Fire at Northbank - Onamalutu.

I awoke this morning to the smell of smoke. I picked up my iPad to find messages to ask if I were okay and wondered what the fuss was. The fuss was bigger than I thought. Just 2km away from a fire was raging out of control at Northbank. Clouds of smoke billowed into the sky, some white, some black, and some pink.

We've had no rain for weeks, the driest summer in 40 years in this region.

I decided to stay at home and monitor the situation, but then RW from the Camera Club wanted to take photos, so I picked him up from the Renwick Takeaways and down to Northbank we went. These are some of the photos I got from the day.

Using my Sigma 120-400mm I took this from the road. A short while later one of the vineyard tractors towing a water truck dampened down this flare up.

Helicopters carring monsoon buckets were flying right over us, and the big zoom lens meant I couldn't get everthing in!

Another one of the flare up getting out of control.

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

This little patch of fire quickly got out of control and raced up the hill. Everything is tinder dry as we've had no rain for weeks.

We were taking photos at the section where the road was closed, but further up the road the fire was much worse and raging out of control.

We were wearing hi-vis vests, so when some officials came up talked to the road block people, we cheekily asked if we could get a ride up to the action. I didn't expect the answer to be yes, but it was!

This is where all the helicopters were starting up from, getting their monsoon buckets, and swapping around crew.

And off he goes to join the others.

We were only allowed to stay in that area for a very short while, and then we were taken back to the road block. This was taken out the window while we were heading back, which is the reason it's not quite as in focus as the others.

However, the driver stopped to let us take this one.

After that, we headed back into my car and drove to the otherside of the river we hoped to get images of the helicopters picking up the water from the river.

Monsoon bucket dropping into the water. I should have had my wide angle lens on. In fact I changed it in the hope another one would come in close, but they started filling up from another water hole rather than this one. Probably because there were simply too many people on the bank, and there had already been one helicopter crash this morning filling up the monsoon buckets. Apparently a gust of wind got the helicopter and it lost control.

I did put my wide angle lens on for a short while, and here you can see the extent of the fire and the smoke filled sky.

We bumped into two other Camera Club members, and they told us of a place further down the stopbank, so we headed down there and walked down to the river. This was with my 400mm Lens, so we were not close to the whirly birds at all, and we didn't venture closer as we didn't want to interfere with their work.

The last image I took - two helicopters flying off with full monsoon bucket, and a third one in the distance on it's way back.

As of the time writing this, the fire is still raging out of control although the wind has died down so hopefuly we'll see the last of it soon.

My Home nearly 3 years on...

Thought I'd show you just how fast things grow down this way with some comparison photos of my house/garden. I guess this is the perfect weather we get down here - lots of rain in winter and spring, and a lovely dry hot summer. Plants love it. Springtime in Blenheim is one of my favourite times. The grass is green and the gardens are in full bloom and look great. All the fences along the vineyards are covered in rose bushes in full flower and makes a wonderful sight to see when driving along.

This photo was taken in Dec 2010.  Note in the right corner the small plants.

Two years later in November 2012 that small corner is awash with shrubs - the bird bath hasn't been moved it's still in the same place.  The Apricot tree is a new addition - only one year old.  No apricots on it this year yet.

Back to 2010 and all along the fenceline are small shrubs..

Today - those shrubs are almost trees and the Rosemary bush on the left has gone mad.  My photos tonight were taken just before sundown after a perfect Marlborough blue sky day.  I still need to plant something along the fence by the vege garden. I am thinking ... raspberries or something like that.

2010 and the front door rock garden.  You can barely see the plants..

Rock on to today, November 2012 and the plants are nicely grown contrasting nicely on the red brick. That's a sprinkler going to try and keep my lawn nice and green.

My vege garden in December 2012...

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And today.  I've planted lettuce, cucumber, garlic, peas, peppers, basil, spring onion, parsnip, carrots, spring onions and courgette.  I'm only picking lettuce so far!

Before I turned the sprinkler on, Kassia followed me everywhere.  She loves me being outside with her as she's too scared to go out without me. That's because I have three nasty magpies that dive-bomb her every chance they get!

I think it's great being able to compare the images just to see how well the garden is growing.  Even I was surprised at the changes, but I guess you don't notice it on a day by day basis!

Storm Aftermath

Yesterday it rained all day.  That gentle rain that's so good for your garden and I was quite happy with it, as Blenheim can be on the dry side most of the time.

Then last night as I was watching the Olympics, I suddenly realised I couldn't hear the television as the rain had become so loud, and then I noticed my house shaking in the wind and I realised that a storm had developed outside.

I simply turned up the heat and ignored it.

I woke today to find everything a little sodden, and noticed that their were warnings in place where roads were closed!  At 4pm I decided to venture out with my camera to see for myself!  This is what I found...

You know that little ford that is always dry on Old Renwick Road?  That's the Omaka River which is completely dry 99.9% of the time.  When it's not dry, there's a little trickle of water.  I guess this is what happens when it rains heavily...

Highfield Winery - the vines were flooded.   And the road was closed.  The little one way bridges were on Dog Point Road were nearly underwater as well.

Here's the Omaka River in full flood.  At this point a motorist stopped me and said that I had the wrong equipment.  It was a Kayak I needed, not a camera!  Yeah right!

I then drove into town to take a look at the Taylor River by Raupo Cafe.  I've seen floods up here before in my 2.5 years I've been in Marlborough, but this is the highest I've seen it yet.  The little foot bridge is almost submerged.

And be very careful - it's very slippery down there when it's frosty!

No walking the dog along the pathways beside the river today...

And everywhere there were danger keep out signs!

There were a number of photographers about, and I got talking to one of them.  He told me the little footbridge is designed to float of it's foundations if the current of the river gets too great.  Then once the river goes down, a digger goes in and pops it back up again.  Interesting!

Despite the cold wind and rainy conditions, some hardy soul was still enjoying his pizza on the steps, while watching the water levels rise!

On the way home I stopped at the point where the river sometimes breaks its banks and flows over the road.

Guess a picnic on the picnic table is out of the question!

Apparently this isn't the worst Blenheim has had.  The Taylor Dam stops the Taylor River from getting really bad.  Although the Wairau breaks its banks every 20 years or so - the last time in 1983.

More rain is expected tonight!  I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

The Shipwreck

I recently spent a couple of days off and on, cleaning out my laptop of all my photos.  Saving them onto an external HDD and just looking to see what I have sitting there doing nothing.  While cleaning them out, I came across our walk to the Shipwreck at the Wairau Lagoons back in February 2011, while Steven was here.  That shows you just how far behind I am and I doubt that I'll ever catch up now, unless I stop taking photos for several years.  That's pretty unlikely to happen!

Blenheim has it's own shipwreck and it's very easy walking distance, and completely flat.  So even with my sore ankle, it's doable. Well it was last year, I doubt I could do it at the moment.  but to show you how easy it is, I've taken a few photos...  Nice flat easy walking...  The signs say it takes 3 hours return - but it's an easy 30-40 minutes to the shipwreck, so you don't need 3 hours for the walk.

Looking to the right over to the Mt Vernon cliffs.  Notice the love Marlborough blue skies?  We get that.  Alot!  Cloudless hot summers and although the 2011/12 summer wasn't that good, Autumn has been fantastic.

Here we are - From left to right - Debbie, Sheila, Carolyn and Steven.  There's *always* one or two people that don't look at the camera isn't there?

Along the river bed.  Usually there's lots of bird life, but that day seemed to be devoid of it.  All hiding.

Here's the first glimpse of the shipwreck.  Seems to be floating in a field of grass!! 

Determined to get to the shipwreck and taking the walk seriously!!  Note that the girls all have their feet off the ground. Steven did have to spoil it at the back there!!!

Looking back the way we came over to the Wither Hills.. 

The same image but this time with all sky - I like all sky images, but it's not for everyone.  It would be interesting to know what people do prefer though - so if you prefer all sky images or otherwise, leave me a message to let me know.  I like them because they are more minimalistic.

Closer to the shipwreck.  It's been described as a quasi-shipwreck - not a real one.  It was a steamer built in 1883 which did its last voyage in 1928 carrying supplies and miners to the goldfields of the West Coast.  It was then dismantled and towed to the Wairau River Mouth where it was then scuttled to make a breakwater.  However, the weather interrupted the scuttling and it floated into the lagoon where it still rests 80 years later.  It's since lying there for exploration, and has been used for army practise in the past as well..

Which might account for some of these holes...

The late afternoon sun threw our shadows onto the rusting hulk.  The sun brought out the beautiful colours though... 

Looking towards the sea - I walked over this mud trying to get an image from the other side, but the mud was sticky and well... muddy.  I gave up as it was making it difficult to walk!

Of the five of us, 3 of us had our cameras there that day - and Carolyn and Steven took every opportunity like myself to get every conceivable angle!

 Sheila had other ideas.

She explained to the rest of us landlubbers what it was like up there.  However, with my balance and foot, I didn't particularly want to cut myself on rusty metal!

Carolyn tried though...

And that was as far as she got - stuck!!!

It made a good opportunity for a photoshoot though!  With the bright blue sky as a backdrop.

The land was so flat you can see for miles...

The sun was dropping lower and lower so we started heading back...

The light on the wither hills was magic..

Debbie and Sheila got ahead of the photographers...

The pathway is along the river, but when you're on the path, you can't see a thing as it's so flat.

You can tell there had not been much rain due to the cracks in the mud.  The evening light made it really interesting though and I had to stop and study and photograph it.

I've grown to love this sight - the hills never look the same - every evening is totally different.   

Ducks going home ....

All in all - a lovely stroll in the late afternoon - I recommend it to anyone visiting.  Probably the easiest and flattest walk in the South Island.

The area also has about 70 species of birds that breed there.  There is also a large spoonbill population in the area.

I must go back again soon.