Not a nice thing to wake up to

We had a fairly interrupted night's sleep last night as we could hear a helicopter buzzing around. This is very unusual, but we thought it might have been search and rescue trying to find someone. So imagine our surprise this morning when we opened the curtains to see this...

The helicopters that were buzzing us were carrying "monsoon buckets" to help the firefighters douse the flames. The story in the local paper provides more details, and we also sent some photos in under Ian's name. At the time of posting, his was photo 3 (but it may have moved, so scroll through). There's also a video.

Rest assured we are not in danger. The bush is incredibly dry at the moment as we've had a fantastic summer with lots of incredibly hot days, which is unusual for Wellington. While we've appreciated the beautiful weather, this reminds us of the added dangers it brings.