Today I have another two in my… on DailyBooth

Serendip

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February 22nd, 2010

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Today I have another two in my net (you all will make a nice human chowder one day) ummm, anyway, WELCOME @hodgey123 and @Joseph_Leonardson!!! Thanks for following me guys :)

My picture is of a bush fire in Titahi Bay, about 17 miles from where I live. Looking at the hill you would think that there is nothing to burn but I think looks are deceptive, also the valleys hold far more burnable matter to make up for the hills lack.

I hope everyone is well!

KirkToEnterprise
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Amazing! is this recent? and how did it start?

February 22nd, 2010
Bannie
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I thought it was summer in NZ @serendip. It doesn't look too hot judging from the people on the beach. Maybe they needed the fire to keep warm!

February 22nd, 2010
Rennybird
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whoa that is intense. what i like best is how the people on the beach just don't seem to care. just going about their everyday business of beach walking..or in that kids case...wave stomping.
i would be flipping out. but i suppose it's a regular occurrence there? i have no idea

February 22nd, 2010
Serendip
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@KirkToEnterprise & @Bannie & @RennyBird
The story:
On Sunday 21st of February I got up, in the afternoon sometime (don't judge me!!!) and thought the air seemed mighty foggy, but my guess was a fire somewhere, it was the wrong colour and when I got outside it smelt! So I thought I would go round the bays to where I thought it probably was, but as I drove there the haze faded away.

I thought then to go visit a friend who I had not seen in a while, and on the way I saw that the fire was not out at all, it was burning very strongly, but fortunately Titahi Bay has an attached island in the middle with noone living there, and that is where the fire was (@jimbonius might like to provide us with a google earth map?). I say noone, but that is overlooking all the small animals and birds that may have been there.

@Bannie it has been a very dissapointing summer so far, but it was not really cold just quite overcast and a bit of a breeze blowing, as the smoke indicates.

@RennyBird I havn't seen a fire like that for decades, infact im not sure that I can remember one so resembling a volcano as this one. People were rubbernecking all over, this beach is not usually so populated. And what are you going to do anyway, you start jumping up and down and people look at like "Wtf" so you sit back and watch...

When I was going home about 9.30PM it was still going, they had it under control, no threat to life or housing, so I guess they left it to burn itself out.

February 22nd, 2010
h0nd054n
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wow... these are amazing pictures! i've only seen bush fires in australia when they burned down some areas in controlled environments... i remember that we couldn't see the street we were driving on... the smoke was probably as thick as this!

February 22nd, 2010
Serendip
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@Hondosan fires in Australia have been known to change the colour of the sky, especially the sunset, in New Zealand. This fire is a mere campfire compared to some of theirs i reckon, but nevertheless the smoke is very intense and also rising well above the clouds. In the top picture you can just see a helicopter infront of the smoke (one pixel spot, just to the right of the yellowness), and it is extremely tiny!

February 23rd, 2010
windflower
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I was there too! My photo isn't quite as spectacular as yours. It was taken out of a moving vehicle. (I wasn't driving.)

February 23rd, 2010
Serendip
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But @windflower you're not even pointed in the right direction, more to the right :P
I went past there twice since then, as you know, and notice that even though the hill looks black, there is still quite a few patches of green left, quite amazing.
I didn't manage to take a picture, it was quite dark when I went home in the end.

February 25th, 2010
jimbonius
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That looks like a volcano!

Sorry to appear to have been asleep at the wheel for my job as Guesswork Geographer, but I've been out of digital touch for the past week.

So was it Mana Island, off the coast, as this hopeful shot indicates? Titahi Bay seems to have a shoal or sandbar in it proper, but that really lloks like it has nothing to burn...

February 28th, 2010
Serendip
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Heh @Jimbonius to the rescue!!! And welcome back.
No it wasn't Mana Island.

I made a google map of my own, yours will help to make sense of it. Hopefully it will be readible!

March 1st, 2010
5erg
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@Serendip woa good pictures

August 17th, 2010
Serendip
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@5erg Thanks :)
Omw to bed just now so speak to you laters...

August 17th, 2010