Cathy Strong, a BJ State Desk reporter in the 1970s who lives in New Zealand, is used to Beacon visitors like the late Fran Murphey, retired BJ photographer Don Roese and BJ newsroom retiree John Olesky showing up on her doorstep, but this is a whale of a tale.

Let Cathy tell the tale of the whale:

“Huge humpback whale washed up to beach this morning. Ngati Atiawa elders perform karakia (incantations) around it. It is belly-up, poor thing. I couldn't help myself getting a close look.”

The whale washed up three miles from Cathy’s home near Te Horo Beach on the Kapiti Coast. Cathy lives about an hour away from Wellington, where she is on the Massey University journalism/media faculty.

Cathy’s daughter, Rebecca, is a hydrographer, which means she’s used to measuring oceans, rivers and such, not beached whales. Rebecca is in the New Zealand Navy. So is her husband, Lt. Dion Hewson. They married in 2005.

Cathy is more accustomed to dealing with earthquakes. Kiwis get about 20,000 a year. Most of them, fortunately, are minor although 200 a year provide enough shaking to be felt.

Cathy and her New Zealand neighbors are sitting on the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is geographically active. You think?

Wellington gets the most shaking, rattling and rolling.