Tsunami warnings ignored

Bay of Plenty residents await the tsunami from the safety of Mt Maunganui. Photo / Christine Cornege

New Zealanders weren't going to allow a "peewee" tsunami alert to ruin the last official day of summer yesterday, as many defied police and civil defence warnings to stay away from beaches.

Auckland:

Police and council staff patrolled the Mission Bay shore, trying to shoo beach-goers away.

But dozens of people hung around - sitting on rugs and towels and wandering the boulevard - to catch a glimpse of what one described as the "peewee tsunami".

New Lynn father Darren Woodacre was stopped when he tried to take children Lewis, Natasha and Jack, 4, 5 and 10, down for a swim first thing.

"Police came running down saying 'Can you keep the kids away' and I asked why?" he said.

"He said it's a tsunami warning and that he would give us the all-clear when it had passed ... a little bit bizarre for a Sunday."

Mission Bay Watersports operator Ryan Pausina had to cancel a windsurf lesson booking. "I had a couple of girls coming down from Baradene Intermediate and couldn't send them out because not only is there a tsunami warning, but there were strong currents," he said.

Lance Anderson and girlfriend Zora Janson put breakfast on hold to come down to the beach for a look. "If it was a 10m-high wave, sure we'd run for the hills," Mr Anderson said.

On the North Shore, waka ama paddlers from Tahiti, Rarotonga and Australia competing for the Takapuna Beach cup were told that a 24km relay event was canned.

However, individuals still headed out. Mariana Hodges, a New Zealand champion, went out for a quick 2km paddle and said the water was like a baby's bath. "You kind of can't resist it when it's right there."

One boatie, who went out fishing into the Hauraki Gulf, said he had no concerns at all about the risk. "If anything happens you're safer out there anyway."

Northland:

In the Northland port of Tutukaka, boaties watched their harbour swirl like a "washing machine" as 1m swells rolled in.

Dive operator Jeroen Jongejans said the wave was being sucked in and out every couple of minutes. "They are very long waves," he said, from his boat near the harbour entrance.

Mr Jongejans said one of the marine markers that guided boats into the harbour was shaking violently and the 12-knot tidal flow was very strong.

Kate Malcolm, also from Dive Tutukaka, said surges in the marina had caused a rise and fall in water levels of a metre and a half.

"It has resulted in a washing machine action in the marina," she said. "The piles are moving around a lot when the surges come through."

Some of the boats looked as if they were getting tossed around, she said.

A wave measuring 1.5m hit Raoul Island in the Kermadecs, about 1000km northeast of the North Island.

East Coast:

Locals huddled on the only hill at Wainui Beach watching as the tide was sucked in and out, exposing new rocks.

Linda Coulston was with her children Lucy, Tewai and Hana - aged 8, 12 and 16 - and dozens of others from the settlement, 5km north of Gisborne, from about 7.45am to 9.30am.

She was alerted to the tsunami warning by a phonecall from a friend in Auckland.

"I walked outside and the whole hill was covered in cars and I thought 'Oh my goodness'," she said.

Mrs Coulston said about seven or eight boats and tugs were anchored offshore that would usually be tethered in the port. "They were asked to go a couple of kilometres out and stay out there," she said.

Rocks never before seen were surfacing as lots of close successive little swells came in, she said.

"That's when I thought 'oh my God, it really is happening'," Mrs Coulston said. She was shocked to see some parents still playing with young children on the beach.

In the Coromandel township of Whitianga a resident told NZPA many people stayed put when a warning siren went off, not knowing what it was.

In the Bay of Plenty some surfers ignored warnings and went out to try to catch the tsunami wave. Mt Maunganui patrol captain Danielle Shepherd said there were a handful who "either don't care or think they're capable".

- compiled by Rachel Tiffen, Yvonne Tahana, Jarrod Booker and agencies