Southland Travels
Last week we had a wind blowing through Southland that was stronger than any wind known for decades, 150 kilometres per hour. Burwell House where I live, is 3 bricks thick, yet it quivered in the gusts but I was most worried about the roof. I feared that it might peel off.
I’m also concerned about my roof in New Plymouth because it is beginning to rot and leaks are appearing, one of them in my bedroom, one of them in my kitchen, and the other, worst of all, in my studio. It will be about $20,000 to replace.
The previous week here, at 1.40 a.m. I was woken by a big quake. The weights in the sash windows were rocking against their casings, and like pendula their dull strike continued for some time after the earth ceased its travel.
This photo is how the waves were at the bottom left of the South Island, on the afternoon after the wind. Nigel Brown lives near here at Cosy Nook. Riverton is nearby.
