Windy Welly lives up to its name

After the best summer in decades, Wellington showed its dark side last night. The forecasters had warned that a 'weather bomb' was on its way.

And a weather bomb hit the bullseye.

Winds gusted up to 200km/h and the Cook Strait had 11m swells. The inter-island ferries were cancelled and moored in the centre of the harbour to protect them from being slammed against the docks. The airport was closed. Trees, benches and trampolines found new homes of their own accord.

It was classed as a Category 1/2 Atlantic Hurricane. Wowsers. But we bet you didn't hear about it on the news. Wellington has carried on functioning as normal. The coffee shops are open so all is right with the world!

We came away unscathed (so far). But others were not so lucky.

Annalie's Mum and Colin may recognise these pictures as being right outside the dive shop in Owhiro Bay (for those who haven't been, it's at the bit of coast at the bottom of our road).