New Zealand winter has arrived with a vengeance! Big storm affecting the whole country.

Last winter was comparatively mild and dry, but this year has already been much colder and wetter. And it’s been a while since we’ve had a storm like this.

We’re used to wind in Wellington, Especially icy cold southerlies that feel like they’ve come direct from Antarctica. We’re used to our house shaking so much that it feels like an earthquake. But today does seem especially bad.

On my way home on Tuesday night, I stocked up on some groceries so we didn’t have to leave the house for a few days – the perks of working from home. So we are hibernating. Here are a couple of photos taken by @sift666 from our bedroom window.

Yesterday, it was very cold, wet and windy. In the South Island, many places were in the minuses, but we don’t tend to get that low in Wellington, being close to the sea and generally very windy. But add in the wind chill factor, and it really is most unpleasant. At one point we had hail, which is about the coldest it gets here. Parts of our house that are unheated are about 10C.

Today, if anything the wind is stronger, with sustained winds at one point up to 125 km and gusts of over 140 km. The last storm this strong was 4 years ago, when we had an enormous tree come down in our back yard. That was claimed to be the worst storm since 1968 when a ship called the Wahine sank in Wellington Harbour.

There have been power cuts, the ferry sailings have been cancelled, but astonishingly some flights are still going out of Wellington airport. In other parts of the North Island, there has been flooding and some road closures.

Here are some photos from news website www.stuff.co.nz. The first two are of Lyall Bay, which is our local beach, only 15 minutes walk away.

This one is from the suburb of Seatoun. I have to wonder how far the wind carried that trampoline.

And this one is from the other side of the harbour.

My niece lives in Masterton, in the Wairarapa region, a couple of hours drive north of here. This photo is her street. Her car is full of water, up to the level of the seats.

And another photo from the Wairarapa.

As the storm moves north, we can expect winds to start dying down later today. But we still have some torrential rain to look forward to, just starting to get heavier now.

And just to top it all off, I’ve been feeling very seedy, with a sore, raw throat. Tomorrow I might post about what I’m doing to help that. But for now, I might go for a nice lie down in front of a heater.

On a brighter note, here’s a photo @sift666 a few days ago took of a lone flower on our camellia bush. Remarkably, after all this bad weather, the brave flower is still hanging in there!

Thanks for reading

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Some of my previous posts about life in NZ:

• My Intro
• Are there kiwis in the house?
• My grandmother’s legacy
• Steemit in downtown Wellington
• Observations from a bus
• News on the NZ earthquake
• More news on the NZ quake
• Earthquake aftermath
• The NZ Prime Minister just resigned!
• Wearable Arts Award Show
• First day of the Wellington summer
• Singing carols with the NZ Symphony Orchestra PLUS my best loved Christmas music
• 60 years of my favourite music – Kiwi classics
• My choir singing on the streets of Wellington
• Presenting to a Parliamentary Committee about proposed new legislation
• Voices from the Front – a story of Gallipoli
• Some New Zealand music for Anzac Day
• RIP Kiwi comedian John Clarke aka Fred Dagg
• Wellington Blockchain meetup + Updated Steemit Kiwis list + NZ meetup