12/4/2026 damp squid

Well the hype for last night was definite overkill for Auckland, although down the coast and the Coromandel got absolutely hammered, roads collapsed, flooding and more landslides from the sheer amount of rain. The link below is some of the weather  down the coast.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18XxfMZUGW/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The wind picked up through the day but nothing like they had predicted. The storm changed direction during the night which was fortunate for the city but again not so much for other areas.

The main hit was supposed to have been from midday onwards. It came to nothing, it was windy but i think calmer than it was on Friday when i was down the beach. Even Morgs' windows barely rattled which is unusual for a storm so we concluded it was definitely a case of getting people prepared for every eventuality.  

Unsurprisingly there was a run on toilet roll in the stores, people were panic buying, they must have been expecting the storm to bring a large dose of the shits instead of the rain… 

It rained all day, was a bit breezy, but it was nothing compared to the storm I was in in The Cook Islands, so go me. 

Thank goodness for the cooler water temperatures surrounding New Zealand that took a lot of the bite out the storm. It's not to say the affected parts weren't hit hard because they were, no electricity, lots of structural damage,  flooding, but most importantly as far as im concerned my Morgi is fine.

I spent the day educating myself on puppy training and bees. My shopping basket is loaded ready to hit checkout once I've left Singapore so parcels will be arriving as soon as I get home for my bees and Frank. Mainly a new industrial strength suit and gloves. (for the bees)

I listened to an interesting podcast from a lady who concentrates on breeding British black honey bees, and out of 90 hives she only lost three over Winter. By comparison the Buckfast Bees which is the breed I have, suffered huge losses over the winter with 60% of her Apiary being wiped out. There's no scientific evidence obviously but it's interesting that the native bees survived better than the Buckfast which are not native to the uk. I may get a few frames from somewhere and set up a hive of them and see how they do over the summer and next winter. The downside to the British black bees is that they are not so prolific breeders or honey producers. An experiment is in order but I will continue with the buckfast as they are amazing and give me so much honey.

So very relieved the storm didn't come to much  and a productive day indeed. 

Much Love

Mrs Leonard

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