Over this weekend, Motueka in our fair region, hosted the biggest skydiving (“Parachutists to old timers”) annual event in New Zealand.
your eyes have to struggle to see them doing their formations that far up...
In years past, …..ok actually quite a few, Nelson was a spot where skydivers also landed, however the expansion and bustle of the local Nelson Airport (now NZ’s 4th or 5th busiest depending on who you talk to) has now made that, sadly, impossible to continue with.
Even better news this year is that Skydive have a new plane,
Skydives just acquired Pilatus PC-6/B2-H4 landing at Motueka Airport
……and a beauty this Pilatus PC-6/B2-H4 is too ( rego - ZK-XIT ), just perfect for this type of work.
GoPro Cameras were all the rage....
Saw her in Nelson a week or two ago diving out of the sky at a surreal angle to land at Nelson Airport, where she underwent a new paint job to present herself in Skydives livery.
But back to the story, if you look very closely at the below photograph,
just to the right of top centre (you may have to click on it to enlarge the pic) you’ll notice what looks like a black dot with a streak above it. I’m pretty sure that is our lucky chap shaking hands above, although from my vantage point it didn’t look that big. (well big enough to be a human that is)
....nearly there...
Except as this next shot above amply demonstrates, at the time of this photo he wasn’t too sure how long it was going to take to get down to the ground.
And finally terra firma….with what I would believe to be the fastest heart rate on the day.
Matter of fact I was just taking photos, and it was my wife who alerted me the situation, next door where all the competitors were, practically every set of eyes was skyward. ( just in case you are curious - it is not normal to land with two chutes open….especially like this!)
Overall though it was a beautiful weather day, no clouds at all, just beaut cool dense air - perfect for these sports persons, but some had good landings and others, well….I think they were practicing.
Here’s a photo of the landing zone area, those small aircraft in the background….well they’re from NZ’s largest flight training organisation, NMIT Flight Training school campus, also based at the Motueka Airport.
“Which way is North?” is asked just about as often of an Estate Agent as is “Why are they selling?”
With the later, professional courtesy usually preludes further info dissemination on the grounds of it being confidential info..…but in the case of the former…..well read on….
In particular, I originally singled out an app, Sun Board.
In reality it answered the perennial question……posed above.
Home Buyers in Nelson are always asking where is north, but 99% of them ask it because they want to know the answer to one question….”where is the Sun.” [this is relevant only for southern hemisphere property buyers, obvious its the reverse for those north of the equator, they will be desiring to know "which way is south?"]
Today, Sky TV dishes also help to point the way….but I digress.
Which way is North?
It’s the question all real estate buyers should ask, especially those unfamiliar with a location.
Heck, even a local who has lived in the town for a decade can ask it.
Perhaps because they are visiting a part of town they haven’t before, & they find themselves topographically challenged…in a way…. “they’ve lost their bearings.”
So in the best “there’s an app for that” tradition, comes my latest find, Astroid.
The above graphic shows [had to take photo as having hassles with "screen-shotting" this one] an image taken from my phone displaying a Stoke location in Nelson which clearly delineates today’s sunshine rise and set.
Map or Satellite view - you decide
As a matter of fact, that rise and set is just as important as “where the sun is now” in Nelson.
We don’t really have an issue with summer sun. Most places on earth don’t. No, most buyers efforts are concentrated on ascertaining where the sun rises and sets in winter, as it should be.
For Nelson real estate property buyers then, that “winter sunshine factor” most definitely has a direct relationship on property prices.
A case of “make sure you do your homework” or seriously consider engaging a knowledgeable local.
Matter of fact this isn’t just an app for Realtors, its perfect for PFRE photographers or even for buyers in Nelson looking at homes for sale, to use themselves for confirmation.
Previously I’ve been at pains to point out the absolute certainty that great photography adds the biggest element to a property listing, here on realestate.co or other listing sites that showcase photographic evidence of the listing alongside.
"...brings back memories...?'
Tell me that photos like the one above don’t already do something for you….
Just serene....
Well if not, then perhaps you must be a daytime oriented person …. tell me then that this photo here doesn’t do something for you?
Misty Mountains beckon.....
And then they topped it off with a couple that looked like paintings.
The great news is that you could live here, although sorry to say on this occasion its not in the Top of The South, no this time we’re visiting Taupo Bay Road, Taupo Bay in Northland.
I notice in one of the photos attached to the listing there is a chopper taking off, so it looks like overall it was a pretty full-on photo shoot…..but what results, you can really “feel” it.
Courtesy of Takeabreak, Nelson has a selection of various publicly browser accessible Webcams scattered around the town.
I was reminded of that whilst viewing the amount of live TCYasi footage on Ustream via the different webcams and iPhones over the last few days. To that end, I noticed its been at least 14 months since I updated you with the Nelson webcam details.
Who knows, if you’re looking to buy a home / or an investment property in Nelson, then this way you can get to check out the yearly seasons beforehand.
Above one looks out at the entrance to “The Cut” where 99.9% of all ships come & go to gain entry/exit to Port Nelson (Open Day coming up don’t forget) , The Haven and the marina.
From high on Princes Drive, this webcam looks out over Nelson Airport, the adjacent Nelson Golf Club, and over Blind Channel towards Rabbit Island centre of shot.
One of New Zealands favourite holiday / honeymoon spots, Kaiteriteri.
The Richmond area was in the later half of last decade nominated as one of New Zealand’s fastest growing suburbs/towns. Sponsored by the Tasman District Council this webcam offers up views of Richmond, the Waimea Plains and the estuarine Waimea Inlet to the right of shot.
Our “world famous in NZ” local beach, Tahunanui Beach is where thousands of Kiwis come to spend their summer holidays. There’s a couple here, this one looks over the beach, with the “Back Beach” off to the left, and the next one below…..
Takes a closer look at the area where the Kite Surfing crowds regularly congregate, and a perfect way for someone to check out the available winds before heading down to the beach.
look for this on the lefthand sidebar to get swift access to the web-cams
If you are after quick access to the top mentioned cams, then I have just updated the webcam links on my left hand sidebar.
UPDATE 9:29pm
- not 100% but I think the links above are “kinda live” …..so if the pics you see are black then that’s whats happening in front of that particular web-cam right now…its dark because………well……its night-time…..??
You spot a property for sale, say in Nelson, yet the advert doesn’t mention the property for sale’s address.
So because there is no obvious address associated with the advert, you have to phone the telephone number advertised adjacent.
Then you patiently conduct an interview just to find out that address.
(Must point out here that there are very good reasons why us real estate marketers do in fact ask those questions….buts that a story for another time.)
Much has been written over the last few years about the assistance that the World Wide Web is offering home buyers. And it keeps getting better!
The good folks over at makeuseof.com have pointed out this fabulous site called showmystreet.com.
Yes, I’ll admit there are other sites out there that do a similar job….but this site scores 9.5 on the “iPod Shuffle” ease of use scale.
So you look up an address like this listing here BR30014.
Type that into the box and you find yourself at this Brightwater address here…..just across the road from Centennial Park.
Click to enlarge
Whilst typing an address in you’ll spot the API going through its paces live before your eyes…..filtering all sorts of addresses from distant corners of the globe (strangely I found this part quite interesting) until you get down to the suburb level and then its pretty quick to zero in on your choice (as its using Google Maps data that shouldn’t be too hard)
Not quite the Hill St I had in mind (click to enlarge)
When searching for addresses in a place such as Nelson, Stoke, Richmond or surrounds then you’ll probably need to go the extra step and plug in New Zealand too……
Why?
Otherwise you’ll end up in some other part of the world that also has just as equivalently named english street and road names as our region does?
Another use of the site could be for property investor scouting?
is off street parking available....?
Perhaps a photo like this could tell you quite a bit about the neighbourhood already, off street parking facilities, etc – without the need to hop on a plane and fly there to see for your self why, for example, at first, it might be advertised at what seems like a bargain price?
