Flooding

 We were under another rain warning for Tuesday and they weren’t wrong. There was a lot of rain. Poor Nelson is braced for another lot of rain. This will be the 3rd storm in 4 weeks. They are trying to recover from 2 lots of flooding. I hope it isn’t as bad for them this time. Because we are on sand the water doesn't sit for too long. There were a few road closures around the Eastern Bay of Plenty with slips and trees across the roads. Both roads to Rotorua were blocked this morning. The road between Opotiki and Whakatane is still blocked by flooding at 4 pm in the afternoon. The sun is out now and tomorrow is supposed to be a bit better.

Now we are waiting for strong and unusual currents from the earthquake up in Russia. They are due here sometime after midnight.

The road out from the camping ground gets flooded after big rains and a high tide when the river comes across the road by the wharf.

The water was all over the road this morning and the playground was flooded.

Wood and other debris from the river on the bank.

I saw a weka when I was going shopping on Friday. It ran across the road in front of me. Eddie said he sees them quite often, but it's the first one I have seen here. I have added a photo so you know what they look  like.

A New Zealand Weka

Meryn, Eddie’s cousin,  came and stayed for the weekend in his motor home. We had a good catch up. He had his dinners with us and he enjoyed not having to do the cooking himself. I made pancakes for Sunday’s breakfast and he enjoyed them too.

BIrds

 Another lovely day, but a bit cool. We had a good frost last Saturday. Eddie was going into work to clean the truck, so he moved the ford into the sunshine to defrost it before he went.

It’s my last day in the office last Monday. It’s been quiet and no dramas, so I am pleased about that. Louise and the family had a lovely break.

Mike the groundsman had his 70th birthday last Saturday. He had a party in the afternoon. We had a nice meal mid afternoon, so we didn’t need tea that night. Eddie had a leftover sausage roll and I was going to eat a banana, but never got to it. I woke up in the early hours of Sunday morning feeling a bit hungry, but I managed to go back to sleep, so it obviously wasn't too bad. I did enjoy breakfast in the morning though.

There are a lot of birds here. Along with the herons there are black back gulls, red and black-billed gulls, terns, kingfisher, dotterals and shags. They are often seen sitting on poles along the riverbank or at the little wharf.

I think the terns that we have living here are caspian terns. I like their little black hats. I got this photo of the internet.

Office Girl

 I am working in the office this week while Louise and her family are away on the Gold Coast for a week. They are hoping for sunshine and some warm weather. Here is a photo of the view from the door of the office. 

It isn't very busy in the office, but I keep myself busy with genealogy and duolingo.

We were woken up at 10 15 on Sunday night with an almighty loud crash of thunder. Ten minutes later the rain absolutely poured down for about 10 minutes. I don’t know what happened after that as I went to sleep. It was fine in the morning after a showery start.

Eddie got stuck in a paddock on Monday afternoon. He was all set to be back at the yard by 4 45 after his last load. As he put up the deck of the truck to do his last tip off, he felt the left side dip and he thought this isn't going to be good. He didn't get home until about 6 30. He had to wait for someone to come and pull him out. Ironically he was only about a kilometre from home.

Lovely sunrise.

 More sunny days this week and the weekend wasn’t too bad either. It is going to be wet again tomorrow with another big storm coming in from Australia. I feel for the people of Nelson.

Louise was away at her Father’s place on Sunday for the night, so I was the office girl. Not that I did much as no one checked in. So I turned on the outside lights at night and turned them off in the morning. Such a hard job ha ha. Next week she is away and I will be in the office for a week, so there will be more work to do I am sure.

I went to Mt Maunganui on Saturday to catch up with the ladies I went to South America with. It’s hard to believe but it was just over 8 years ago now. We had a good day together. I am not very confident driving just now as I don’t do it a lot as I am always chauffeur driven. Saturday was a good drive and I quite enjoyed it in the end even though I was a bit nervous to start with. 

The sunrise was rather lovely this morning, but an indication of the rain that is coming.

Stormy Weather

 

I haven't done a lot this week to tell you about, so this isn't very long today.

Louise and I have been going for a walk most days along the river stop bank. It has a nice gravel path on the top of it now. We often see a heron and a kingfisher. I think they are the same ones as they are always in about the same place. 

The weather is very wet this evening. We have an orange weather warning in place until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, so we are expecting a long wet night. We also have a thunder storm warniing from 7 o'clock tonight.

I went for a walk this morning before the weather became too wet and took a few photos.

A black back gull sitting on a pole at the little wharf.

Looking to the river mouth towards Whale Island

A shag sitting  on another pole at the wharf.