The 1st day of Autumn

The annual Buller Area River Festival is on in Murchison this weekend. Lots of enthusiasts pour into the village and take part in kayaking and rafting events on both the Buller River and the Matakitaki River.

This morning in my non-teaching time I took a group of keen lads out to watch the kayaking on the Matakitaki River. When we got there the sky was still grey and you couldn't see the hills. By 11 a.m this is what it looked like - image is straight from the camera, I've not touched the colour in any way. Typical Murchison autumn day (and the temp reached over 30 again today - so much for winter coming).

The racing was scheduled to start at 10 - this shot is taken at 11 when they were just having the pre-racing briefing. Apparently that is normal in the kayaking fraternity. It would drive me mad but none of the particpants seemed phased by it at all.

I got some neat kayaking photos, but I thought this really represented the morning for me. By the time we headed back to school I was a melting mess, and it has just gone on to get hotter and hotter all afternoon.