Royal Blue

This evening the Palmerston North clocktower is coloured blue in honour of the new royal baby.

Today I went on a small holiday tiki-tour, having a quick look at where all the small communities are near Palmy. (Shocking I know that I haven't done this exploration before!) Didn't take many photos, as the light wasn't very suitable, with thick cloud after our impressive sunrise. But I will go back another day- quite fascinating with old district halls and all sorts.

Here is the photo I did take. Rongotea is bigger than other places I passed through. I guess I vaguely knew there was a Catholic church there- but had no idea it was a historic one dating back to 1895. (That's old in New Zealand terms.)

Sunrise in Palmy

This morning we had possibly the most spectacular sunrise I have ever seen. Reverence. And you just get to see part of it here on this video- there was more glorious colour higher in the sky, but I held the camera at one height for this 'swoop'.

Seddon Quakes

Presently there's a pile of earthquake activity in Cook Strait, centred off the coast from Seddon. Many people in Palmy have been feeling smaller ones all the way up here for days, but until yesterday evening I hadn't felt any of them. But then came the 6.5 quake. Even this far away from the epicentre it was quite strong. I was standing by the kitchen cupboards watching the walls and windows wave around and it seemed like the windows might pop out of their frames. But amazingly, not even one ornament fell. The house rolled around for ages, one lot of waves just seeming to bounce right into the next lot. 

Fortunately, damage even in coastal places close to the epicentre has been relatively minor. But it was enough to stop the Palmerston North Clocktower dead in its tracks.