Shade sails were taken down, our outdoor furniture and barbecue were moved into the garage.
The first aid kit was checked and restocked and we bought bottled water, a spare torch and extra batteries.
I even drove to Tauriko Dr on Sunday night to load up with free sandbags amid concerns about flooding and then found myself stacking heavy sandbags against our ranchsliders as the rain fell.
We were prepared for whatever nature threw at us, which, as it turned out, wasn't much.
If anything, Cyclone Pam showed that the science of predicting the weather has some way to go - especially when it comes to picking the path of a storm.
We might be able to track a its progress live online and meteorologists may give their best guess as to how things will turn out but nature does her own thing.
And that's the point.
Our efforts may have been wasted this time but the cyclone could just as easily have veered closer to the Western Bay and the situation would have been very different.
It pays to be prepared.
