How great were those sunrises and sunsets last week? The entire week was just stunning with a lightshow at each end of the day. It almost felt like summer for a few days there and I made sure to get some T-shirt time in.
We shot a few of the amazing sunrises and actually had so many we decided to cull half of them. Our mate Dave Pearce also shot some incredible pictures of the aurora australis. He inspired us to go looking after the next solar flare but the planets weren't aligned and cloud cover shrouded our view of these polar lights. Still, it was nice to be out hunting for images of something so extraordinary.
Just over a month ago we helped Aaron Edwards promote his research project on the management of surf breaks in New Zealand. Dunedin was one of his areas of focus and he was really pleased with the number of Dunedin Light readers who responded and filled in the survey. We will share his findings with you once he has analysed them.
I must admit, some of the questions were a bit shocking to me: like would I be prepared to pay a fee to surf at a popular break, but these are questions that others will ask as surfing increases in popularity around the world. The other side of the surf management debate is, of course, the protection of the breaks that are so important to the surfing community. We probably take it all for granted here because we have an abundance of high-quality breaks, but it would be a tragedy to lose one to poorly executed development, commercial practices or any other misuse of the coastline.
Aaron talks in swell corridors and I think that is an interesting take on the coastline we have here. We simply don't have that data yet, but surely if we were to take the surfing assets seriously in Dunedin then those numbers and that data would be a terrific first step.
Craig Hughes is one of New Zealand's greatest surfboard shapers and he lives in Raglan. About 12 years ago I interviewed him for a story and I clearly remember him saying: "where surfing thrives, tourism follows". As uncomfortable as that statement is, it has played out to be true many times throughout the world. Raglan is a vastly diferent town today. Perhaps in that observation we have a reason for non-surfers to also view the surf breaks as assets to this city.
See you at the beach ...
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