It's officially a drought

Hawke's Bay and Waikato were officially declared in drought today. Soon it will be the entire North Island.

http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/drought-zones-extend-across-north-island-map

This means that farmers in drought regions may qualify for support from the government.

I am not too sure about the industrial farmers with their massive dairy farms. These farms are based on assumptions of continual grass growth and stocked accordingly. They never plan for the poor years. Why support them?

ON the other side of the world this could be good news with a shortage of NZ milk in the marketplace. The milk market should improve in Europe.

changes in Central Hawke's Bay

I went for a 15km walk at the weekend through bush and high-country farmland. The walk was one of three organised over the weekend by the Waipukurau Rotary Club under the name 'Sea Sky Bush'. They use the walks to promote Central Hawke's Bay and encourage more visitors to the area.

Check them out on: http://www.seaskybush.co.nz/

My walk passed over the area that is proposed to be covered by the new Ruataniwha Dam that is proposed to irrigate Central Hawke's Bay in summer. The cost of building is likely to be in excess of NZ$200M.
Check it out on: http://www.hbrc.govt.nz/Hawkes-Bay/regional_development/hbric/Pages/rws.aspx

This photo is taken where the dam wall is to be sited. The wall will run 500m across this valley. All the light-coloured land to the right will be under water.

About 370 hectares of current farmland will be lost to store 90 million cubic metres of water. The valley behind this tall tree will not be seen again.

 

We had a presentation from the regional council and local landowners who will be impacted by the dam. All the locals see the benefits but the rest of us see the costs and the likelihood of more industrial dairy farms coming to the area with accompanying pollution.

 

As you can see the area is suffering like the rest of Hawke's Bay with no significant rainfall since October. They usually have rain here at least once a week even in summertime.

 

This is one of the local farmers showing the likely high water mark for the lake at the top of the valley.

 



As we walked the valley we could see the likely water level marked on both sides.

Plenty to think about. Huge change to the area. Much more benefit than a golf course!

I was wondering about the new golf course

New Zealand has the highest number of golf courses per head of population for any country in the world.

Ireland is in second place.

Northern Ireland on its own has the highest number of golf courses per head of population in the European Union.

New Zealand has much better weather than Ireland. New Zealand is not developing any new luxury golf courses. They do not make a profit.

Northern Ireland has some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world.

Why does Northern Ireland need a luxury golf course on the Causeway Coast?

Surely it would be much better to market the existing courses?

Tuesday 7th February - the whistle-blower's table

Some time ago, an organisation I worked for was having difficulties with their IT systems and news of this leaked to the press in the form of internal emails over a period of weeks. The ensuing coverage by the press ensured embarrassment for our management and my colleagues. It also placed us all under suspicion of causing the leaks.

Some time after I left, a former colleague admitted to me that he had been the one who leaked the emails to the press. A pretty low act in my opinion. He would have been prosecuted in the UK or US if he had been doing the same there.

Anyway, my former colleague (and whistle-blower) commissioned me to make a table for him. It has been a struggle to complete the table because of the history.

I have embedded a whistle within the table which will only be found if the table is totally dismantled.

Those of you who know the whistle-blower can tell him that his table is ready for collection.

The table is made from American white oak and is finished with danish oil.

This is the table:

Election day - 26th November

The law in NZ is that all election posters and placards are removed by midnight of the day before polling day. All electioneering must stop by midnight. This is to be recommended for Northern Irelanders!!!!

It's refreshing to have a day without politicians!

24th November 2011 - five years achieved

We are now in NZ for five years.

How time flies!

31st August - Kaweka J

Kaweka J is the tallest mountain in Hawke’s Bay. Climbing to the top of Kaweka J has been at number one on my bucket list for the last few years.

Kaweka J stands at 1724m tall and is the 8^th highest mountain in the North Island. Check it out on Peak-bagging NZ:

http://www.peakbagging.co.nz/index.php?title=Kaweka_J

I decided years ago to only go in the serious backwoods with a group and went out on 31^st August with Napier Tramping Club. Kaweka J was still covered with snow so it was a real alpine adventure as well.

The serious trampers headed on and left me to follow the path alone to the summit. At least they knew approximately where to find me if anything went wrong! It was a nearly perfect day with only light clouds hanging round the summit.

I found two geocaches on the way to the summit and when back at base learned of a third geocache near the War Memorial cairn at the summit. I left trackables at both found locations and will be observing their travels on the geocaching.com website.

Walking on/in the snow was challenging at times. It was far deeper than the experienced trampers had been expecting and several times, I dropped through at least 1m of the white stuff. I had two walking poles with me which was useful to work my way out!

Having done the climb in winter I am keen to return in summer!

I still have not decided what the new number one on the bucket list is going to be…

(For the record, Knocklayd is 514m, Slieve Donard is 850m and Carrauntoohil is 1,039. More information at mountainviews.ie)

Tuesday 12th July - Ballyclare Fail

So after five years here, Ballyclare manages to be on New Zealand TV News for the first time with images of burnt-out cars....

... so how many flags will sort out poverty or famine?

Monday 4th July - 10 years - no justice

... only silence

Friday 29th April - living on an island for 2 days

Here in Hawke's Bay we are living in a 'state of emergency'.

The rain started here on Easter Monday / Anzac Day about 10am. It rained for the next 60 hours non stop. We had torrential rain for all of that time. No wind. We ended up with more than 300mm (12 inches) of rain in that time. That is half of our annual rainfall here in Napier.

The photo above was taken on Tuesday morning. Click on it to enlarge. Our corner fence post is just visible in the middle of the photo. Where you see water is normally grass. The water was still rising. The causeway on the left has never been covered in water before. By Tuesday night, it was knee deep. Our only way in or out was by walking 100m through this lake for 2 days until Thursday afternoon when the water started to subside.

It is the worst storm ever to hit Hawke's Bay and it came with no gales or hurricanes. South of Napier along the coast, tens of thousands of hectares of farmland have been destroyed, washed away with slips and floods. Some parts had 550mm of rain. Whole farms have had their fences washed away. Some farms have had 80% of their topsoil washed away. Houses, bridges and roads have been destroyed.

No earthquake, no hurricane, no tornados. Just rain for 60 hours. A disaster.

looking up the Tutaekuri River

sunset on 12 Rotowhenua Road

View from the road. I have stripped branches off 8 of the lower pine trees so far. Medium term plan is to fell the pine trees to give the gum trees more space to grow. The pines are growing in height by 3-5 metres each year.

Tutaekuri River - Puketapu Bridge

Autumn sunset - on the Puketapu Bridge - spot the photographer?

Look who wants to travel with me to Auckland!

Axel thinks he can hide in here and go on a plane trip!

No-fly zone (3)

I welcome the United Nations ban on flies in Libya.

It is just the start of a world-wide ban on flies.

I want to put forward a case for New Zealand to have the next no-fly zone.

We need to clear the country of mosquitos.

A world without flies is a better world!

No-fly zone (2)

I would have thought that a no-fly zone was 100% no flying. So why are all these jet fighters flying over Libya?

No-fly zone (1)

Europe and the USA are continuing to fight the Bush oil wars which started with Bush 1 in Kuwait and Bush 2 in Iraq. They claim to be defending ‘freedom’.

This is a cynical phrase to hide the real hunt for oil. No war is ever fought for high-minded principles.

My view is always that Blair and Bush 2 should have gone into Zimbabwe before they went into Iraq. The people of Zimbabwe have suffered and continue to suffer under a cruel dictator who does not care for his own people.

Save Zimbabwe now!

night-time apartment view

Nightime view from the apartment looking west just after sunset last Thursday.

Kawekas from above

The Kawekas from above. So far I have only tramped through the trees on a very wet July day but not up to the peaks.

Ruapehu among the clouds

It will be several months yet before there is enough snow on this volcano for the skiers!