We had to get up a six o’clock to get to the Mount in time. I was so tired, ‘cos I usually get up at about eight and I was VERY!! groggy! Any way we ended up being late anyway because mum took ages getting ready. Finally we started off for our two hour drive. We went over the Lake Karapiro Dam and  after about ten minutes dad came round a bend and right in front of our eyes a car had flipped over and had smashed into the bank at the side of the road. The really scary thing is that there were people trapped inside and we think one of them might have died because there was an arm hanging out. I felt so sickand horrible. 

However all this was forgotten as we went up into the Kaimais and I felt sick. Luckily I wasn’t sick and we continued. We arrived at the Mount and we went to a resturant and got a bite to eat. I got a grilled Panini and a Powerade. Soon after this we went for a calm relaxed walk up the Mount… NOT! it was a back breaking, calf muscel burning experience! It was worth it though. when you got to the top you could see the whole of Mount Maunganui. It was Fantastic!

When got back down the mountain we went and got a gelato ice cream. My flavour was Kinder Surprise, you know the chocolate egg? After this we all walked down to the heated salt water pools where I tried to teach myself how to dive, which I didn’t succeed in!

At the end of a long hard day we all packed up and headed off home. There was no sign of the accident but you could tell where it had crashed. I will keep an eye out for any news about it and update this blog next week.

 A Family friend Alan Low, an Avalon resident, told us that he arrived just after the teenager was bitten on the calf muscle, hip and ankle. Avalon life saver Nathan Welling announced that surfing club members looked after the boy on the shore after his dad hauled him from the water. The public at Avalon were stopped from going in the water after the attack. The shore was packed with curious onlookers and nippers doing exercises on the sand. Mr welling said it was very rare to see a shark in this area and that he had seen very few.

The father said his 15-year-old son had twice seen a shark off the southern point at Avalon earlier this summer. he said he had noticed warmer temperatures and more fish in the water, which could be attracting sharks. This is the third serious shark attack this summer.

I  think we all need to be very careful about what we are doing in the ocean as it is a very dangerous place.

After breakfast Dad and I went down to our local pet shop, where we went to buy a lamp for it to bask on. However we got there just to realise that we hadn’t got measurements of the tank. So we had to go back home and measure the tank. After this we went back to the pet shop and bought a lamp one hundred and fourty dollars! Dad also wanted to check out the petshop in Hamilton. When we got there we found that everything was so expensive! so we left that shop and drove all the way home (which took half an hour!) We got home to set up the tank and after this we lounged around for a bit and left for the petshop about an hour later. Mum had just arrived at the petshop as it was about to close but the owners let us get the turtle anyway. I chose a very small and cute turtle and I named him Arnold!

The mans name was Abdulrahman Ikhtiari and in my opinion did not deserve to be killed. However the police might have a clue who killed the man. Detective Senior Sergant Mike Johnson said that they were after two men in their mid twenties had been seen fleeing from the scene.

The Police believe the man died of a stab wound. One big one and a few minor ones. The really sad thing is that he left a wife and five young children who are all too shocked to speak to the public.

I think whoever did this are very thoughtless people to have done this to some friends and family. However my advice to them is don’t give up and somehow you will get through all this and gradually go back to life. Finally I think that everyone should be careful about who you hang around with and what you do. You only have one life and it is too short to waste!

A 19 year old man has died after falling from his skateboard on the outskirts of Whangarei. Apparently the teenager was skating down a steep hill in Maunu, 5 kilometres south of the city centre on Saturday, as he was skating down the hill he lost control and crashed. The teenager was taken to the Whangarei Hospital. When he got there he had really bad head injuries and died over night. A family member, believed to have been the boy’s father, is thought to have seen the crash. I think this is really sad, but somehow I get the feeling he wasn’t wearing a helmet. Now I know he nineteen and people probably think that maybe people that age don’t need them. However a few weeks ago I was biking home from school and I tried to pass someone and their bag hit my handlebars and I flipped over the bike and skidded face first onto the concrete. It really hurt and now I have marks on my face, but at least my head didn’t get damaged because I was wearing a helmet. So they really do work.

At least twelve killed and nine injured in the mining explosions in Romania on Saturday. The explosion occurred in a nineteenth century mine in Petrila, which happens to be a small town, Romania’s remote mining area Jiu Valley. Four more people were then killed trying to get to the victims. How sad is that! Rescue helicopters were sent for and rescued the injured and several treated for serious burns while the bodies still remain in the cave.

Apparently it has been the worse accident in Romania’s outdated mining industry since the 1989 fall of communisim which killed fourteen people in 2001.