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Some lookouts and seaside carparks along Bay of Plenty coastline are packed with people waiting to see the tsunami.
Fishermen at Whakatane rivermouth were more concerned with catching whitebait.
At the Whakatane Heads carpark Alfred Morgan said "I knew I shouldn't be coming down, but I'm heading up the hill now.
He said he recalls a similar warning in the 1960s when he was at primary school in the town and the school was evacuated to higher ground.
"We marched up the hill to safety and it never came but they had to make sure."
Mr Morgan said he tried to get his son to come down to the Heads this morning, but his son refused, saying the tsunami wouldn't happen.
Tracy Patrick said if the tsunami did come it was "not going to be that big."
"If it was big they would have evacuated everyone."
Peter Smith left Ohope this morning and said the lookout between Ohope and Whakatane was packed.
"There's a bit of a chop out there, but I think it will blow away," he said.
Asked if he was worried, Mr Smith said "nah, what the hell."
Coastguard Whakatane have been put on standby and president John Ferguson said "like firefighters we're all kitted up and ready to go".
Earlier this morning a kayaker off the Whakatane beach had gotten into trouble.
Police were called and coastguard were placed on standby.
The kayaker came in safe and sound.
Mr Ferguson said that Coastguard were monitoring the television and radio but had no further information.
Asked if he was concerned about people turning up to the headland, Mr Ferguson said no.
"They've heard the warning, and we're not an enforcement agency, we're here to save lives at sea."
At least one boat went to sea this morning, a crayfish boat.
Mr Ferguson said that was probably the safest place to be.
Josh Moore, who lives in Ohope, and said he was "just curious."
"Everyone is going towards the beach. At every lookout cars are parked up and on the side of the road police are organising the traffic."
James Palmer of Whakatane said he came down to the heads "just to see what all the excitement was about."
He said his boss called in this morning to say if the tsunami happens, then work is off.
His daughter Ngaire McCormick lives on a farm out of Awakiri and drove into Whakatane to pick him up. They then came down to the seaside.
She said if the tsunami happens they would go to the other side of Kutarere.
Pukehina fire chief Errol Watts says an instruction to stay on higher ground remains in place.
He said most of the community had obeyed the instruction but there were those who refused to listen.
"Definitely some idiots on the beach that refuse to leave - but you're always going to get that."
Emergency services in the area were temporarily based at a local marae.
- NZHERALD STAFF
