Waiting............

Well, what an interesting day!  Reports of three earthquakes all over 7.0 magnitude which was alarming in itself, but the third of them was reported at an 8.0.  Occurring at almost 1000kms offshore in the the Kermadec Islands, there was plenty of water that had the potential to shift as the shockwaves rippled out from the event.  Not surprisingly, we began to hear advisories to "STAY OFF THE WATER AND STAY OFF THE BEACHES".  The advisory made it clear that most of the east coast of the North Island was potentially  at risk of inundation, dangerous waves and dangerous currents and people in those areas should move to higher ground or move inland and remain there until advised otherwise.  As I headed south my mind was figuring what I would do.  Just to be sure there's no confusion here, we were told that it could take about 90 minutes for any surge to reach our coastline so whilst there was no urgency as such, any advisory from civil Defence is not to be taken lightly.  I drove to Thames where I did a little shopping to while the time away whilst we waited to see what happened.  Very pleased to say that by mid afternoon the threat had passed and the restrictions were cautiously lifted.

Before this morning's events I had planned on heading to Ray's Rest on the other side of the Firth of Thames, a wonderful birders paradise full of all sorts or waders and migratory birds.  Then in the middle of the day I thought I'd be heading south but in actual fact, I AM now at Ray's Rest, and a beautiful and calm rest it is!  Hoping to see a few more birds tomorrow on a calm and very normal rising tide.  The other great local news which was almost sidelined by the tsunami alert events today was that Auckland will be dropping to Level 2 and the rest of the country to Level 1 effective from 6.00am Sunday.  Yay!