5 March 2013

Waiting for rain

It isn't officially a drought as no-one's got around to declaring one around here yet, but the last rainfall we had was on Waitangi Day a month ago. And before that, it had been about 3 weeks before the previous rain. The fire danger is extreme and it's getting very scary out there. There were dust devils dancing in the log yard at work, and the forests are so dry that harvesting has been restricted. It has been glorious for exploring the beautiful Bay of Plenty, especially all the lakes for swimming in, but everyone is now desperately hoping for rain.

And it isn't just us: Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Marlborough, Canterbury, Southland - all of them are dust-dry and scorched bare. Even Wellington has had the golden summer of a lifetime and has massive water restrictions in place - made more awkward by the fact that one of the reservoirs is being fixed or renovated or something and isn't working.

There are no water restrictions in Rotorua yet but everyone's being very careful anyway.

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