At 2025hrs on the 26th December 2004 I received a call from the local Police who informed me that they had been called by a person in the Harbour who had told them that the tide was doing strange things and was very high. I checked and found the tide was listed as being 1m at 2030hrs that evening.

	I assigned a guard to go to the surge barrier gates and check the tide. He reported the tide was just on a metre. I rang the electronic marker buoy and found the reading to be 1.1m.

	I phoned the Police and informed them I considered the water levels to be normal and that I would monitor the situation closely. I phoned the buoy some 20 minutes later and found the reading had risen by .4m I immediately attended the barrier and found the tide to be approx 1 m. I shut the gates as a precaution.

	I attended the barrier gates at 0530hrs the next morning (27th) because it was a public holiday and I knew people would be wanting to access the ocean via the gates. The tide was .5m I opened the gates.

	At about 0830hrs the DPI contacted me and said that a large volume of water was entering the inlet via the barrier gates. I attended the gate area and  found that a large volume of water was in fact leaving the inlet via the gates.

	I observed the water over the next 4 hours and found that the surge would come in for some 25 minutes then there was a balance of tide for about 5 to 10 minutes then the water outside the inlet would drop and the inlet would drain for about 25 minutes before the inward cycle would again start. 
	
	I remained at the barrier gates for some 4 to 5 hours. The effect gradually lessened.
	 
	I have controlled the opening and closing of the surge barrier gates for some 10 years and have not seen even winter tides and storms cause such an effect. The water height was closely monitered for the rest of the day and night until it returned to normal.