Helicopter – Tuna Fishing by Helicopter

Whats that helicopter doing there you might ask?

Using the Seine fishing method this is how they go about fishing for Tuna.

A vessel such as the Capt M J SOUZA is known as a is purse seiner, or in her specific case a super seiner.

According to info on Talleys Fisheries fleet site;

The Capt. M.J. Souza is based in the Western and Central Pacific for most of the year. During the summer months the vessel fishes back in NZ around the top of the North Island for Skip Jack Tuna. Trip lengths can vary from 20 to 70 days depending on the fishing.

Actually the spotting job is shared between this machine and the guy up in the spotting tower.

Once a school of Tuna is spotted its all hands on deck as they use a high speed large dingy to tow the net out and encircle the fish.

That’s the net you can see on the back of the boat.

Haulashore Island how to get to it

Just off-shore at the southern end of Nelsons famous Boulder Bank, and separated by the man made “The Cut” is Haulashore Island.

To gain public access to the Island you have to take the ferry.

It leaves near this signpost close to the Nelson Yacht Club, adjacent to the Rescue/Coastguard boat.

A pleasant thing to do when you’re in Nelson.

Over 16,000 DC3's were built

In the last few days a grand old lady of the skies has been in Nelson offering joy-flights.

 

Quite amazing to learn that so many of these old girls were built.

Old and new technology meet at Nelson Airport.

With talk that jet travel is only going to get faster, and therefore distances shorter, its only natural to imagine that the air transport lanes in NZ are only going to get busier. 

Between the Sea and…..

Well as luck would have it, I just happened to be up on the hill today answering a phone call to help a potential seller ascertain what their home might be worth……and then when I got back in my car to leave……….

…. I just couldn’t help but notice that the angle of the sun had shown the very noticeable difference in colour ………..

………between the Haven and the outside ocean……...by Ocean I mean the Tasman Sea on the other side of the Boulder Bank.

I thought it was worthy of a snap or 2, for no other reason than I just love turquoise coloured water really.
……..the small photos ……well pls let me explain……I’ve just started using the latest version of Microsoft Windows Live Writer……...and until later……...this is just what it seems to do……..but just click on the photo for a larger version.

Nelsons Annual Trolley Derby this Sunday

This is the before shot…….

Paddys Knob

Courtesy of its name, this local landmark has in the past actually been featured on international websites drawing attention to weird place names.

Its a great look out situated just above the southern area of Tahunanui.
Affording views out over the water to the North, you can also see practically the whole of Tahunanui Beach and the back beach.













To the west & south-west you view out over the airport, towards Blind Channel and Rabbit Island on to the hinterland that forms Upper Moutere and then to the Western Ranges in the distance.

If you're curious about what the names of the different peaks are, they are marked out for you to see on 3 plagues dotted around the circumference of the lookout to aid you in identifying local landmarks.















However there is a reason for the name......and here it is.....

Intense Sunset Saturday Night

Last nights sunset was certainly, to coin a phrase, vivid.

Aotearoa Mural Recently Facelifted

Most anyone, the first time, they travel around the Quay onwards in a southerly direction to Tahunanui take a second look at this fabulous mural.

Originally painted around 1984, the toll from the elements was starting to show.



















It was recently repainted, and the original artist, Chris Finlayson, was recommissioned to do it all over again.

This time though Chris sought assistance from the local community, and dozens signed on to help, in what Chris described to the Nelson Mail as being like a "paint-by-numbers working bee for adults."

Taking Advantage of the Situation

Last week I commented here about the spring (well summer)
tides we have been recently exposed to.

The combination of the moon being closer to the earth than
at any other period in 2010, and a full moon too boot, in fact
a blue moon if memory serves me right.........they were very
high - 4.6m it was reported.
















However just as some folk are concerned about rising sea
levels, its also interesting to see that some homes have
actually taken advantage of it!

New Zealand's Highest & Lowest 2010 Tides

Yes already - yup I know ................the year is only a month old, but for us down-under with opposite seasons to most of the population of the world - its just a fact of life for us. So at about 5:30 - 6:00pm tonight this was the story - picture.















.....and all this.....well its courtesy of a small factoid buried in this Red Alert page over at at NZ's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, more commonly known by Kiwi's by their acronym, NIWA..............remember that big squid?

Point here is ..........I'm sure that NIWA would rather be talking about something romantic like the clearest or the cleanest water in the whole world but I guess they just happened to luck out........

Basically on account of this small fact........except for flooding, or a particularly correctly angled rogue on-shore breeze.....read a bit more than a Zephyr here - you probably won't see the sea get this high at Tahunanui again, until same time next year - 2011.

And here below was the same place - about noon or just a few minutes after, today.

Between me and you.....

And that closest moon of 2010, that sea water, well it
got just a wee bit close for comfort these last few days!

Nelson - now thats what I call a Sunset

Annual Sarau Festival yesterday

Our region traces back its multi-cultural ancestry
to the beginning of European settlement.

















Settlers arrived here very early on from Germany
and formed a settlement at Upper Moutere.

With food and faire of various multi-cultural styles on offer
yesterday was a beautiful summers day to visit the
third annual Sarau Festival.

















Visiting experts who talked about Black-Currants
and the farming of, were popular with the locals.
















The Japanese Drummers proved popular early on.


















It certainly was a festival weekend in the region.
Over at Founders Heritage Park in Nelson yesterday, about 600 showed up for Jamaican Jump Up II, a celebration of Caribbean food.
While over in Golden Bay yesterday, it was the unusual that brought them far and wide to the Collingwood Summer Food Fair.
According to our local paper The Nelson Mail, if you so desired items like, roast pukeko, Stingray, barbecued sheep eyes, sheep brains, and pig testicles were all on the menu.