17 March 2010

Only the hardy shall survive

Last Friday we had what is known as a 'southerly buster' hit Wellington at 4.30pm. I had been upstairs about half an hour before and noticed that the skies over near the airport were very black. But that in itself is not unusual for Wellington. I just thought it meant we were due for a bit of rain within the next couple of hours.

At 4.30pm I was sat on the couch on the computer when the sky went instantly dark and a fierce wind blew up out of nowhere. My first thought was to rescue the clothes on the line. By the time I stood up, walked to the door to get my jandals and opened the door to our back patio where the clothesline was, the wind was galeforce, and swirling so wildly that leaves were plastered all over the clothes.

The winds in the next ten minutes were as wild as any I've ever encountered in Wellington, and that's saying something given the number of southerly storms we've had, even in the past year. When we opened our front door and saw dirt from the front garden plastered all over the front door, walls and even up under the eaves (!), it was clear that we had experienced the edge of the tornado winds that ripped a roof off Samuel Marsden school just up the road in Karori.


There were some spectacular photos and video taken and posted on Stuff of the 'buster' as it arrived in Wellington. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3443374/Southerly-buster-hits-Wellington.

Apparently nature has deemed only the very hardy shall survive living in this beautiful yet unpredictable place. And I am sure there are still plenty more amazing things that nature has in store for us Welly dwellers in the future!

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