Back to School

So a Monday in March came and I went back to University, with lots of hours of class and labs. Fortunately
it's not all work and no play - the five flatties (amongst others) have managed to escape a fair bit at the weekends for less boring activities. I also have started rock-climbing through Uni every Wednesday night. Bouldering in the south island inspired me to take up the sport in earnest.
     The first weekend brought us to the Te Atatu peninsula where we took part in a mud run (more of a swim for most) that I did surprisingly well in despite my lack of penchant for balance on normal flat ground. Lots of muddy fun and then blasted with by a fire engine to wash it off. A week later Ella, Danni and I headed out the Matakana Animal Sanctuary with the Auckland University Animal Rights Group and I got to climb trees! Oh and we survived Cyclone Pam.

Muddy people and animal people

In my last few weeks I've injured my arm climbing, sneaked into a surprisingly beautiful hydroelectric dam and gotten very muddy in some glow worm caves close to Ella's awesome grandmother's house. Actually this brings us to the story of Dr Seuss. Driving back from a lovely meal at the local pizzeria with Ella's Aunt and Nana, Danni spotted a pair of eyes on the road, which turned out to belong to the cutest little black kitten. Ella was adamant that he shouldn't be left there and so we (I stood around helplessly for most of this) rooted for him through the bushes and managed to snag the abandoned animal. The search for his buddy was unfortunately unsuccessful, but we got the cat in a hat (hence the name) back to Auckland on the bus.  Unable to take a sixth member of our family in our tiny flat with two allergic humans we have had to adopt him out. I'm sure he's doing better though.

A Cat in a Hat and a Muddy Scott

My five week study period is now over. Time for two weeks of adventures!