Piha and deep thoughts from Auckland

Kayla left for Australia early this morning and it was Ryan's last day so we had to make the most of it. We rented a car and drove to a beach about 45 minutes west of Auckland called Piha. As expected, the scenery was beautiful but slightly different because it had black sand beaches. I had never been to a black sand beach but I quickly learned that black sand gets VERY hot. Also, this beach didn't have the fun little waves that other beaches have. Instead, it had big waves that would crush an average person. It's considered one of the less safe beaches in the area and swimmers are only given an area about 50 yards wide to swim in and it's watched closely by lifeguards. There's even a show on New Zealand TV about the lifeguards called Piha Rescue. I don't surf (surprised?) but there's some great surfing there and they were even having a surfing competition today. Here are some pics....

A good view of our surroundings. Lots of big rocks around this beach.

Another view. This time off to our left.

Ryan tried a little surfing. He's braver than me.

Black sand from volcanoes. This stuff will burn your feet off.

There was a fine mist coming off the ocean on the beach next to us

And what's a good New Zealand beach without wild penguins? Unfortunately we didn't see any.

So that was today's trip. Tomorrow it's off to Rotorua and the Raglan for surfing lessons. Since it's our last full day in Auckland, I thought I'd make a list of little oddities that I've noticed since we've been here:
1. Jean shorts A.K.A. "jorts" are in style here. I mean they are everywhere. I guess it's  that Euro fashion stuff.
2. When you cross the street , you don't have to just walk in 1 direction, you can walk in any direction, including diagonally across the intersection. I tried to get a good picture but this is the best I could do

I don't think you can get away with walking diagonally at a crosswalk in the U.S.

3. The word yes is pronounced "yeees" with a strong emphasis on the E. And the letter Z is pronounced "zed". I'm not a big fan of either.
4. People are allowed in operating rooms without masks. The surgeons still have to wear them but nurses and other staff (including anesthesiologists) don't. Doesn't seem too sterile but they didn't ask me.
5. The scrubs the doctors wear are basically the same thing nurses in the U.S. wear. Complete with pockets on the front of the shirts. They are awful.
6. French here is a lot like Spanish is in the US. A lot of people speak at least a little because a lot of the people from Pacific islands speak it and come to New Zealand.
7. While on pediatrics I learned that all white kids cry ALL THE TIME and the kids from pacific islands (Tahiti, Guam, etc.) don't. This includes all kids from newborns to 12 year olds. I have no idea why but it just seems to be the way things work.
8. Personal care items (soap, shampoo, etc) is way more expensive here. I'm pretty sure there are some people that skip on the personal hygiene a little bit because of this. Sunscreen is also really expensive. The same bottle you can get at home for $8 will cost about $20-25 here.You'd think a place with no O-zone and a lot of skin cancer would do something about that.
9. People take coffee breaks like it's their job. This place runs on caffeine.
10. Cigarette warnings aren't nearly as boring as they are in the US. Here's an example

11. They call Bandaids "plasters". I don't even know how that came about.
12. They charge extra for ketchup and call it tomato sauce. Seriously annoying.

That's all I could think of right now but it's just some things that were interesting for me. I'll let you know how the surfing goes. Wish us luck!