WATER SHORTAGES.

In yesterday's newspaper we discovered that here in Whangarei water is coming into our supply from the river because of low rain and, consequently, low dam levels.  We have had some wet days but it has been more drizzle or short showers than a good drenching.

Auckland is also asking people to use less water suggesting showers of less than four minutes and says that August will have to be twice as wet as usual to bring levels back to normal.  

Meanwhile in the Southern Highlands between Sydney and Canberra my stepdaughter has been buying water for all of this year and last year (and possibly even longer) .  I am sure she won't mind me sharing a paragraph from her email earlier in the week.

"There is concern here about the long-term weather forecast - it doesn't involve any rain.  They are saying that it will be a dry Spring.  Every morning there's a constant flow of trucks going into B....... Station with hay bales, silage and grain for the cattle and sheep.  I can't imagine how much it must cost.  The man who owns B....... Station also owns a few other large properties in the area so he must store all the feed on one of the other properties.  The dust is unbelievable - even in our house.  C & J from across the road have sold all their cattle because they can't afford to keep feeding them.  No-one seems to know what is going to happen.   A lot of towns are running out of water and are having water trucked in.  This is the worst drought we've ever seen.   Hope our local water supply doesn't dry up or we'll be in trouble.   Amazingly our dam still has quite a lot of water in it so we can keep pumping water up for the garden although we can't get to everything so there have been a few losses."

On a happier note here is a photo I took of the waterfall down the road on our walk yesterday.

QUARRY GARDENS

Last week's Parkinson Walk was at the Quarry Gardens.  As its name suggests it is in an old quarry.  Apart from the "Man in Charge" it is completely volunteer run.

When we go there the majority go on the gentle walk to the lake with 2 or 3 going up the hill.  I went up the hill with a couple of Parkinsonians while Doug walked the lower level and took photos.

It was a lovely mid winter's day and, as you can see, there were three men in shorts.

FIREARMS

Following the Christchurch Massacre various firearms, mainly semi automatic have been banned. 

Doug and his late wife collected firearms.  Doug has already sold the majority but he had some rifles left that came under the scheme because they held more than 10 rounds.

Last Tuesday we went to the local amnesty buy back event.  It was held at Barge Park which was an excellent location.  The start time was 3 p.m. but we decided to go early and arrived just after 2.30 p.m. to find many people already there, some already being processed.  There were also several armed  police outside, something we are not used to here in New Zealand. Doug had seven firearms to hand in mainly Henry and Winchester with one BSA.  

All except the BSA were in new condition still in the boxes and several with the tags still on.  To start with we went to an armourer outside the building who checked that they were all empty.  We then went inside the hall where there were tables with an armourer and a computer operator at each table.  We only waited a short while before being processed.  The armourer had to check the firearms for condition and I think he was nearly in tears saying in some instances that he had the same gun but these were in a far better condition.  It seems such a shame that these are all going to be destroyed however the prices paid were very fair.  All Doug's were rated as new/near new.  

Everyone was very helpful and tea/coffee were available.  By the time we left there was a long queue waiting to be processed.  Everything was valued and processed at the time and all that remains is for the payment to come through.  

I did not think it a good idea to take a photo but below is a photo of an event in a nearby town from our local paper.

BORIS

The cartoon in today's local paper

BIRD RECOVERY CENTRE

While on our walk at the Museum grounds we visited the Bird Recovery Centre see here .  This was started by Robert and Robyn Webb in 1992 and is a wonderful centre.  I have taken birds there myself when they have been injured.  I was unable to photograph any of the birds in the enclosures due to the shade but managed to get a photo of a  kereru in a nearby tree. 

By co-incidence at the Growers' Market on Saturday a lady was making flax flowers and selling them in aid of the centre.

MUSEUM GROUNDS 2.

After seeing the trams and old railway engines we walked back alongside the track and went past the old Riponui Pah School with its interesting notices.

Life was very tough for school teachers then by today's standards anyway.

MUSEUM GROUNDS

Our Parkinson walk on Monday was around the Museum grounds.  It was more of a saunter. 
First we walked alongside the sheds where the old tractors etc are brought back to life but, unfortunately, they were not open.  We carried on and walked by the railway tracks to a shed at the back where some old tram carriages were being worked on.  Outside there were some old engines waiting their turn and a machine that they had built from scratch to work on the tracks.  

You can just see on this top photo that the carriage has been completely stripped back at the sides.  They were also making new windows.  This is all volunteer work.

This is the machine they had made to straighten and work on the railway tracks.

The forecast had been for rain but it was a beautiful day.    We have very rarely had to cancel a walk.  Well, we do not cancel but go to the nearest cafe and just miss the walking part but I can only recall one occasion when we did this.  There was a second but the weather cleared while we had our coffee so we had the walk afterwards.

These engines will be brought back to life as time and funds permit.