Saturday, September 24, 2016

We got up and headed to Muriwai Beach because we wanted to be there for low tide so we could go into the cave.  It was cloudy and rained off and on but every time we got out to hike it cleared up enough to do the hike and not get soaking wet.

We got out and looked at the Gannet Colony.  They are just coming back from Australia and have started building their nests.

Justin and Lana with Muriwai Beach behind them.  It was lightly raining and cloudy but that was not going to stop us from having a good time.

The Gannets are building their nests and the fishermen were out.  Because of the rain and the wind the waves were pretty good.  There were also a lot of White Fronted Turns.  They were nesting more on the slopes of the rocks.  We had seen some of them before when we have been out here but never this many.

There was a surfing competition going on.

You can see all the fishing poles.  We watched them bring a couple in.

We have loved coming to this area of the Waitakere and watching these Gannet's come, build their nests, lay their eggs, watch the babies hatch and then fly away for the winter.  We have never seen this many of these other birds before.

This pretty little yellow bird was so cute.

Even though it was lightly raining we hiked down to the beach and Reed, Justin and Lana went into the cave.  The tide was pretty low but they still had to get wet to enter the cave.  I don't like being wet or cold.

The waves kept coming in and going out.  They all got a bit wet.  You can see how far into the cave they are because you can see me in the opening in the distance.

Looking from the inside of the cave out into the open ocean.  It really is a pretty neat cave but you would not want to get caught inside when the tide comes in.

Lana did not want to get any wetter.  When the waves came into the cave they would crash off the cave walls and get you wet.  She came out to join me while we waited for Reed and Justin to be finished.

Looking back down to the cave opening from the parking lot.  We wish the weather would have been a little better but we had a great time anyway.  Justin and Lana were very good sports about going and seeing things even though it was cool and wet.

Justin and Lana in front of Karekare Falls.  Because of all the rain these last few days the waterfall was flowing much faster and the pool was very full.

We then went over to Kitekite Waterfall.  We had to use umbrellas because of the rain but the trail was still pretty good.  Again the falls was flowing a little faster because of all the rain.

The pool under the waterfall was fuller than usual and only Justin crossed the stream on this log to get a better view of the waterfall.  We just did not want to take the chance of falling in.

Lana, Nada and Reed waiting for Justin to come back across the stream.  We hiked out the same way we came in because if we went out the other way we would have to cross on that log and cross the river farther down.

Reed and I have loved coming here and showing these waterfalls to our family and friends.  They are nice little hikes and peaceful places to visit.

Selfie!!!  On the trail out the streams were running a little faster than when we have been here before and there were little waterfalls all along the path.

It started to rain harder and the wind was blowing pretty hard so we only got out and took a couple of pictures at Piha Beach.

There were quite a few surfers out at Piha Beach because the waves were good.  You can see the mist from the waves being blown around.  We headed back to the house and had a nice hot dinner and got warmed up.  We headed to Glen Innes to the Te Oro Center for a Cultural Fashion show.  Luisa Vaifale from our office was in charge of the show and we wanted to support her.  We also wanted Justin and Lana to experience some different cultural things.

This is Renee's daughter Arwen modeling a Maori design.  She did a great job and looked much older than she is.

These two girls are Loni and Theresa.  Loni is one of our YSA from the Saineha Ward and Theres is in our Auckland First YSA Ward.  They were both modeling Island wear.

A Samoan outfit.  They had a few new designers and a couple more familiar ones.  Luisa put this show together for one of her university classes.  She is studying to be in fashion design.  She put this show together, got the sponsors, the designers the performers and models.  She did a great job.

This is Sister Maru from our Saineha Ward.   They used models of all sizes, shapes and ages.

This is Buckwheat who MC'd the Fashion Show.  He is a Drag Queen and did a great job.

They had some dancers perform Cook Island dances.

This group performed a couple of times and they are Cook Islanders.

This is Theresa modeling, she is a returned missionary and is in our Auckland First YSA Ward.

After the individual models came out for each designer they had all of them come out together for one last look at the outfits.  Then while they were changing they would have another group perform

This group of young men performed some Samoan dances.

This young lady came out as the Taupo and performed.  We saw this many times in Samoa.

Buckwheat in a different outfit and different wig.

These two young ladies sang.  The girl playing the guitar is 17 and the one doing most of the singing is 15.  They did a great job.

They had a new local designer participate and they had a men's line.

This is Luisa at the end of the show thanking everyone.  She is a great young lady.  She served a mission in Australia and works in the Humanitarian Services department which is in the same office as Self-Reliance and Education.

As the last performance of the evening Buckwheat, the MC, came out dressed all in white and danced to some music.  Then they turned out all the lights and his outfit lit up.

This is Buckwheat with his dress and head dress all lit up.  He really was quite a performer.  It was a fun evening.  We were very glad we attended.  It was something Justin and Lana would not have seen anywhere else.

Loni and Nada at the end of the evening.  She is a darling girl and has stayed close to us.  She has graduated from University with a degree like Social Work but they call it something different.

We had a busy, great day and evening.  We are loving seeing all of our favorite places for a final time and showing them to Justin and Lana.  We have even been able to do some new things with them that we haven't done before.
  There is always so much to see and do.  Life is wonderful.

We hope you enjoyed seeing these beautiful places and enjoyed this interesting cultural evening.

Until next time, Love Elder and Sister Spencer (aka Reed and Nada)