Oddly sun-less day

It's been a very odd day today.  We were forecast to get about 27 degrees but probably got to about 21 or 22.  I spent the day outside cleaning the exterior of the van (as you do on New Year's day!) and was expecting to be in the sun all day but oddly, the sun just never got through.  The skies have been flat and texture-less all day, and there's been a haze evident in pretty much every direction.  The residual effects of of the Australian bush fires have been blown across the Tasman and have pretty much swathed the South Island in similar conditions.  To add some perspective, that means the smoke has been blown a distance approximately equal to London to the tip of Italy's 'boot' in a band broad enough to cover the South Island (approximately 700-800kms.......roughly the distance from London to Inverness).  That gives some measure of the enormity of these fires.  What is not evidenced by figures like these is the ongoing threat to life (including wildlife) and property, the almost superhuman efforts of the firefighters or the desperation of not knowing what's happening to family, friends and homes.  It really feels like it has been an apocalyptic start to the new decade.

By the time the sun was beginning to drop towards the horizon here in Nelson it had taken on a truly surreal appearance.