I hope everyone (and your family and friends) is safe after Gabrielle swept through the country, and that the damage is minimal.
We weathered it really well, although I will admit that there were a few terrifying moments on Tuesday night when the whole house shook, and the amount of water flowing through our property was extreme. How the boys slept through it still amazes me, but at the same time, I was grateful they didnt know what was going on.
I am also now beginning to think all our mishaps last year actually worked in our favour, and made it possible for us to weather things better. While all our friends are safe, many have not been so lucky in regards to their property. Some are still without power; some have leaks in their roof and walls; one friend lost their barn; neighbours either side of us lost fences, and the place in front had a tree land on their house (no damage or injuries thankfully). There are also lots of slips and trees down all around.
When it was finally safe to travel yesterday, we ventured out to the yacht club where our fizz boat and sail boats are. The roads were cleared by then, but the carnage was quite surreal both on the roads and to people's properties. While all the boats in the compound were safe (including ours), out in front was a different story altogether. Three yachts were on the rocks. One had sunk, and one was washed up in front of the club. While the boys had seen pictures throughout, it perhaps made it more real to them.
In regards to the garden, we had minimal damage. Two lost dahlia seedlings and one tomato, and the leaves on some plants look a bit wind burned, but that's about it. I am somewhat relieved as the supermarkets are starting to run out of things as we were cut off for a while (I believe a very long alternative road is now accessible to some gehicles). And without power to many farms, and some tankers unable to get through, milk has had to be dumped.
The last 12 months in northland have certainly been challenging weatherwise. Our first tree went down a year ago on Monday. One can only hope that things will improve...although looking at the weather forecast, I am not sure it's going to happen just yet. But next time round, I will have one less thing to worry about. The drainlayers arrived this morning.
Pic...early yesterday evening, the skies cleared, and we had a beautiful sunset
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