1996 Emergency Rescue Services

New Zealand’s rescue services provide the country with an important safety net, including well-trained people who are dedicated to the task of rescuing others. Danger comes in many forms. Fire, flood, earthquake, cyclone and far too often human error, all pose a threat to people’s safety. There are eight New Zealand rescue organisations featured on the new stamp issue - they all have one thing in common, saving lives. 

2018 Reconnecting New Zealand.

        This is a spectular set of stamps. They have used the pictorial format to produce six large stamps showing the work and scope of this large project. The subjects of trucks, trains and diggers would appeal to thematic collectors as well. There are also some great photos on the covers and miniature sheets too with lots of good information regarding the views on each stamp in the presentation packs. Well done NZ Post!

 

         It took one year, one month, and one day to reopen State Highway 1 after the magnitude-7.8 Kaikōura Earthquake on 14 November 2016. Freight trains had returned to the railway just 10 months after tracks had been thrown into the sea. In all, 1,700 people worked more than 2 million hours to move mountains and reconnect the communities isolated by the quake.

2018 Wahine 50 Anniversary

          When the Wahine departed Lyttelton Harbour at 8.40pm on 9 April 1968, there were 734 passengers and crew on board. The overnight voyage to Wellington was nothing new to Captain HG Robertson: the often-turbulent Cook Strait was familiar in all its ill-behaved weather and swells. However, on this evening no-one was prepared for the raging storm that occurred when Cyclone Giselle swept down the coast, colliding with a southerly front. The result was one of the worst recorded storms in New Zealand’s maritime history.

          In the early hours of the morning on 10 April 1968, Wellington Harbour was encroaching on the near horizon. With the wind blowing at 50 knots, a common stiff breeze in Wellington terms, Captain Robertson made the decision to enter the narrow entrance to the harbour. On entering, the wind suddenly picked up and dramatically increased to a powerful 100 knots. Huge waves slammed the ship, forcing it towards Barrett Reef. With the radar system having failed, the Captain attempted to manoeuvre the ship back out to sea.
          The storm continued to wreak havoc, dragging the ship along the reef, causing further damage, and preventing rescuers from approaching it. Its ferocity also delayed the captain’s decision to abandon ship, as he believed that people would be safer on board.
          The first survivors began washing up on Seatoun foreshore, and others were plucked out of the water by boats waiting nearby. Most of those tossed into the waves were swept to Eastbourne’s rocky foreshore, where slips prevented rescuers reaching them quickly, and many suffered from being exposed to the harsh, deteriorating conditions. Many would ask how such a tragedy could occur right on the doorstep of the nation's capital. But it did and while the storm raged, many of the people in Wellington at the time went to watch the foundering of the Wahine unfold.
          News reports quickly spread across the country making this one of the most documented tragedies of our time. These stamps show the Wahine in all her glory and the sequence of how the day played out. The newspaper headings on each stamp are fictitious but acknowledge the role media played in telling the story.

2008 Weather Extremes

        New Zealand Post is committed to sustainability and currently exploring ways to minimise its impact on the environment. This stamp issue was part of that commitment – highlighting New Zealand’s own weather extremes, which are remarkably diverse for such a small nation. Each of the stamps in this issue focused on different elements of New Zealand's weather extremes.

        As the climate warms, New Zealand is expected to experience more weather extremes. They will reach into all aspects of life in this country. The first-day cover highlighted our weather extremes in one place, displaying all six stamps and their dramatic images illustrating the impact of climate change, which through warmer weather is expected to have a significant effect on our agricultural industry.

In my line of work, dairy farming, the weather plays a huge part in our business. Our milking season begins in August so it is important that we have a good spring. Too much rain and cold, the grass doesn't get away. Not enough rain and again we don't make good hay and run out of feed. Then there is flooding on the bottom flats. Windburn up on the top ridge. Cold winds during lambing. Mud, frost, rain, wind -  sounds like fun doesn't it?  

1894 The Wreck of the SS Wairarapa.

         In the third worst shipwreck ever in New Zealand waters, 121 lives were lost when the Union Steam Ship Company steamer SS Wairarapa struck Miners Head, on the northern tip of Great Barrier Island, 90 km north-east of Auckland. As the island’s only contact with the outside world was via a weekly steamer, news of the shipwreck took three days to reach Auckland. This highlighted the need for better communication between the island and the mainland. A need that would eventually lead to the Great Barrier Pigeongram Services.

1963 Crash Cover.

        Here is something a bit different.

        On 3 July 1963, a NAC Douglas DC-3 crashed into the Kaimai Ranges in New Zealand's North Island while flying in clouds and turbulence. The aircraft was flying from Whenuapai Airport, in Auckland, to Tauranga.

       The crash happened when the aircraft struck a vertical rock face after encountering a strong downdraft. The aircraft may also have commenced an early descent with the pilots unaware of the true position of the aircraft, on the wrong side of the ranges. All 23 people on board were killed. The wreckage remains on the hillside to this day, with a small memorial cairn beside it.

2006 Hawke's Bay Earthquake

75th Anniversary of the Hawke's Bay Earthquake.

          The 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake, also known as the Napier Earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47 am on Tuesday 3 February 1931, killing 256 and devastating the Hawke's Bay region. It remains New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster. Centred 15 km north of Napier, it lasted for two and a half minutes and measured magnitude 7.8 M_s (magnitude 7.9 M_w). There were 525 aftershocks recorded in the following two weeks. The main shock could be felt through much of the southern half of the North Island.
         In 2006, 75 years after the main earthquake, NZ Post issued this set of stamps remembering this event in New Zealand's History. The stamps appeared in their own sheet of 20 stamps, each depicting some aspect of the earthquake and its effects on the people of the region. What I like about this set is that when put the stamps together they tell the story of this event.
         That is what I intend to do with this post. First, we will view the whole sheet of 20 stamps then I will display each stamp separately and show you the part it plays in the story.