Cyclone Cook has been causing havoc across New Zealand over the last few days and we expected it to reach Wellington last night. I dug out and checked all the batteries in our torches and made sure nothing was likely to freely blow around in the back garden. I even brought the Guinea pigs inside in case they ended up mimicking the cows in Twister.
We woke up this morning to a bit of an anticlimax. The cyclone appears to have completely bi-passed Wellington. We had a bit of rain overnight but nothing out of the ordinary. There was very little wind, and certainly no where near the ordinary Wellington gusts that can take the unsuspecting off their feet. All in all it was a bit disappointing. However I shouldn't complain. Some areas of New Zealand had uprooted trees and flooding again, a repetition of the week before.
So once I had taken the Guinea pigs out of the bath (they spent the night there as it was the only emergency indoor accommodation I could find) and put them back in their hutches we headed into the city to look at the bug exhibition at Te Papa.
This is the last weekend that his exhibition is on, and it is rather cool.
Although I wouldn't recommend it if you have a fear of everything creepy crawly. There are huge models of praying mantises and bees devouring other bugs. It's all rather gruesome. The kids loved it.
I think the bit that really stuck in my mind was this huge model of bees attacking a hornet. Apparently 30 hornets can destroy a hive containing many thousands of bees. However some bees can defend themselves by working together to raise the temperature of the hornet above its tolerance levels so it basically cooks alive. All rather cleverly gruesome.
Although the cyclone didn't cause any problems in our region, it certainly appears to be creating some interesting and rather menacing clouds above the city.
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