There's an extra hour in bed tonight when the clocks go back to mark the end of daylight saving. The clocks will go back an hour at 3am tomorrow so the time will become 2pm. While the time shift marks the end of daylight saving, it's also a good time to check, and if need be, replace the batteries in your smoke alarms. Fire and Emergency NZ is urging people to check their smoke alarms with the end of daylight saving coming up on Sunday. There are concerns that, although Kiwis are better at installing alarms, they're not so good at regularly checking they work, which is putting lives at risk. It says check the smoke alarm battery once a month, starting this Daylight Saving weekend by pressing the test button.
Tsumani drill
Northland's 200 outdoor tsunami sirens will be tested on Sunday, as usual coinciding with the end of daylight saving. Sirens from Te Hapua to Mangawhai will sound twice, for 10 minutes at 10am and again for 30 seconds at 10.30am, and will be monitored for any faults. Victoria Harwood, spokeswoman for the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, said Northland already had more tsunami sirens than any other region of New Zealand, and there was an ongoing programme to expand the network.
Catalina visit cancelled again
The possibility of foul weather tomorrow has seen the planned visit to Northland of a World War II Catalina flying boat this weekend cancelled again. The plane was to visit the Far North today and tomorrow, but a spokesman said it appears the predicted weather for Sunday is again unfavourable leading to the regrettable decision to cancel the trip to Kaitaia. This weekend's visit was rearranged from last weekend when the plane was due to come, but predicted bad weather for that weekend saw the visit postponed to this weekend. No new date has been set for the Catalina to visit the Far North.
