Staring down the barrel of Cyclone Gabrielle.....

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"Staring down the barrel of Cyclone Gabrielle"….

These slightly overdramatic words are being quoted in the news bulletins as we all await the arrival of Cyclone Gabrielle. Having never awaited the arrival of a cyclone before we are wondering what exactly we should be doing. According to the Mayor of Auckland we need a grab bag and an evacuation plan. We think that our rucksacks could probably do as grab bags but an evacuation plan evades us.

The cyclone is due to hit tonight so we have moved out of our tent and into a slightly dodgy motel which was built to house the construction workers when they were building the nearby power statiion. Sounds classy doesn’t it? But we thought it would be better to be here than anywhere else in case of trouble.

We were meant to be attempting the Tongariro Alpine crossing tomorrow but access to the mountains has been suspended due to the bad weather. “Hooray!” I thought quietly to myself whilst simultaneously sympathising with Pete’s disappointment. According to Gwen who has actually achieved this crossing, the bad weather could mean a lucky escape for us and I think I know what she means…..Pete of course is baffled.

The rest of the coming week is meant to be spent canoeing and camping down the Whanganui river. The water level is currently too high to allow any canoes to access the river and we will know in the next couple of days if we will be able to do this or will be forced to make a whole new plan.

We are very chirpy and morale is good despite our current setback and dodgy motel. We have visited Touranga on the east coast and then Rotarua where the glooping mud was as sinister but less smelly than we expected. Our first night in Notso Tiny Tim at the very classy Blue Lake campsite was fantastic...toasty warm and sooooo much room. Lovely walk to Huka Falls near Taupo where Pete for the first time ever concluded that he would not be able to find a safe route over the falls in his canoe. Just cant wait for the Cyclone to be gone and we can get on with our adventures!

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