As I mentioned previously, cyclone Lusi was forecast for the lower North Island during the time we were camping down there in March. Saturday night after the wedding was quite blustery but the tent held up all right.
On Sunday, the weather seemed normal and we went to church and continued life as usual. Dad went to the office to see what the options were if the weather got bad during the night and we couldn't stay in the tent. We were given the key for a lodge.
In the evening while Jarrod was cooking dinner (butter chicken!), the rain got heavier and the wind got stronger; the ends of the tent were blowing in with the wind gusts. We all went to the kitchen for dinner, planning to start the bedtime routine once we were done. At one point Jarrod went back to the tent to get something, and when he came back he told me there were about 10-12 leaks, maybe more. She thought, "Yeah, right. He's exaggerating."
When she went back a bit later there were leaks nearly EVERYWHERE and all the bedding was starting to get wet. Then started the made scramble to pack everything up as fast as possible! A few of us older ones helped while Dad stayed with the little ones to keep them settled. (A French tourist couple made them popcorn, so they were happy!) Dad ended up loading most of the others in the van and taking them up to the lodge, then transporting everything out of the tent and taking it up as well. We were still disassembling the camping bunks and stretcher beds (while holding the torches . . . ) after we heard a pole snap and one end of the tent completely caved in. Finally though, only the fridge (borrowed from Nana) was still in the tent. It's amazing how light it (apparently) seemed that night when Mum and Dad carried it through pouring rain across a couple or so tent sites and into the kitchen. We all headed up to the lodge then to get beds made up and little people into bed. Dad and Jarrod went back to pull the tent down a bit later since we didn't want it completely destroyed during the night!
Initially we were given one night free in the lodge, but our hosts were amazing and ended up allowing us to stay in it until the Thursday -- the full duration of our planned stay.
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| The two windows on the lift look into the kitchen; the doors to their right and the large windows facing the dining room lead to the large dining/lounge type room. And on the other side of the block wall? A pretty fancy barbecue! ;) |
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| Windows on the right are the kitchen, then the main entranceway is to the left. The three sets of windows all lead to bedrooms (there are seven bedrooms in total, three shown, three opposite, and one down the far end on the left. |
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Kitchen! Now that is more my size! haha :)
The stack of muesli boxes? Apparently the price was a deal you'd never see in Auckland so we stocked up. ;) And I guess someone was bored, hence the pyramid. lol |
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| Okay, so I don't normally post photos of bathrooms! We had two like this though, three loos and two showers in each. And lovely BIG mirrors that the bathrooms we used while camping didn't have! |
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| Big hallway! Kitchen on the left, entranceway farther down on the left, bathroom on the right, and bedrooms through the doorway in the centre. |
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| Lots of tables and seating! |
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| Entranceway and coat hooks. (When we got back from the tent on Sunday night there were bags all over the floor here -- but all the children's jackets were hanging up! {smile} |
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| Hallway and bedrooms |
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| Not very many good photos of the rooms I'm afraid. This is (obviously) the boys one. Four rooms had two sets of bunks each, two had one bunk set and a single bed, and the end room was much larger and had four sets of bunks. |
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