Well, it had to happen. We are warm and cozy in our Napier apt, on the ocean's edge and we experienced a 6.8 quake. It was Thursday night and we were watching some television when at 8:55 pm, I heard a roar, like a HUGE gust of wind, then we felt some tremendous shaking for about 30 seconds then alot of rolling, like we were in a boat riding the waves! Our hosts, knocked on the door and ask if we were ok, and we were, but I was very concerned about a tsunami and worried about what to do next. Nothing fell, but when we watched the coverage on television the next day, we saw the restaurant in Gisborne that we had dined in just a week ago, and it was a total mess. So, as I understand it, the quake was about 50Km (30 miles) offshore of Gisborne NZ and not the kind to cause tsunamis. Jon went off to bed, I made a pot of tea and felt pretty unsettled until about 11pm, then finally got some sleep. I had just finishing reading the account of the 1931 earthquake that literally wiped out Napier and that is why it was rebuilt in the Art Deco style. Pretty scary, but we are well and giving thanks for being in a wonderful apt. with people that care about us. Yesterday, we had coffee and a wonderful chat with an email friend and her son Andrew. Lynn presented us with some lovely painting that she had created, and Andrew was a delight and nice young man that we hope to show how to geocache. He has no idea how truly terrible we are at it, but it will be fun for all of us. Today, we are blogging, buying coffee and planning to meet Lynn and Andrew for a Christmas light tour this evening. We have visited about 5 wineries and are wined out for now. We are stockpiling wine for our travels.
Oh! Jon just walked into the email place with old friend Bertie. I will post his picture along with companion Penelope. We met both of them during our 2000 trip with the orchardists. We had a lovely "cuppa" with Bertie and a nice quick chat with Penelope. They literally look the same as they did in 2000. How do they do that? I'm going to try to post the photos again. I took photos of the newspaper headlines and one of Bertie and Penelope with us. Today it is gloriously sunny outside and we are going to walk along the westshore this afternoon.
A belated happy birthday to our dear auntie Leigh. Hope you had a great day yesterday! An early and best wishes for a blessed Christmas holiday. We are missing all of you at home, but so enjoying our Christmas this year. All our love and best to each one of you.
Merry Christmas
Jon and Joyce
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