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Crashing and banging could be heard in a resident s video as the earthquake rattled a property near Hicks Bay, on the East Coast. But in the minutes before 2.27am it was the canines who first knew of the 7.1 quake that struck 105 kilometres east of Te Araroa. Graeme and Pauline Summersby, who live on top of a hill between Hicks Bay and Te Araroa on the East Coast, have lived in the area for more than 30 years and said the 2.27am quake was the strongest they had ever felt. Like others, they were woken by their dog before the shaking began. Monty, the Jack Russell, began barking moments before it started.
 It s the most bizarre holiday period we ve ever seen, says Michael Visser, who manages the retro Bay Motel that looks out over Main Beach. Byron is now a meme, concludes a lanky hipster resident. His name is Snake. We re sitting in Wreck Surf - one of the last-standing long-running businesses that remain in town - in a part of the shop that owner Bert Reid has converted into a cafe to keep up with the increasingly trendy demo. If it s a place where celebrities go, then rich people go there and then vacuous people who follow celebrities will go there and wanna be seen, Snake continues.
 It s the most bizarre holiday period we ve ever seen, says Michael Visser, who manages the retro Bay Motel that looks out over Main Beach. Byron is now a meme, concludes a lanky hipster resident. His name is Snake. We re sitting in Wreck Surf - one of the last-standing long-running businesses that remain in town - in a part of the shop that owner Bert Reid has converted into a cafe to keep up with the increasingly trendy demo. If it s a place where celebrities go, then rich people go there and then vacuous people who follow celebrities will go there and wanna be seen, Snake continues.