Sunrises

This last week we have had amazing sunrises here at our house.  The sun come through the trees, and as soon as it is light all the beautiful Autumn trees start to glow.

Taranaki 6 Hour

The Taranaki 6 Hour adventure race was held recently.  I did it with 2 girls my age, and one of their brothers.  It was out near a rural town named Urenui.  The views were very green and hilly.

 We had a great support crew

I enjoyed helping with the navigation.  Our hair is muddy because one of the activities involved climbing under a net in the mud.  We then had to bury a team member in mud.  My shirt has never been fully blue since. :)

A team photo after the race

Great times :)

12 Year Old Outing

It is tradition in our family that Dad takes us kids on an outing when we turn 12.  We just got back from an awesome time in the Lake Waikaremoana area.  We mainly went fishing and hiking, and Dad taught me to fish.  Here are some of the pictures I took:

On Lake Whakamarino (a lake used for making hydroelectricity).  I was paddling around in a kayak, and Dad was using an inflatable boat.  

We went out on Lake Waikaremoana with a fishing guide.  

We went on a hike which led you through/around some really big caves and rocks.  The history of this area includes a massive earthquake, which crumbled part of a really big bluff.  This change in the landscape filled in an enormous gorge, which had been the main outlet from the lake.  This resulted in the lake level rising 600 feet, and submerging heaps of forest.  While we were out on the lake our guide showed us some parts of this 'petrified forest' which poke out of the lake.  

Lake Waikaremoana

Mokau Falls.  The road goes almost right over this waterfall.  It is a lot more full of water than usual because it had rained heaps recently.  

The road we drove in on.  After the heavy rain there were some parts of the road which were covered in little rocks which had fallen off the hill on the side of the road.  

This is where we camped one night.  We just slept in MAVY (our van), because you can take the seats out in the back.  

On our last day we went for a bike on a track leading us through some amazing native bush, and eventually to a big waterfall (this isn't the one at the end, this was just on the way).  

Part of the track

This is the one at the end

On our way home we stopped and went on a walk into the Whirinaki forest.  There were heaps of ferns, and native trees.  

  

So much green!

I love the outline of the fern against the sky.

These are some of the pics Dad took

Some of our views on the drive home... The mountain you can see in the distance is Mount Taranaki (the one we live by)

Other than all of the time we spent outside, we listened to almost all of  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at nighttime and on the drive home.  One night we ran MAVY out of batteries by listening to it for too long! :)

12th Birthday and starting NPGHS

Although my birthday was at the end of January, we had my family birthday party exactly 2 weeks late.  Mom made an awesome birthday cake with me riding my bike to school on it.  

 A Welcome to Young Women/Birthday gift

 Sage brought me shopping and was my 'fashion adviser' as I chose a new dress.  

Oak gave me a nice selection of: a running shirt, nutella, chocolate, and other lollies.  

Mom and Dad gave me this comfy t-shirt (It is literally the most comfortable t-shirt I have), as well as some books.  

 Last week I also started a new school- NPGHS.  It's an all-girls school with approximately 1250 girls all together, and it goes from year 9 - year 13.  Coming from Highlands Intermediate, I knew about half of the other year 9's already, but there are lots of new girls to meet.  Some highlights so far have been: starting to learn the double bass (through the school), having different teachers for each subject, playing background music for a 'meet the teacher' evening, and joining a ukulele group.

 Outside the main office.  That's our school emblem, which is very similar to NPBHS's

My tutor group room and my maths class are in the red brick building to the right.  It is known as 'B Block' because of the brick.  

Family Backpack

In the last week of the summer holidays we went on a family backpack in the Tongariro National Park area.  Most of the time we could see the mountain Ruapehu, but on our last day we got some good views of Ngauruhoe.  We saw so many cool waterfalls, and we walked across heaps and heaps of rivers, making it hopeless to try to stay dry.

Majestical Views

Crossing a typical river (I don't know where my backpack was at this particular moment)

A couple of the waterfalls were surrounded by cliffs, with waterfalls on all sides.  You can't tell from this picture but if you had 360 view you could see lots of other waterfalls.

We hiked along this river for a while, eventually stopping to get in.  One of the holes we swam in had a fun nature-made water slide (a rock) that you could slide down into the pool of water.  

We hiked into this waterfall.  (We ended up jumping in)

For the majority of our hike, the terrain was similar to this- heaps of rocks with bushes or shrubs.  On the first and last day, however, we were in bush/jungle.

Oak and I climbed behind this waterfall and so we could see the water fall falling in front of us, with waterfalls all around.

The soles of my shoes came almost completely off so Oak used string to tie them together

Looking out at Lake Surprise

  

A Half n' Half shot with Mom and a cool waterfall in the background