The Queen Leaves

A short stop for her and what a day. The town was packed, the weather was great and Wellington sure showed off. She was glorious up close and simply towered above the wharf.

She made her way out, just after 6pm tonight.

Out of the harbour.

Past the airport.

On her way to the Cook Straight.

The Queen Arrives

The Queen Victoria is here. With a loud blast on the horn, at 7:30am this morning, she made her way through the early morning mist towards the berth by the Westpac Stadium. She is simply huge, like a skyscraper on its side and dwarfs the stadium. We're going to head in to town later to get a close up tour.



Just discovered there is a live web cam on-board, link here.

Seatoun Light Show

Wow, Seatoun is getting a light show extravaganza! Just sitting here watching a couple of planes racing the storm in and the lightning is incredible, just like fireworks. Wasn't quick enough on my camera but I got some video footage that I'll stick on YouTube shortly once I've edited out the oohs and ahhs and general mayhem that is my house. [Found an old Alphaville Track to stick over it to cover over the screams and cat meowing!]

There is a serious storm building out in the Cook Straight but it is remarkably calm outside, with not a breath of wind. Sky Weather gives a feel for what is close by but it does seem to have completely bypassed us so far.

Glad I'm not flying through this one. The little dot that comes right through the middle of the storm is probably the 8pm from Auckland. I took 15 minutes of footage and squezed it down to 3ish; lots of flashes in that time!

Not a Native Bird methinks

I was in Auckland on Saturday. I spoke to Mrs R on the phone back in Welly and she said there had been a strange bird on the deck. We often get the odd Tui enjoying the flax and sitting on the deck to have a sing but I'd never seen anything "strange". I asked what kind of strange and she said parrot strange. I said Kea? She said no, Cockatoo. Don't be silly says I. She said, I knew you wouldn't believe me so I took a photo for when you get back. Whatever, thought I.

Bugger. Looks like a Cockatoo to me. Anyone lost one in Khandallah? I'm pretty sure they're not native birds.....