Meanwhile, in Te Wai Pounamu....

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Timaru Herald....

Train repair project picks up steam

By SARAH JARVIS | 5:00AM - Thursday, 31 July 2014


WORK UNDER WAY: Dowell McLeod, of Christchurch, works on the Ab699 steam locomotive at the
Pleasant Point Museum and Railway. — MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/Fairfax NZ.

PLEASANT POINT Museum and Railway's grand locomotive Ab699 is undergoing some long-awaited upgrades that should have it up and running by Christmas.

Christchurch-based locomotive supervisor Dowell McLeod has been in charge of working on the 85-tonne steam locomotive.

Maintenance has included repairing and recladding the boiler.

“What we are doing to it now will last the rest of its life,” McLeod said.

Any repair work to the boiler had to be inspected and if it passed inspection it should be in operation by Christmas, he said.

It has been a year since it was taken out of service.

The engine entered service in 1922 and worked throughout the North Island before arriving in the South Island in 1958. It is one of only seven Ab699 locomotives left, and undergoes a yearly visual inspection and a major inspection every 10 years.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/10330316/Train-repair-project-picks-up-steam

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from The Timaru Herald....

Tekapo turns on a winter wonderland

More snow predicted inland

By SAHIBAN KANWAL | 5:00AM - Wednesday, 13 August 2014


TAKE THAT: Lake Tekapo experienced snow overnight on Monday and, from left, Sally Kahl, Anne Petterson,
Lynne Frost and James Cage decided to have some fun. — JOHN BISSET/Fairfax NZ.

THE SNOW that fell at Lake Tekapo on Monday night will stay for most of the week.

It may even be added to with the prospect of more snow inland today.

MetService meteorologist Nicole Ranger said Timaru will be fine and frosty today and tomorrow, although a southerly change is expected this afternoon.

The change is forecast to bring snow down to 300 metres tonight.

Tomorrow will see a mix of fine spells and showers, with a cold south-westerly all day.

“Friday will improve and the cold wind will die out,” Ranger said.

“It will be fine for most of the day and a maximum of 14 degrees Celsius is expected.”

Saturday will bring light winds and a maximum of 13C°.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/10376939/Tekapo-turns-on-a-winter-wonderland

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Timaru Herald....

Stafford Street shops re-open after fires

Christmas display goes up in flames

By JACK MONTGOMERIE | 12:02PM - Wednesday, 03 December 2014


Firefighters at the scene of the window-display fire at Ballantynes' Timaru store this afternoon.
 — MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/Fairfax Media.

BALLANTYNES' Timaru shop is to re-open at 1pm today after a fire yesterday in one of the shop's Christmas display windows.

A Ballantynes spokesperson said there was no fire sale planned at the Stafford Street shop.

Ballantynes had no official comment on when the window display would be repaired.


Burnt items in the Christmas display
windows at Ballantynes. It is not yet known
how much stock was damaged in the fire.
 — MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/Fairfax Media.

A separate fire on the opposite side of Stafford Street on Monday caused smoke damage in Timaru restaurant Sukhothai.

Its owners confirmed this morning the restaurant would re-open on Friday evening.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/63778376/Stafford-Street-shops-re-open-after-fires


from The Timaru Herald....

Request for fire footage

5:00AM - Saturday, 06 December 2014


A figure in Timaru's Ballantynes Christmas window display goes up in flames. — JANE RIDDLE/ Facebook.

TIMARU fire service is asking members of the public for any videos and photos they may have of the Christmas window fire at Ballantynes in Timaru on Tuesday.

Fire service fire safety officer Kevin Collins understood some people had taken photos, and possibly video, of the fire.

While his investigation indicated the electric motor driving the animation in one of the characters had caused the fire, he said viewing photos and video would help finish the inquiry.

He was particularly keen to view video showing the sprinkler system turning on and operating, as it was rare for such a sequence to be caught on film.

• Videos and photos can be to: kevin.collins@fire.org.nz.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/63893866/Request-for-fire-footage

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from Fairfax NZ....

Mount Cook photographer delights in eerie cloud formations

“Aliens” on the doorstep — eerie cloud formations provide
an intriguing canvas for a Mount Cook photographer.

By CHRIS HYDE | 10:43AM - Tuesday, 01 March 2016


Clouds over Mount Cook provide photographer Simon Middlemass with an endless canvas.

ALIENS regularly come to life outside the front door of Simon Middlemass.

For the past 15 months, a wide variety of lenticular clouds have formed around Middlemass as he has co-managed the New Zealand Alpine Club base Unwin Lodge on the footsteps of Aoraki-Mount Cook.

The eerie phenomena of New Zealand's highest alpine area have understandably captured the imagination of the mountaineer and photographer.

“Most of these photographs are taken from the front door, this view being our daily fare — looking straight up the Tasman Valley to Elie de Beaumont,” Middlemass said.


A ghost cloud floats over a ridge.


Mount Cook photographer Simon Middlemass has been documenting the “alien” cloud formations that appear regularly at his front door.


Snails and spinning tops and goodness knows what else?


A twister in the sky, or so it seems.

“It's an ever-changing land and cloud-scape that one never tires of and is never the same.”

“Many of the clouds seem to take on alien forms or are reaching out from the heart of the mountains to those beyond.”

Middlemass, who had previously worked at Mount Cook in the 1980s doing Alpine Search and Rescue for the Department of Lands and Survey, returned with his wife to live in Mount Cook after a couple of years in Copenhagen because they were missing the New Zealand mountains.

He started photography while at university and got into mountaineering to capture scenes in remote places that his friends were visiting.


The smooth surface of a lenticular cloud at sunrise.


Cloud weaves its way across the sky.


The weather provides photographer Simon Middlemass with a palette of light and colour to capture stunning photos of clouds over the mountains.


Mount Cook photographer Simon Middlemass has been documenting the “alien” cloud formations that appear regularly at his front door.

Middlemass lists professional photographer friends — Rob Brown, Colin Monteath and Mark Watson — as his inspiration.

“They all return to the Aoraki-Mount Cook area time and time again. The weather constantly provides a palette of light and colour we are fortunate enough to have in in our front yard.”

• Simon Middlemass @ Facebook

http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/77403148

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(click on the picture to read the news story)

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