There’s been a long drought between posts, broken now with this series on the arrival yesterday of the oil processing and storage ship “Raroa”. At 250m, it was the largest vessel ever to enter Nelson’s harbour.
We’d been waiting for its arrival for a few days, while it sat out in the bay until the recent strong winds eased.
But it’s arrival was certainly announced in style:
People started to gather along our street,
Then in she came, no hassle or apparent bother:
It has been extensively converted, now looks more like a refinery than a tanker:
By the way, I just love that 300mm lens! Just look at this close-up:
You can even see the grey beards!
I quite like this next shot of the Raroa dwarfing our lighthouse:
Our little tug, the W.H.Parr, had a great time buzzing around
watched by the guys on the helipad, sho had a great view:
Off up the harbour to MacGlashan wharf, where local engineering firms will get lots of much needed work. (Spare a though for the skipper of that second ocean-going tug, who must spend his life going backwards…
