The reality of climate change in Aotearoa — A storm every eight days: weather claims spike 256%:
New data released today … reveals a record 46 storms over the past 12 months …
“This reflects an astounding 256% increase in storm-related [insurance] claims …
“Simply put, our data indicates that storms are arriving more often and with greater intensity.
“Over a 15-year timeline, a storm typically affected parts of the country once every 19 days. In the last 12 months, that frequency has more than doubled to once every eight days, making storms a near‑weekly occurrence.
By 0730 I was home from the gym and ready for breakfast. Today's session — I did 3 sets of each: 2 sets of 10 and one of 12 reps.
- lat pulldown: 27.3 Kg
- leg extension: 27.3 Kg
- chest press: 20.5 Kg
- hip adduction: 34.1 Kg
- hip abduction: 40.9 Kg
- standing calf raise: 20.5 Kg
- dead hang: 2x 30 seconds
These clouds the other evening looked pretty good.
This morning with glorious sun and blue skies I biked to the beach for a walk. The sea itself was calm, with only a single wave breaking, but there was quite a swell. 4 or 5 swells would come through and break normally, then the sixth would break loudly and the seventh would CRASH onto shore.
Not a bad read. I quite enjoyed it. The Channel Islands Bake-Off Murder (The Gull Bay Mysteries Book 2) by Ashley Cain. 📚
April is thrilled when she’s invited to judge a high-profile TV bake-off over the May Day holiday weekend. It’s the perfect chance to put the Sea Breeze Café on the map.
Good news for the wider local area — Breeding season successes - Local Matters: 🐦
It has been another busy summer, with breeding season now complete for some of our most endangered birds. As always, it’s been a rollercoaster, but the final results are encouragingly positive, with tara iti (fairy tern), tūturiwhatu (dotterel) and matuku-hūrepo (Australasian bittern) all enjoying successful breeding seasons.
To top it off, we’ve also recently confirmed the presence of critically endangered pekapeka-tou-roa (long-tailed bats) in the Mangawhai and Te Ārai area.
Our overnight trip to Russell was a delight. I gather at Christmas the place is heaving with (international) tourists but it was fairly quiet mid-April.
From the pier in Russell, looking back at the township, with its fringe of pōhutukawa.
What an incredible part of the world the Bay of Islands is. Photos from Flagstaff Hill.
The bay at Russell was very peaceful in the morning.
After a short stroll we ended up at Hell Hole cafe for coffee and tea. I really liked the lamp shades.
Russell was originally called Kororareka or Hell Hole.
From Kerikeri we drove just past Paihia to the car ferry for a quick 10 minute trip to Russell. Our hotel is right on the waterfront behind pōhutukawa trees planted almost a century ago.
Today we visited the Packhouse Market in Kerikeri. The photo shows only a few of the outdoor stalls. There were many more inside.
It had an excellent range of foods, craft goods, clothing, jewellery, arts and other items. There was even live music.
We also had very good eggs on toast.
The 'rule' with electric cars is to charge only to 80% most of the time. When preparing for a longer trip though we charge to 100%.
It's always good to see that might allow us to travel 455 Km before recharging. 🚗
Tonight I cooked 5 Ingredient Sticky Stove Top Balsamic Chicken Drumsticks and it was both easy and delicious.
Given that I've been known to miss out important ingredients or key steps in recipes, I was delighted to read of this professional cook:
I remember the first time I made this recipe, I took a bite and thought “Ew, this is terrible”. … Either all those people have terrible taste in food….or….I stuffed up.
Yep, you guessed it. I stuffed up a 5 ingredient recipe. FIVE INGREDIENTS and I managed to accidentally leave out the most important one – soy sauce.
DUH!
A space based adventure story with lots of running around, shooting things, narrow escapes and the like. I quite enjoyed it. Rufus Quince: Bounty Hunter - Dreams of a Fool by Michael D. Britton. 📚
Rufus Quince is a retired bounty hunter trying to build a home in the outskirts of Tranquility, right near the edge of the bio-dome where there’s still a decent view of the Earth.
But … a group of ruthless speculators led by a phantom from Quince’s past try to force him off his land to steal what lies beneath.
We met a friend today at the Quarry Arts Centre in Whangārei where there’s a pleasant waterfall. After viewing a small pottery exhibition there we went to Quarry Gardens for lunch.
Great news for local bird lovers — New Zealand's rarest endemic bird - fairy tern - has boost in numbers | RNZ News 🐦:
New Zealand's rarest endemic bird - the black-headed tara iti/fairy tern - has had a boost in numbers, according to the Department of Conservation.
The department (DOC) said a census at the end of March showed the population of the small coastal bird had increased about 15 percent.
It said compared to 1983 when there were only three to four breeding pairs - now, there were nearly 50 birds more than one-year-old in the wild and 11 breeding pairs.
Right next door to the Ngawha Hot Springs is the Ngāwhā Power Station:
geothermal fluids are passed through a heat exchanger where energy (heat) is transferred to a working fluid (pentane). The pentane then boils … which drives the turbines, turning the generator.
After the vapour has passed through the turbines, it is condensed back to a liquid and returned to the heat exchanger … The pentane is not consumed as a fuel, but is simply used as a working medium …
Having given up much of their energy, the geothermal fluids are returned to the deep geothermal reservoir
Pretty much on a whim today we drove to Kaikohe — about 1 hour 45 minutes each way — where we went a very short distance down the road to the rustic Ngawha Springs for a session in the hot pools.
We had a disappointing lunch at Cafe Malaahi in Kaikohe.
All in all though, an excellent outing.
This series! This was a book I didn't want to read because then it would have been read and I wouldn't still have it ahead of me. The more of this series I read the more I love these books. The Mystery of the China Horse (The Antique Shop Mysteries Book 6) by Judith Cutler. 📚
Lina has more than enough on her (antique) plate. With her beloved mentor Griff in hospital, she’s running their little village antique shop solo — juggling restoration jobs, bills, and chancers who think she’s an easy target.
when a well-spoken stranger offers her a rare china horse, Lina’s instincts start to prickle.
