being home after camping for a week, and having a Home Day!


Giant ferns in our valley

We own a pie-shaped section of the valley, you can see it in this shot, and there's a creek at the bottom. Regular visitors include the resident kingfisher, two pairs of brightly coloured rosellas, seagulls and pigeons. The silvereyes visit in early spring and an occasional hawk.
It's very peaceful and no danger of neighbours building because it's a Heritage site, no building allowed.


View from our back patio

We also have a back patio with the hammock and barbeque, I've tried to fill it with geraniums; there is a giant magnolia tree growing to the left, which gets HUGE white flowers on.


My bean bag and glass of wine!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

What did we do on New Year's Day?
We drove to the beach under blue skies and sunshine... and Greg went kayak surfing, (and fell out spectacularly!)


Girls body boarding, that's Sophia in the front

The girls went body boarding and were wave riders for hours, and then we picnicked and ate ice-cold fruit ice-creams and ate ripe cherries by the bucket load.


Ice-creams

We walked around the volcano, Mount Manganui, watched the yachts and cruise ships coming in and rested in the shade on one side, before returning to chilled beers and a barbeque in the evening.


The boardwalk, with Mt Manganui in the background

The girls played ball on the beach after dinner, and we finished the day playing games around the lantern and counting the stars. Resolutions included, eating more chocolate, going on more holidays and having more fun here!
What did you do?


Here are our chairs on the beach!

HAPPY CAMPERS !

So, what have we been doing these holidays?!
After the Boxing Day extravaganza, we went camping for a week at Papamoa, near Mount Manganui. On the way we stopped off at Katikati (the mural town) and Paeroa (the L&P town) - see previous blogs on these two places! The antique shops were all open and we had a browze; the festive decorations were skeletons on Pennyfarthings - slightly bizarre, but that's New Zealand.


Paeroa festive decorations!

On the way, after our picnic, we spied this waterfall through the bush, no signpost, so, of course, off we went through the undergrowth to explore!


Waterfall in the distance



Made it to the waterfall!

It was quite beautiful and peaceful when we got there, we have decided it would make the perfect swimming place next time and we shall have our swimsuits handy - swimming under a waterfall is appealing. It was hidden away and no-one else was there, we had the place all to ourselves.


Papamoa Campsite!

We arrived at the campsite and it was full! Good job we had booked months ago.. it seems everyone comes here or Mount Manganui in the Christmas holidays. The place was bursting at the seams, and we had peeks into everyone's tents and campers.



Just setting up camp

Ours doesn't have a tv or double beds, like some of them, but we do have a trailer now and a fridge, so we're building up to 'glamping' at some point.
Everyone sits out in the evening, around lanterns and play games and drink beer - it's sort of a communal gathering at which everyone is welcome.
Our first day, we were up with the tuis and off to walk around the base of Mount Manganui, which is an extinct volcano.


The base walk view - our local beach seen through the trees

About half-way round the base there is a popular fishing spot with a statue in the channel. we saw swimmers and kayaks, some cruise ships and some huge cargo ships, loaded up with trees and containers.


Statue in the channel



Statue at the base of the Mount

All along the beach at the base of Mount Manganui is a boardalk and throughout the Christmas holidays they have free ice-cream and drinks, and other goodies that girls in very small shorts hand out.
We were invited to the free barbeque, with burgers, sausages, fruit and free suncream too. Yet, with all these 'freebies' no-one was greedy or pushy, it was all just lovely. The girls were particularly impressed with the free ice-creams!!


Kayak launching point, the other side of the volcano

On another day Greg and Jess kayaked around the mountain and launched from the other side. Sophia and I had some serious birthday shopping to do, so we picked them up from the other side later!


Mount Manganui from the Boardwalk


Santa at the shops


Our third day there it was time to climb to the summit - and believe me it's steep, the sheep look like they're going to fall off. Takes about an hour to do the ascent!


View half-way up the volcano


Girls at the top of Manganui!

Every night we would cook dinner and then head to the beach (a one minute stroll) and play ball games, or go shelling. We found that it wasn't the best beach for swimming - lots of jellyfish at this time of year - but the girls could body board at other beaches. Some spectacular sunsets too! Pink cotton candy effect.


View of Mount Manganui from the beach

Exploring beyond Manganui we discovered McClaren Falls. These are huge and you can't hear yourself speak when you go down. We'd had lots of rain the week before, so they were quite full!


McClaren Falls

MOUNT MANGANUI !

Aerial view of the volcano

We're heading for Mount Maunganui, which is a small town in the Bay of Plenty, next to Tauranga.
It is also the name of the extinct volcanic cone which rises above the town (which is now officially known by its Māori name Mauao),which means'caught by the dawn' and which we intend to climb. It is owned by a Maori tribe but open to the public.


Harbour and Mount Manganui

According to Maori legend, this hill was a pononga [slave] to a mountain called Otanewainuku.
It is colloquially known in New Zealand simply as The Mount. And the local hotel next to it is called 'Twin Towers'!!




The town itself is located on top of a sand bar that connects the volcano to the mainland,( for those of you who are Geographers out there, this is a geographical formation known as a tombolo. ) More practically, it means that it has created a safe harbour for the girls to swim and some good surfing waves for Greg to practise his kayak surfing.


Mr G and his kayak

It's other claim to fame is that New Zealand's first artificial reef has been installed at the Mount.
It cost $1.5M and recently the media reported that local surfers were disappointed with the waves produced by the reef. It's made from hollow tile blocks placed underwater at intervals, and built for the purpose of promoting marine life in an area of featureless sea-bottom, but it also produces good surfing waves, usually.


Well, the waves looked big to me!