Weather bomb

Writing this as we are in the middle of a tropical storm. Pressure is going down to 959kPa (?).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523616&pnum=0 for all the details.

The wind and rain started at 3am and there was surface flooding by dawn. Rain has been steady since and the wind has been howling. Fortunately for us it has been an Easterly so far, and we are protected by our hill from the brunt of the storm. If my understanding of lows is correct, the direction will swing around to the West as the low goes over and that is when we will feel it. So we are staying close and all feeling a bit nervous. The low pressure is making some of us feel a little light headed. So a day of staying in cleaning up and having a nice warm fire.

Back to the pictures when we went to Auckland a couple of weeks ago now. We travelled down on Friday and had the obligatory toilet stop in Kawakawa and then the UK shop in Orewa. We stayed at the Mount Albert Motor Lodge where we got 2 rooms with a decent kitchen, 5 beds a heater and Sky TV for $140 a night. It was off a main road and a lot noisier than what we are used to, but it was also handy for the places we wanted to visit.

We started off with an Indian takeaway on Friday night. Yummmmm!! I can still taste the lamb pasanda now, and Stuart has developed a taste for Mango Lassi. Everyone had some and even Patrick liked the tandoori chicken. It was from a place called Little India, that was almost empty at 6pm on a Friday night. Apparently all the eating places are having a hard time as people tighten their belts against the recession.

On Saturday we went down in the rain to MOTAT, the Museum of Transport and Technology. This was a favourite with the boys, especially Stuart. Lots of hands-on things to do including a big science hall. We took a tram over to MOTAT 2 and saw all the planes.

I took the chaps over to a wave pool in the afternoon where Eric and Paddy went down the water slide about 100 times. Stuart was obsessed with a set of buckets that are hinged and slowly fill up with water before tipping it on your head. We went to the poshest 4 Square I have ever been in on the way back. It had hand made pasta selling at $15 a packet.

In the evening we watched England getting smashed by the All Blacks, or was it South Africa? I can't remember, it was some rugby game that involved much shoving and pushing and dangerous looking tackles.

On Sunday Chantelle took Patrick and Stuart to church, while Eric and I went up One Tree Hill. This is the famous land mark immortalised by U2 and which once had one tree standing at its peak. The tree was cut down as a protest against something, so now there is a fanatstic view over the whole Auckland area and a large obelisk. It was funny seeing the sheer number of people toiling towards the summit, some running, some panting, some looking rather overdressed with hiking boots and poles (going up a tarmac road), others taking the easy way by driving.

On Sunday arvo we went to Auckland domain to the War Memorial museum. This was a very imposing building that Stuart is "holding" between his hands. It had enough material for several visits, so we split up and Eric went to see the war exhibits on the top floor. The rest of us checked out the Natural history and then we all got varying degrees of lost. There was a large Maori and pacific section on the ground floor that I did not have time to see.

We went over the grass to a huge glass house holding tropical plants. Very well tended and tidy and free.

We went home on Monday stopping off at the inspirational Koanga Gardens on the way. It was good to get away from small-town Kaitaia, but with all the people and cars and pollution and tiny gardens in Auckland, I know I would rather live where I do than there. The boys agreed, not sure about Chantelle...

We all had another week off school which was obviously good. Even Chantelle got a week off. The weather was not too hot, so we dodged showers and had little trips out. Eric went to stay with his friend and we went for a bit of tree felling and shooting at Ruth and Stephan's farm.

That'll do for now.
This was apparently our 366'th post. So we have posted the equivalent of a leap year daily!