Wild Weather

June means short days, long dark nights and this year plenty of thunder and lightning. According to a meteorologist on TV it has been an 'exceptional' period of bad weather rather than a new pattern of weather due to climate change. ParkRun was cancelled on Saturday because the river flooded the track and by the end of the weekend Otaihanga Domain was full of water and a couple of tornadoes had blown through Waikanae. Alison had a cracked window and a tree blew down. I got off lightly with a worsening leak in the porch roof. 

The forecast didn't look so bad a week ago. It quickly changed to warnings of heavy swells, gale force wind and severe thunder and lightning storms.

Water on the Waikanae River track. 

Mid Winter 2018

Oops, found this in my drafts folder and I had forgotten to publish it. Better late than never. Some cheery things from mid-winter:

A few of the surprising number & variety of flowers in the garden

Decorating the Wellington Cable Car for the Rainbow Storytelling school holiday event.

The rainbow lights in the tunnels were gorgeous.

The Kapiti College sign on Sunday made me laugh.

Planets visible in the clear night sky from my house. True they look like bright stars with the naked eye, although Mars has an orange tinge. Skyview app helpfully identifies them all. From left (west) to right (east): Mercury (disappears first), Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars.

Great Weather for Ducks ... and Pukekos

It is finally light enough for me to cycle to and from work again. Although it's still winter I've had three enjoyable rides in the past week. Today it was damp as I rode along the track. There weren't many people about but the pukeko were out and about in force. I counted 30 pukeko around the expressway wetland area. Some pukeko are skittish but the odd one, like a little fellow today, just stroll across the path in front of my bike.