autumn weekend in the AK

Sunday morning kite flying at North Head

The weekend was pretty cold, and while Wellington was getting nailed by huge winds and waves we barely noticed it up here - Sunday morning was even shorts weather. On Saturday afternoon we got all the gear out in the garage for a wax and tune. All ready to go now! Just need the Ruapehu season to open.

now THIS is crazy

The crazy weather continues... Yesterday there was a massive hail storm at Papamoa, near Tauranga. The streets were blanketed with hail and "snow". And as one does in this summery region renowned for beaches and sun, you take to the beach for a spot of.... snowboarding.

Here is the link to the NZ Herald reader photo's. Not sure how long the links stays live, so have taken a screen dump below (photo credit goes to Marc McAllister, whoever you are!)

And here is a movie from Youtube, so you can see it in action. (Click the link, haven't worked out how to embed it yet)

Crazy Weather

The past few days have been quite humid here in Auckland, temps in the late teens, some days the high got to the early 20's... Yesterday it rained solidly all day, it was grey, and the temperature barely broke 10 degrees C. No other way to describe it - it was cold! Last night the cloud broke revealing stars and a promise of the sunny day to come. I checked the volcano cam and the cloud had lifted at Ruapehu too. Ooooo, is that a dusting of fresh snow I see? :)

Today was shorts weather again. There was some swell on the East Coast, so we ventured as far north as Orewa where there were some very clean and tidy waves in the morning. Everyone was out: short and long boarders, SUP's (stand up paddlers), outriggers, surf club members out on the surf skis, and someone out the back 'skurfing'. Although it was crowded, everyone had smiles in the sun after the horrible day yesterday.

The best part for me was the view from the surf club as we had a beer afterwards. I think I even got sunburnt today, whoops. Oh well, it's an early start to the goggle tan...