Four days in Ohiwa.

Tuesday 2nd March

We packed up at a leisurely pace and drove through to Ohiwa and got set up before we had a late lunch.Then we put up the gazebo- which was probably better for sheltering from the showers rather than the sun. We've just finished a large tree planting session and were looking forward to getting away for a rest.

I cant work out why this bottle is so empty and its still daylight.

Wednesday 3rd March

The weather is reasonable so it's time for a swim, and the water is quite warm. I'm wallowing around, catching a few short waves. Then my life guard (alias Duncan) declares "Its starting to rain, I'm going up." I don't like swimming alone and there is no one else on the beach. On the way back I grab a few  flowers to do some sketching from.

I will fill these in with watercolours when I get home.

Later in the afternoon (ie after a nap) we go down to the estuary to do some fishing.

The tide was going out and the wind was blowing in so the water was quite disturbed, and despite reports of good catches of snapper here recently none of the people fishing today caught anything.

There is really heavy rain overnight, and we are relieved to find we have been able to locate and fill the seepage around the bathroom skylight.

Thursday 4th March. Headed into Opotiki to get supplies, had a bit of a drive round, checking out the Ocean Beach subdivision.

Went for a short walk on the beach - but really another lazy day.

The sea was quite rough and the weather not too pleasant, but fascinating as ever.

Friday 5th March.

I have made plans for today: walk, swim, visit to nearby macadamia orchard.

However.... at 2.27am things changed with a prolonged but regular rolling motion of a 7.1 earthquake. It even woke Duncan up. I checked my Geonet App. It seemed extremely deep so I thought there would be no risk of tsunami as the energy waves get refracted while the depth gets less towards shore. However I keep my phone on and watched the huge number of aftershocks as Duncan drifted off to sleep.

After breakfast the alert of my phone went concerning the earthquake in the Kermadecs. The tsunami warning now included Matata to Tolaga Bay, and evacuation was required. Todd and the staff were getting people to move and he suggested we go up the hill and there is a concrete driveway which leads to a new subdivision. We left very quickly and probably should have thought more about what we would need.

Fortunately one of the land owners came and unlocked the gate to the subdivision road.

Not a bad view to spend some time looking at. Thank goodness it was not raining.

 We drove up to the top of the subdivision and there were stunning views. Some of the cars remained at the bottom by the gate, so for a while our only company were two elderly sisters, and it soon became apparent that one was suffering from a bit of dementia. "I come from Taita, and we have bad earthquakes. But I've got a spot in the hall where I go and stand which they say is safe. But one time a cup fell off the shelf! but it didn't matter because I had another one in the cupboard". Gales of laughter. We laughed the first time too - not so much the third time. 

It wasn't long before Pete came along and asked us if we would like to come up for a cup of tea. Which was very welcome as we hadn't packed water. Maureen, the neighbour had bought over some muffins. We accepted because the realisation that we could be here a while had just sunk in.

Now you may be thinking that Pete has a house up here, but no, he lives in a converted truck body (with great skill) into a small unit. He was also using another truck body as storage.

As you can see, the front is all glass, so going to the portaloo was a tad embarrassing! He has to remove this when his proper house is built - but I said "Call it a Tsunami shelter, and maybe the council will see the benefits."  As the morning wore on more people drifted up the hill, and we all started to see possible unusual patterns on the estuary, but they were probably just the turn of tide.

Chrissie is in the green polo top and matching shorts sitting on the steps.

Duncan got talking to a Bulgarian man who was a cognitive psychologist who was living in Te Kauwhata with his wife who was a GP. They had  lived in Britain for 20 years, but were being messed around for Residency through the COVID lockdown. Very hard as they can't buy a house - just watch as prices go up.

"I live in Taita and we have alot of earthquakes there. I don't want to get caught in my nightie, so I wore the same clothes for three days and never got changed." Towards the end of the morning Chrissie was starting to get very woosie because she had forgotten to take  her medication, so we made a small convoy back. By now the first Tsumani warning had been called off and the second earthquake in the Kermadecs had occurred, but we were told that the coastal surges were due in about 40 minutes. He went down just to close up the caravan which we had failed to do the first time. Quick turnaround, then back up the hill where Pete invited in to watch the 12.00 news via his computer. We got Chrissie settled in an armchair.

Pete's wife was still in Auckland due to COVID lockdown changing her plans, but by 1pm Pete produced a loaf of wholemeal bread from the breadmaker and invited us to share lunch with him. He was just going down to his no dig garden to get the tomatoes and lettuce when the all clear came through. We thanked him profusely. There was so much about Pete we don't know, and very likely we will never see him again  - but a frightening experience made very enjoyable.

Back at the camp we felt quite exhausted for some reason, so I caught up on a bit of sleep that I had missed. It was a beautiful day, but the water was breaking very messily, and with a lot of sand stirred up so I didn't venture in.

Next morning it was  time to pack up and move on to Ohope - briefly glimpsing Chrissie in the same clothes as we pulled out.