Sunday 23 January Deluge

Before the deluge

The floods are coming! It rained all through the night and into the morning and if you add to that a high spring tide you get the highest water level Auckland has seen in 5 years. We sat in our Ark and rose with it. There were extra lines to the dock to keep us in position through gusts up to 40 knots. It's an Nina year with warmer seas and strange weather. Around us the tide pushed the floating pontoons above their highest mark and broke fittings and on the radio we heard downtown was under water.

The rain stopped midday and I was able to go out without raincoat to meet a school pal, Elaine, who I haven't seen since we were 18. Neither of us can have changed that mush as it was instant recognition. We had a very pleasant afternoon chatting and remembering our old classmates.

The area overlooking Viaduct marina is foodie heaven – a plethora of restaurants of different styles. Time to go try to local cuisine with Cindy and Glen from Mystery Ship. Excellent modern food well presented but the company was even better.