More and more

First of all I would like to start with this:

Number 16, check!
Haha, cryptic I know but some will understand..

This last week has been super busy. I went from one amazing weekend all the way to the next.
During the week I did a shit tonne (common American saying for a lot) of homework and study with very limited sleeping hours. I had two more days of my internship. This was fun. One of the days included some very geeky science lab work which required a lot of concentration so the time literally flew by. The other day however was four hours of gutting and filleting fish to be processed... This was cool, kinda brought back days at Te Ngaere Bay in the Colebrookes back yard, but also was really gross. Some of the fish had started to rot before they were frozen back in June, so the stink was absolutely sick. I vomited in my mouth a little bit, but swallowed it down cause I didn't want to be the new girl who couldn't handle the jandle! Anyway, I got better at filleting and at holding my breathe in one day so I'm not complaining..
I also spent 2 nights at Marions for dinner. The first was to meet Kaniela, her youngest son who just returned from his voyage on the kaisei, the one I may be going on next summer (N. hemisphere summer). http://www.projectkaisei.org/
He is really cool and we talked a lot about NZ cause he did his degree in Otago. He's pretty cute too. So I went there on Wednesday night also, not to see him, but because Keppa and I went diving. Marion introduced me to this Hawaiian man she knows, Doc Pheffer, who dives almost everyday. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to dive with this guy so I went along not knowing what to expect. It was about 4:30pm, we jumped in his boat, jetted out to the ocean and stopped about half a mile off Waikiki beach. I found this really odd as there was no reef and it didn't look like the best dive spot. He is quite old and grumpy and started yelling at us to get to the edge of the boat and look for "the big white ball thing" beneath the surface. I had no idea what he meant so pretended to be hard at work looking. Turns out Keppa spotted it and it was a large buoy attached to a hidden ship wreck. So cool! So we quickly geared up. Now when I say gear I don't mean the usual buoyancy compensator kind of gear... This was something called a Hawaiian back pack which was a homemade metal contraption to hold the tank, a weight belt, one regulator and a dive computer. It was way cool and felt like I had nothing on me which is not what normal diving feels like. Anyway, the dive was the best yet! Huge ship, millions of bright fish, a big scary eel, and Doc speared us an Uku to take back to Marion for her dinner. He was a great man, a little creepy though. He invited me back again and seemed very keen to teach me more about the Hawaiian marine life, even saying he'd bring some text books next time I came out. Another stroke of luck and an amazing connection thanks to my Hanai Mom!
Friday rolled on pretty quickly and it was time to go camping with Julia and some of her friends. I got picked up from my dorm and drove out with the girls to a beautiful camping spot on the North Shore. We had a blast with great food, beer, music, swimming, volleyball and mega relaxing in the hammock contraption that the guys set up (photos to follow). It was lovely. There was also a small Island just off the beach which we swam to and chilled on for the afternoon. Got home on the Saturday avo and we decided to party, as you do in college, and got yet another warning about the noise coming from our room...Woops! It was a cool night, great people to hang with and some funny stories for Claire the next morning! Sunday was an awesome lazy Sunday. We drove out to a beach called Lanikai (only breaing down twice on the way in my friend Derek's car) which is on the east coast where. We played with a ball, built sand castles and relaxed before stopping at some lookouts on the way home.
So that was a pretty eventful week. Here are some photos, unfortunately none from diving as I need to save up and buy a camera with a housing.

Our campsite from the hammocks

summary of the camping trip

The hammock contraption complete with shades and 3 sweet chill out pads.

Julia and I leaving the site

Secrets

The longer I am here on this Island, the more of it I see and the more I love it.

Yesterday, Saturday, I went to a place called 'Secrets beach'. Thats not its real name, just a nick. But I can't remember what it is actually called. 

Friday nights here are when everyone drinks and hangs out so naturally I woke up feeling surprised. The sound of a text flicked my brain into action with me soon realizing I was home in my in last nights clothes, makeup still on and smudged all over my face, and hair clips in place but not doing their job. I laughed to myself, followed by a cringe as my head reminded me of the amount I consumed the night before, and then cursed as I realized the text was my ride to the North Shore saying they were waiting downstairs. Julia, a really cool local chick that Tove works with at the funky coffee shop on campus, was taking us out for the day with some of her friends and their dog. She's great, and so were her two girlfriends. We all got along really well and they brought a dog with them which made the day even cooler. So I scramble together some beach items - lilo, camera, sunblock and sunnies - and throw on a bikini under last nights clothes. Needless to say I looked fab, complete with smudgy makeup. 

The trip to the north shore was short, taking about 45 minutes unlike 'The Bus' which takes us a good 2 hours! We pull over at a random patch of grass on the side of the road (which was kind of near Waimea Bay) and they start to get out. I was wondering where the beach was as there was pretty much only tree's on either side when I saw a small path. Along this path was the most beautiful tree's leading to a secluded, pristine beach with white sands, calm waters, little wind and only 4 other people. It was such an amazing day, the best way to cure a hangover! This place was magical, even the walk through to the beach was amazing...

These trees are everywhere here. They are huge and very beautiful. 

The beach itself was overwhelming at first. It's hard to believe an island with so many people, and so many tourists can still keep secrets like this. The fact that there was almost nobody there was the best. Although, the man who was our closest neighbor about 30m away was hanging out nude so that was a little odd. Creeper too.

The beach to our left

Taking in the surroundings with a nice cold beer. 

Pretending I was the all mighty sea god

The ladies, and Koa the dog

Pretty much what we did all day..

"I am Lucy, ruler of all"

Beautiful Tove

The beach to our right..

Koa the dog :)

So as you can see, I was literally in heaven. 

Today is Sunday and I am supposed to study. The sun is shining and I do NOT want to sit inside. So Marissa and I, and a few other girls from our building, are going on a very cheap maitai boat cruise at Waikiki for the after noon to pretend we are on vacation. I think I will be Lucy from Egypt today and see what sort of conversation that stirs up... 

Peace love and beaches to you all.

Watch this, it is really great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw

A dive and a half

In the weekend I had an awesomely adventurous scuba diving morning.

We woke up at 6am.
Jumped on our bikes - this is my bike which was $30 from the Uni bike sale. It has handle bars a little too low, breaks that hardly work and make a lot of noise, and a seat that hurts my bum. All in all a great buy!

We rode down to Waikiki to be picked up and taken to the dive boat near Hawaii Kai. I went with these guys Matt and Keith from school..

This is the boys, and the three of us under water. I breathed at the wrong time so I'm the one with bubbles..



The water was super rough and the waves were big. I felt seasick by the time we arrived at the first dive spot - a shipwreck called LST. However, as soon as I was under the surface and descending to 95 feet - the deepest I've ever been - the sickness disappeared.

The wreck was incredible...

There were bits broken off everywhere, holes in the walls, and a chandelier hanging the right way from an upside down sunken ship? I asked how this was possible when we got out and the guide said his mate had put it in there as a joke cause he thought it was a waste having it lie around in his garage... Typical. But the rest of the wreck was authentic and had some amazing wildlife colonizing too! Matt has an underwater housing for his little camera so I got to take some pics. It is much harder then on land especially cause we had a strong current. But it was great! This dive lasted only 20 minutes cause it was so deep but it was really amazing. The second dive was at a sit called fantasy reef which was amazing and flourishing with life. Apparently it is a hundred times better at night so when I get some money I am going back at night. All in all it was by far the best diving I have done so far. Here are some of the pics..

An eel

Some cool corals

Lonely fish although there were plenty!

Sea urchins

A trumpet fish

Not sure what this is but it was very cool looking fish and followed me for a while....(possible xmas pressie for me could be a Hawaiian marine life book?? Cheers)

More cool urchins kinda like Kina but 5 times the size

More fish, or fush as I apparently say..

And of course, the highlight of the day were the sharks! In the wreck there were two white pointer reef sharks having a nap. We disturbed their slumber sadly but it was cool for us cause they started to swim around. They were both about 6-7 feet and so beautiful! Such peaceful creatures. There was a baby somewhere too but I never saw it.. Matt took a cool video of them too but I don't have it so here is the link to it on his facebook. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=439081495697&ref=mf If you're not able to watch then its on my facebook too..

So that was my cool diving experience! 

Another successful weekend spent feeling like I am on holiday in heaven, now it is time to get back to reality in heaven. Hard life. 

The good karma

I am having a spell of amazing karma.
I think this is how it came about...
The other day, this little Indian man was passing out little books about yoga to passers by. I, of course, made the mistake of making eye contact then getting hustled (it just took me about 5 minutes to spell hustle as I was trying to spell it hussel) into accepting the book and making a donation. He sweet talked me a little and told me I was pretty and was about to get some really good karma. I think he may have been right (about the karma I mean).. The book ended up being pretty cool, some amazing illustrations and a lot of Indian names I couldn't pronounce.

Good karma number one:
Last week I approach one of my lecturers to see if he knew of anyone I could get in touch with about possible research internships in the marine department. I now have a two month internship (October and November only because he believes December should be spent at the beach and having fun) with him, or Paul as he is called, in his research laboratory on campus. It is a really interesting project and he will be a great supervisor. The link below is about the toxin that we are extracting from reef fish, which is primarily what his research is based on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciguatera

Good karma number two:
Paul informed me the other day that this internship will in fact be paid. Total bonus! But I'm guessing it will be around 6 bucks an hour.. But hey, thats an extra 48 dollars that I didn't have before so I'm not complaining. Now I can afford to eat for the next two months. Life in Hawai'i is very pricey.

Good karma number three:
Paul also works with this woman Barbara in a more science communication area. She was looking for an undergraduate student to work part time. After a recommendation by Paul, an interview with Barbara, and then an interview with Barbara's boss, I managed to score that job! I will be working on this project which Barbara says will start off pretty tedious but will lead to greater things. I will be entering data and carrying out  research for an online aquaculture network. Everything I do will be available on the website immediately. It is also an iPhone application so I will be updating that too. Pretty cool huh! Barbara is crazy, she is a music professor with crazy frizzy hair and these awesome reading glasses that click together on the nose part. Reminds me of Professor Trelawny...

But she said that the job will have its perks and some days I will do boring stuff, the next I may be out helping film things for them, and she'd also like to use me in front of the camera or as a voice over for online lectures and things. Sounds like a great experience for me!

Lets hope the good karma keeps on coming!



I had dinner with Marion the other night.
She gets cooler every time I see her.
We attempted to make chicken enchiladas and were sort of successful. Didn't look so good but tasted amazing! Her son Kaniela gets home in a week or two so I am excited to meet him (he's the one who just finished uni at Otago). I chatted (chatted is my new funny word because when Tove from Sweden says it she say "shatted" cause they pronounce their ch as sh hahahah gets me everytime. Though she thinks I am hassling (hassling also took me 12 tries to spell it right) her I am actually laughing lovingly at her cuteness) to him on the phone last time I was with Marion and he and I already found out we know a few of the same people. He even knows some Kerikeri kids! CRAZY! So that will be fun.

I am trying to be really good so this karma thing sticks around..here's to hoping!