home again

quick recap of my last few days:

set off for wellington having checked the weather forecast which assures us we’ll be back in auckland before the big storm sets in

good flight, nice fluffy clouds.

good team meeting.  i’m provided with two sorts of banana as an alternative to team cake

lunch involves a trip to the bowling alley.  i don’t do very well as bowling makes my insides hurt.  still good fun though

afternoon of team day goes well

as my colleague Gavin and I drive to the airport the storm hits and things look dangerous

and as we walk in to the airport all flights suddenly become cancelled.  we phone our office admin lady straight away to be ahead of the queue for hotel rooms, but the company that books our accommodation loses our order, so we end up booking an hour later when all the rooms are gone.

so gavin and i get a cold apartment for two.  i sit next to gavin at work and we get on great so that wasn’t a problem.  we find a pub called ‘the pub’ for some pub grub for dinner

as we walk back to the apartment the storm is blowing carrier bags around the place.  and the noise of wind and rain all night is amazing.

later we hear it was the equivalent of a Hurricane force 1 and there’s lots of damage in wellington.

we walked in to the office on friday via the waterfront.  many of the benches had been blown over – some had even taken the bricks they were attached to with them!

and a big ferry had broken lose and was bobbing about in the harbour

the gales were still blowing and were forecast to blow all afternoon so i decided to book my flight for saturday to be safe rather than spending the day at the airport again

i used the day in wellington as an excuse to catch up with colleagues down there.

this is the beehive, nz’s parliament building

friday evening it was still really windy, but the airport was open so i could have got home.  but i was checked in to my hotel and had my flight booked for saturday afternoon so i stuck to the original plan

my hotel was much warmer and nicer on friday night. i watched home and away and neighbours and friends then went out for dinner, but was back for an early night

 

then today i woke up and watched knight rider on the telly before heading over to Te Papa for the Andy Warhol exhibition

i got some provisions from the supermarket on the way and enjoyed reading the customer adverts

i spent nearly 4 hours in the museum in the end

i had planned to wander round the streets and even walk to the airport but the wind and rain wouldn’t let up.  although the wind wasn’t nearly as strong as thursday/friday it did make outside feel very cold

i did go for a quick wander round the streets though

before catching the bus to the airport

and once the plane was above the rain the flight was smooth and the clouds were lit by the full moon.

on the way home i drove by the trampoline place to pick up kezia’s jumper which she left last week, and it’s great to be back home again with the family.

jane will update on her day separately