Random Scenes of Drought

Drought has now officially been declared here.  I was driving along the road home from Napier a few days ago when I noticed a scene off to my left which does not usually register with me because they are just green fields and hills and a study of them would necessitate me taking my eyes off the very windy road.  It struck me, though, that the fields were no longer green.  So I parked the car and walked back for some photos.

The same hills a few days later.  The photo was taken an hour or so later in the evening which makes a difference to the light.

I've included this photo of the irrigaters in front of The Cottage simply because of the contrast and the fact that I like the light coming through the water.
 

Thankful Thursday

The hills of Southern Hawkes Bay are as dry as I have seen them in the 8 summers I've lived here.  I took these photos on Monday.  No significant rain is expected until March.  Everything will, however, survive.  Rain will come.  No one will starve or die for lack of water.  For that we should all be very thankful because there are many in the world who this very year, this very month, this very week, this very day will die because they have no water (and many more will die because they have no potable water).

Rain or No Rain: That Is The Difference

When I came up to Northland last summer the ground was parched after serious drought conditions.  This year I have noticed a huge difference.   Northland may have been bracing itself for a drought before Christmas but since then the rains have come and these photos show the comparisons (taken at the same place) between then and today.  Mind you the biggest difference is the fact that when I took today's photos it was pouring down!  The photos were taken in the Waiotira from the Pikawahini Road.

Danger of Drought

There is already at this very early stage in the summer talk of drought in Hawkes Bay and the Drought Committee met today: apparently the earliest anyone could recall it meeting.  Certainly the orchard in front of  The Cottage is being watered constantly at the moment.  We get our water from underground using our own borehole and pump into our own 500 gallon water tank and, unlike many areas nearby where there is a very high iron content, ours is wholesome water.

The orchard takes its water from the same underground reserves. They've never run dry yet but....