TAKAPUNA BEACH DAY ENDS IN HORIZONTAL RAIN AFTER 11 MINUTES OF SUNSHINE
The sausages were still cold. The towels are now in the harbour.
A Mt Eden family's beach day at Takapuna ended in damp surrender on Sunday, eleven minutes after they arrived. The sky went from postcard blue to washing-machine grey without warning.
Organiser Priya Ranchhod, 39, said the forecast had promised 23 degrees and light cloud. "We packed the chilly bin, the boogie boards, the gluten-free buns from that place on Mt Eden Road. Hana at the bakery said it'd be a stunner. Hana was wrong! Hana is dead to me!"
The family had just laid out two picnic rugs and unwrapped the sausages when a wall of rain came in sideways off the Hauraki Gulf. One towel was last seen heading toward Devonport. The boogie boards stayed, mostly because they were sat on by an uncle.
A bystander, Megan from Hauraki, said she'd watched the whole thing from her car. "Saw them set up. Thought, bless. Then the wind turned. Then the rain turned. Then the uncle turned, and he was not happy."
MetService confirmed conditions were "broadly as forecast" if you read the fine print. The fine print mentioned "isolated showers" in a font Priya described as "frankly criminal." The family has relocated to a café on Hurstmere Road, where the sausages are being reheated under duress.
The missing towel has not been recovered. Hana has not returned calls.
Organiser Priya Ranchhod, 39, said the forecast had promised 23 degrees and light cloud. "We packed the chilly bin, the boogie boards, the gluten-free buns from that place on Mt Eden Road. Hana at the bakery said it'd be a stunner. Hana was wrong! Hana is dead to me!"
The family had just laid out two picnic rugs and unwrapped the sausages when a wall of rain came in sideways off the Hauraki Gulf. One towel was last seen heading toward Devonport. The boogie boards stayed, mostly because they were sat on by an uncle.
A bystander, Megan from Hauraki, said she'd watched the whole thing from her car. "Saw them set up. Thought, bless. Then the wind turned. Then the rain turned. Then the uncle turned, and he was not happy."
MetService confirmed conditions were "broadly as forecast" if you read the fine print. The fine print mentioned "isolated showers" in a font Priya described as "frankly criminal." The family has relocated to a café on Hurstmere Road, where the sausages are being reheated under duress.
The missing towel has not been recovered. Hana has not returned calls.