What a weird and wonderful week we've just had here in Queenstown. We had cancellations and postponements at the start of the Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival due to snow closing roads, and we had some more cancellations at the end of the festival due to rain closing skifields. If only Mother Nature could make up her mind...? Also, one of the year's most explosive movies opened in Queenstown last Wednesday, the Transformers Movie, which filled up two of Reading Cinema's theatres at midnight. You will hearing more about this movie when it opens in the US come the 4th of July.
Festival Director Simon Green, winding up ahead of this afternoon's (Sunday) Trust Power Queenstown Rotary Duck Race and the Lindauer Top Bloke Finale, said the festival had been "trying and tiring but not without some good highlights."
"There's no doubt it has been a very challenging festival, but the level to which the entire team has risen to the challenge leaves me extremely confident in their ability to carry the festival forward into the future," he said.
To all the folks who were involved in this years Winterfest, a big thank you must be issued to the entire team for being able to do as well as they did considering the weather conditions. Snow closed roads, airports, and Winterfest events last weekend, and this weekend was also affected by rain. Yes, rain. The northerly airstream warmed up the region and also put a damper on local skifields, literally, with Coronet Peak being closed for the entire weekend, which doesn't happen all that often. So to the entire Winterfest team, and all the volunteers to whom without this event couldn't happen, I'd like to issue a massive 'Thank You' on behalf of the Queenstown.com team. Winter wouldn't be the same without this extraordinary event.
Although the parade was canceled, we still held a mini-parade at Creeksyde, with the bubble-copter, bubble car and Naomi, which delighted the guests and us. Look forward to seeing more of the bubble car too.
As for the snow, or lack of, I don't see anything major on the horizon until maybe the end of the week. We may get a light dusting over the next few days with a resumption of the south-westerly winds, bringing down local temperatures, and a return to snowmaking, especially for Coronet. Mind you, the season is only young so let's hope that Mother Nature becomes a little more consistent in regards to temperature and snowfall. The spring snow conditions and Coronet's closure saw the access road to The Remarkables on Saturday closed until 1pm, when people started to leave.
On an environmental note, air pollution levels in Arrowtown have breached the national standard 14 times this year, with four of those breaches in the last week, according to Queenstown Lakes District Councillor John Wilson. This comes on the back of QLDC's refusal to follow recommendations from the Otago Regional Council to help negate the smog effects.
"QLDC supports the regional council's efforts to improve air quality in areas such as Arrowtown where there have been problems in winter months, but considers the plan change does not offer enough evidence on the effect of the proposed level of restriction," QLDC policy analyst Daniel Wells said.
In a nutshell, the recommendation was to have Arrowtown residents restrict the use of many solid fuel burners in homes, and in the 7 page document issued by the ORC, one particular word was only mentioned twice, 'education'. Last week's press release on this issue did herald this little gem: Insulation of property was critical as was ensuring wood was dry. "Clean burn is what is needed and banking a fire overnight does add to the problem," John Wilson said.
In order to understand the effective operation of a woodburning device, we need to grasp a few easily understood principles. Volatile gases are released from wood as it burns. Fifty percent of wood's heat value is contained in these gases and, if not completely burned, they contribute to air pollution. The gases are released from the wood at relatively low temperatures but will not burn until they reach much higher temperatures and are mixed with a proper amount of air. The operator of a woodburning device needs to maintain a hot fire with an adequate supply of air to burn the volatile gases as they are released from the wood.
Also, not burning coal is a great start, especially in this day an age of global warming, etc. A little education can go a long way, and is a much better alternative to have people replace their fireplaces for a fossil fuel like natural gas, or up your already large power bill by using electricity.
Anyways, that's it from me this week, but if you get the chance, pop along to tight-arsed Tuesday at Reading Cinema to view the Transformers movie for $9.50, instead of $13.
Nathan - Queenstown.com Editor.
