More smoke

My last day in New Zealand. I’m not ready to leave. I could easily stay longer but I’ve got the chance to meet my sister so I’m off back to Asia.

The fires on the Port Hills were still burning in the morning, sending smoke into the bay. The main road into Christchurch from Governor’s Bay is closed so we had to go via Lyttleton. My blip is a phone shot taken from the moving car looking back over the bay with K’s dog Velvet sticking her nose out the window.


Early afternoon brought the horrible news that a helicopter fighting the fire had crashed, killing the pilot. All helicopters were grounded for a while. Later a few resumed dropping water. By late afternoon when K dropped me at the airport the fires were worse and had moved around the hills closer to K’s house. Some people living closest were preparing to evacuate but since K is further round the bay, they thought they would be ok.