Waimak in Flood

I went to the Waimakariri Gorge to look at the river this morning. Here the nor'wester is a dry wind that sucks the moisture out of the soil. This is because it has dumped its cargo of water on the West Coast and mountains, where the annual rainfall can be measured in metres. As a result, although it is very dry here the rivers can be flooded.

The Waimakariri River was almost as high as it was the day I took my first blip. The water was a dirty milky colour and it was in a big hurry. To get this shot I had to lean out over the balustrade of this bridge and aim the camera straight down. Because the surface of the water was changing all the time I took several shots. (I liked this one because of the wave lower right.) Looking down on the rushing, swirling water made me feel dizzy. This was not helped by the big trucks and speeding cars that passed little more than a metre from me on the one-lane bridge. The things we do for blips...

The nor'wester died away this morning and late this afternoon there were dark storm clouds, thunder, hail and much needed rain, but mostly it was a lovely day. I did some gardening and mowed the back lawn.


Try it in big.