Murchison - Motueka: Waiting for cyclone 'Gita'

18.2. - 19.2.

An adventure of a lifetime!

On Sunday, we were still in Murchison (in the middle of nowhere in New Zealand)... at a really great campsite.

We really liked it there, so we considered staying for another night. Then we checked the weather forecast and saw that we only had 2 sunny days ahead and then rain was forecasted. Since setting up and taking down the tent in the rain is not very pleasant, we decided to continue driving and take advantage of the two days to get to the north of New Zealand.

As soon as we arrived, we learned that the next few days were not just rainy days, but a cyclone (hurricane) was forecasted! Oops!! We immediately started looking for accommodation... but almost in vain. A backpacker hostel finally took pity on us and allowed us to set up our tent in the backyard behind the house - 'at our own risk!' as they emphasized several times, because all the other campers had already taken refuge in the living room on couches and mattresses. However, it was really crowded there - so we were the only ones sleeping in the tent.

So we waited there for the last few days and waited out the storm ...

Thankfully, the cyclone only hit us lightly. We survived everything well ;-) and our tent didn't even get flooded - Everything is all right!

http://en.euronews.com/2018/02/20/cyclone-gita-wreaks-havoc-in-new-zealand