Change of Vacation Plans

Monday morning we went for a walk along the beach walkway. At one point we heard a couple of Kookaburra’s and saw them fly through the trees, it was very cool.
The beach walk is very picturesque and you can tell a lot of locals use it everyday. This morning the surf is huge and no one is allowed in the water/ocean. Lifeguard warnings are placed at entry points to the beach.

After chatting with Dean and Judy we all decided we best get out of “Dodge”.
So, we spent most of the day rescheduling flights, hotels, car rental, etc? to be out of the area before the cyclone arrives. This is not an easy task, since you can never find an actual person to help you work through your travel problem. However we managed to do it and then meet Dean and Judy and go for dinner to a local Greek restaurant. They had as many problems adjusting their schedule even though they were going a totally different direction.
One other thing we noticed was that the Holiday Park on the Beach which is usually full was starting to empty out as a people were moving their trailers and campers to higher grounds.

Tuesday morning we woke up early and went for a walk along the beach walkway. It was beautiful and sunny with fairly calm winds and you would have never known a cyclone was approaching; except for the fact that the waves were enormous. Many locals were watching the surf as it was so impressive with size of the waves.

So, later on Tuesday we packed up and drove to Brisbane to drop off the rental car and spend the night at an airport hotel before the Cyclone hits. It was apparent that the locals were preparing for the worst. They were sandbagging, in smaller coastal communities there was panic buying of water and food supplies, local governments hand set up sandbagging pick up sites, etc etc. The hotel at the airport where we stayed had the staff preparing to stay overnight so they could assist as required.

So here it is Wednesday night. We had an early morning and a long day and we finally arrived in Auckland. We kept expecting our flight to be cancelled as it was delayed very early in the day, however we made it out 1/2 hr late and arrived safely in Auckland. It was interesting as we flew out the Captain announced a change in the normal flight route so we avoided the winds associated with the approaching cyclone.
Here is a photo of beautiful Auckland from our airport hotel.