Many of you will have heard or read in he news about the State of Emergency that was declared in Auckland overnight, Friday 27th January, with the heavy and relentless downpours and strong winds. You will be pleased to hear that we fared very well, although the same cannot be said for other campers. Most left or did not come on Thursday and Friday before the rain started, we had had plenty of warning form the weather office so we were somewhat prepared.
However, we were not prepared for the amount of rain we had, it just kept on coming. Most campers abandoned wet tents and went home but there were the odd few who stayed on.
Roy and I spent most of Friday keeping everyone updated with reports, and helping people when they needed assistance. Of course that meant getting very, very wet, raincoats just didn’t cut it, we got soaked through our coats and ended up changing clothes three times before we figured we should just put the wet clothes back on to go outside.
This is the view to the back of our site, the top picture is the creek overflowing it’s banks and rising quickly, it got much higher than this, but this morning it looked like to bottom picture. At the base of the bottom picture you can see a couple of stakes, the first one nearest the fence line is where the water came up to, the second stake was our ‘let’s watch carefully’ indicator, and then there was a third stake closer to the van which was the ‘let’s get out of here quick’ sign.
Water started pooling quickly, and people decided to either move or leave.
Lakeside view. The tents you can see in the background were abandoned and left to fill with water.There’s a road under there somewhere!!
I couldn’t take too many photos as my hands and phone became too wet, besides we were busy helping people.
We helped a lady in her pop top caravan out of the raging torrent that was the creek which couldn’t be contained in the underground culvert with the water heading overland instead. We pushed her wee caravan to safety out of the water which I must say was a rather nerve wracking affair as the water was knee deep and a very strong current, fortunately a strapping young man came to assist. Another caravan owner returned to find their caravan surrounded by a strong torrent of water, they got to move it just in time before any damage was done. By this time it was dusk and the rain had finally stopped. Our water level markers were telling us the water levels were dropping, so we could comfortably go to sleep.
This was the creek after it had become a torrent overland, at this stage it was the next morning when I took the picture and it had receded by at least 50%. These hardy campers stayed on the higher ground. We moved our vehicle out ready for a quick getaway if we needed to.The creek which is usually nothing more than a trickle, blew out a new exit to cope with the copious amount of water.
Saturday dawned with heavy rain falling again but by mid morning it had stopped, the clouds made way for blue skies and the sun shone. Campers returned to collect their sodden tents, the other campers slowly packed up allowing tents to dry in the lovely sunshine. By late afternoon we were all alone in camp.
We feel very fortunate that we were safe during the rain event, our hearts go out to all those people who have been flooded, lost their homes, cars and possessions and some people have lost their lives. Stay safe everyone, take heed of the forecasts and warnings with none of that “she’ll be right” attitude.
The forecast isn’t looking great for the next few days but we have our fingers crossed it will all be over mid week and the sun will shine for our UK family to arrive next weekend. Stay safe everyone.
I started writing this entry a couple of weeks before Christmas, yes, I’m a little behind in writing blog posts but I am attempting to catch up.
We got the shower tent up ready for use, that in itself was a little bit of an adventure as it’s one of those pop up versions which are great when you want to put it up but it’s an exercise in itself to wrangle it back into its original container. But where did we put the shower attachments? ie. the pump, the shower hose and the rest of the bits. We both put our thinking caps on (obviously they are ill fitting!) and came to the conclusion that we must have left them in Antony’s garage at the end of last summer. Roy was wanting to take a trip down to Antony’s (over one and half hours drive away) to pick up some paperwork, so off he trotted in search of missing items. I got a phone call from Roy later in the day, no, no shower attachments in the garage, where could they be? We had already searched the van, and I was about to head out to go through the lockers again when I had a brainwave….if we left the shower tent and other bits and pieces at the Ranger Station, then surely we also left the rest of what we need? A quick phone call to the Ranger and yes, he thinks it may be in the other storage shed. Sure enough, that is exactly where it was!
Hmmm, now I remember, we couldn’t get the shower tent packed away properly at the end of last season so we ended up shoving it in the bag as best we could. To open the bag I carefully unzipped it and leapt out of the way as it took on a life of its own and sprang out of the bag like some sort of alien.That’s what it should look like!
We’ve had more rain than we know what to do with so that meant a few jobs inside had to be done, including the daily vacuuming. But what about giving the internals of the vacuum a good clean?
Another wet day activity, take the Dyson vacuum to pieces and give it a good clean. it’s surprising how much dirt and dust becomes clogged in the workings!
All this rain has meant that the campground is very very boggy in places, in fact a large chunk of the camping area has been roped off for camping, with a number of vehicles becoming stuck in some areas.
People come and then cannot go, they get stuck.
So we rope off more wet and boggy areas in the hope that the sun will come out soon, but we also need the very long grass to be cut so that the ground can dry out. Update: tw o days before Christmas the specialist mower managed to get in and cut the long grass, the mower man tells us it will take a good couple of weeks for all the ground to dry out and then they will have to cut it again (he said he had to do a long cut so that he didn’t get stuck!) and then after that they will roll the ground and fill in holes where the ground is damaged in places where vehicles became stuck. Update part two: of course since new year we had even more rain so the ground is still saturated in places with further vehicles being stuck and the mowers have not as yet returned so half of the campground is still unusable.
The only way out is by tow truck.
The dance of the mowers in the dry part of the campThe small mower mowed around the back of our van
A few days later Bruce came and mowed all around the van so we were looking spick and span for the holiday season.
Freshly mown lawn with the pohutakawa in full flower
Our next task was to put up the guest accommodation tent, in fact we left this task until Antony came up on Christmas Day to do it as that gave the ground a good chance to dry out a bit. The next decision was where to put it? Shade is important, but morning shade or afternoon shade? In the end we put it where there is shade for most of the afternoon and evening.
Tent in the shade, in front of the garden
This will be the last time we can use this tent, NZ’s intense summer sun has done its thing making the material brittle and it’s starting to tear in places. We have already had to replace one section of poles and after a week we had to replace another section of poles. So long as it does it’s thing for another month or so, we will be happy.
Real-time update, of course the tent and gazebo came down for the storms we had in the first two weeks of January, the gazebo has been reinstated and the tent will be up again this week.
What is it with us and losing things? Where was the air mattress? We don’t have it on board so it must be at Antony’s…again, phone calls are made and Antony turns his house and garage upside down looking for it but it was nowhere to be found. Roy went looking in the storage containers at the park but no, it’s not there. A quick change of plans and Antony borrows one for the night from Sarah and we will buy a new one once the shops reopen. I think I’m going to have to make a list of where we stash things so we can remember where we put them!!! Then there will be the issue of where did I put the list 🤦♀️. A new air mattress has been purchased.
Another job to be done was to fix the front passenger seat as it wasn’t swivelling too well. Once the seat was removed there was an important label stuck on the base, except parts of the label were torn off and we couldn’t quite make out what some of it said. What are we to do? Only one thing to do and that’s remove the drivers seat as well and read the label of that one. Just as well we did as it contained crucial information about the order of putting things together and the number of turns to tighten up the nut.
Drivers side seat removed exposing the label Chair on the floor
A new nylon washer was required to sort out the sticking problem with some adjustments made to its positioning, then both seats were put back into place with them both smoothly rotating.
There was a days respite between storms, but this time campers decided to brave the elements and come on in. So with a camp full, they were made aware of the coming storm and on their heads be it.
The rain came, and kept on coming as did the winds, in fact the wind was much worse than the rain. A few campers saw sense and left but the majority remained, why they would choose to put their camping gear at risk is anyones guess.
The entrance to the park, not much grass to park on here!
I took the following video during a ‘lull’ in the storm, just to give you an idea of the wind strength.
A calmer moment!!The lengths people went to to secure their tents and gazebos….note the rope lashed to the picnic table on one side and the trailer on the other.
Some tents and gazebos did not make it through the wind, but still they persevered with one family taking down their torn tent to return the following day with a new tent. You have to admire their doggedness as the wind was still blowing a gale whilst they were trying to put up their tent, 4 hours later they had it all done.
Others got a little too much water with large puddles forming and ground conditions softening fast resulting in tents sitting in ponding water and some vehicles getting stuck.
Horse float camper got stuck and a tractor had to be brought in the get it out.More tents on the move, this was tent number two of six!
Meanwhile, we seemed to have escaped the wrath of the weather with our van protected from the winds on three sides by trees and the rain didn’t have much affect on us either except being kept inside, but I kept myself busy with lots of sewing handwork.
As quickly as the storm blew in, it quickly dissipated leaving us with hot humid conditions. Hopefully this will be the end of stormy season and summer can commence.
Real time update: What a start to 2023, the weather has turned to pants for want of a better phrase. It seems that summer was between Christmas and New Year and we now have wet and very windy conditions. We have endeavoured to keep campers informed of the latest up to date forecasts, with strong wind warnings and a heavy rain warnings issued.
Most campers packed up and left on Tuesday 3 January even though many of them only arrived the day before for their weeks holiday. Another group left on Wednesday morning and we just have 4 hardy groups left in the camp ground but with the latest forecasts saying that this rough weather is going to last at least 5 days, I would be packing up and going home!
Tuesday, Roy and I spent the afternoon taking down the tent and packing it away whilst it was dry, and also the gazebo even though it is a strong and sturdy one, we did not want to risk any damage to it plus the likelihood of us wanting to sit outside in this weather is quite frankly zero!!! The awning and sun shade got taken down in the early hours of Monday morning when I was woken at around 1am by the sound of building wind. I am so pleased we packed everything away before the wind and rain really started purely from a peace of mind perspective.
One group of campers has moved to 3 different positions in the past three days, with some of their tents being ripped overnight, they eventually moved into one of the bays adjacent to us where they will at least get some shelter from the wind.
Moving houseTent number three being movedPile everything into the van and kayak and drag the kayak along behind!This family of swans are enjoying the weather
We are very lucky to be sheltered from the prevailing winds so are quite comfortable in our van. Fortunately, we did all our washing and dumping of waste on Monday and we did the grocery shopping on Tuesday so we have a well stocked fridge, freezer and pantry which negates the need to drive anywhere in these conditions, so we shall hunker down and try not to annoy each other too much!!! Stay safe out there.
The Vanninis' Manoeuvres 