We all have the potential to clear away the clouds and experience more
clear blue sky.
– Rod Watson, psychotherapist, Wild Tomato, issue 78 January 2013, p.66
I've recently returned from a week in Nelson, my favourite
place apart from Picton and Hanmer Springs (and Florence if I’m allowed to
count Europe). On the first day I wondered why people leave their comfortable homes to put up
with, in my case a dripping tap over the kitchen sink, a wall clock that had
stopped at 11.50am, a set of shelves that stuck together whenever you pulled out a
drawer, neighbours who wake noisily at
6am, a complete lack of items like graters,
decent wine glasses, kitchen scissors
(and you know how impossible packaging is to get into sometimes), planes flying very low overhead at all
hours of the day on the way to Nelson airport. I wrote a poem about all this
years ago. However the view over the
estuary at Tahuna and the silk tree in flower and the relaxation of lying
around reading and catching up with family and being able to go and see movies
on a big screen without having to drive 25kms probably made up for it all.
I returned home to
find a lovely stone that my neighbour had illustrated for me as I had helped
edit her children’s book, A Long Dusty
Road. The stone has a Shakespeare
quote on it for my mini -Shakespeare garden.
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows ...
In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania, Queen of the fairies often
sleeps with her female companions at night on such a bank. Her partner, Oberon, is jealous and decides to play a trick on her.
Yesterday someone
asked me if this was a usual kind of garden for people to have. ‘Oh yes I said, people do all sorts of things
in their gardens’. Prior to this I had quotes
on pieces of paper, laminated and attached to green plastic stakes but they
didn’t last in the rain or got blown away in the wind. It sounds like I have
many relevant quotes, in reality I only ever got around to creating two!
Proposed move of
ferries to Clifford Bay (to be operational by 2020)
The ferries have been coming into Picton for
50 years, since the advent of
the Aramoana in 1962, well
for many years before that if you think about all the small steamers like the Penguin which ran backwards and forwards
between Wellington and Picton and Nelson. The trip on the Interislander is rated
the 11th best thing to do according to the Automobile Association’s list
of 101 must-do’s in New Zealand. What is the Government thinking!
Some concerns:
The first one is
mine, see sources for others below.
·
Salt works at Lake Grassmere: 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes of salt are processed by
Dominion Salt at Lake Grassmere each year using sea water and natural evaporation,
definitely a ‘clean green’ product. Production first began in 1943. See www.dominionsalt.co.nz
What happens if the ferries move to
Clifford Bay and the ocean becomes contaminated through shipping and potential
fuel spills? Is anyone investigating this?
·
Threat to the habitat of Hector's dolphins, an
endangered species found only in New Zealand. The Clifford and Cloudy Bay
area is one of six marine mammal sanctuaries. Five of the sanctuaries were set up specifically
to protect Hector’s dolphins. See www.doc.govt.nz
·
Risk of collision between ferries and dolphins
and humpback whales as this is the route the whales take swimming up the east coast of New Zealand on the way to Tonga (in Tonga July-October to breed then return to Antarctica to feed; June/July Cook Strait whale surveys
·
Earthquake
and tsunami risk. Clifford Bay is rated highly in the Marlborough Hazards Register
·
School closures
·
Possible reduction in medical services
·
Picton businesses significant loss of revenue
·
Stress for Picton people, especially business
owners
·
lack of
further investment in existing businesses by current owners
·
Possible fall in property prices
Sources of above: Wild
Tomato, issue 78 January 2013, ‘Picton Sailing into Stormy Waters’ pp.41-43;
Picton business survey (done independently by Sarah O’Bryan), reported in Marlborough
Express, 29 January 2013; ongoing articles in Marlborough Express.
The Marlborough
District Council has signed a confidentiality agreement with the Government not
to reveal outcomes of any discussions on the proceedings which is a concern for citizens who believe they have
a democratically elected local body.
Some people are
talking about Picton becoming a Destination instead of a place that people pass
through on their way to somewhere else, and how good that will be for the town. Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee is
quoted as saying: ‘Picton could become another
Queenstown’, but is this a reality? He might ‘love’ Picton and have a holiday
house in the Marlborough Sounds but Queenstown as Marlborough’s Mayor Alistair
Sowman points out, has an international airport. Others say the loss of the ferries will mean
the loss of one million plus travellers each year with a subsequent loss of
revenue both for Port Marlborough and Marlborough business owners. As my father says Queenstown also has Coronet
Peak and winter activities like skiing and related festivals so they also have
a marvellous winter venue, a time when many Picton businesses suffer.
I suggest you enter
the discussion and have your say at the scheduled public meetings.
My favourite aunt
has just passed away in Auckland, my father’s sister. Her home was always full of books, art works
on loan from the public library and exuberant conversation. It’s a reminder to
get on and do all the things one wants to do.
