2007 The decade that was

BY CHERIE HOWIE

Liquid, in one form or another, was making headlines as Marlborough welcomed in 2007.

The biggest gusher, it seemed at the time, was the plan backed by entrepreneur Peter Yealands in February for a multi-million scheme to pump water from the Awatere River into otherwise arid parts of south Marlborough.

The scheme was lauded as potentially unlocking the growing potential of land from Lake Grassmere to Ward and bringing millions of dollars to the local economy.

Less life-changing, but equally liquid, events the same month included the annual Blues, Brews and BBQs and Marlborough Wine Festival, both of which attracted thousands to the region.

The news got even better for Blues, Brews and BBQs later in the year when they won their fight to keep serving beer in glass.

Wet stuff, and plenty of it, was no doubt also on the minds of firefighters in February as a fire fanned by high winds tore through hill country around Ben Morven.

The fire, which began in a vineyard behind Paynters Rd, destroyed 150 hectares of farmland before it was brought under control.

Protecting our waterways also came under the microscope early in the year when the Didemnum Working Group took the supreme award at the Marlborough Environment Awards.

The group had been formed the previous year following concerns about the invasive sea squirt Didemnum vexillum.

The Easter long weekend bought both triumph and tragedy to the region.

Classic Fighters airshow organisers were smiling after 18,000 people enjoyed the spectacular sights above Omaka.

However, the same weekend also saw tragedy for a group of British tourists and a holidaying family when the campervan carrying the tourists collided with a ute towing a boat at the intersection of Old Renwick and Jacksons roads.

Tourist Adam Birdsey died, but further tragedy was averted when heroic onlookers pulled those in the ute to safety as it caught fire. The campervan's driver David McCallum tells police he did not see the Jacksons Rd stop sign, prompting calls for improvements to the intersection.

Those calls saw the Marlborough District Council agree to spend an initial $105,000 on improvements, while a landmark 127-year-old oak at the intersection was painstakingly moved 30m.

An even bigger tragedy was averted in June thanks to the skills of those piloting a stricken Eagle Air passenger plane which made an emergency belly landing at Blenheim Airport after its landing gear failed.

The Beech 1900D plane carrying 17 people from Timaru to Wellington skidded to a stop in a belly landing, with its propellers breaking off and hurtling into the air, but no-one was injured.

A photograph taken by Marlborough Express photographer Derek Flynn soon circled the globe before winning him the aviation photograph of the year at the Australia/NZ Aviation Press Awards.

The news was also good for Trustpower that month, with a Marlborough District Council hearing panel green-lighting the company's $280 million power generation scheme, as long as it met environmental conditions.

The hearing, which attracted 300 speakers and generated more than 9000 pages of transcript, was the biggest of its kind in the history of the Resource Management Act. The panel's decision is quickly appealed.

The month of July brought news a young Marlborough woman had lost her life in the French Alps.

Twenty-six-year-old Jane Jerram, along with her English partner and two others, died in a storm near the summit of Aiguille de Bionnassay in the Mont Blanc range.

The following month also saw a devastating fire for the owners of the Bamboo Garden, destroyed when items in a drier caught fire.

September proved no better, with Blenheim man Carl MacDonald shot dead in an altercation at the Lone Legion Motorcycle Club headquarters.

Four men are charged with his murder while the club gang house outside which the shooting took place was torn down in October.

The arrival of spring brought better news for top of the south iwi when the Waitangi Tribunal recognised their rights over land it had previously acknowledged as exclusively Ngai Tahu.

Combined Clubs members were also celebrating when the first pint was sold at the brand spanking new clubs and Convention Centre complex at 9.07am on its opening day of October 3.

October was also a good month for most of the district's elected representatives with sitting mayor Alistair Sowman re-elected and all but one councillor returned.

Potential new information on the disappearance of Olivia Hope and Ben Smart made headlines when an Auckland couple revealed they spoke to a yachtie aboard a ketch matching the description given by the water taxi driver who last saw the pair on New Year's Day 1998.

Police say they will take a statement from the pair.

Meanwhile, concerns were also raised in October about Wairau Hospital after surgery was cancelled due to a lack of beds at the same time some new mothers said they were feeling pressured to leave the busy maternity unit before they were ready.

An Auckland locum surgeon working at the hospital later complained he had to send a patient to a motel because there were no beds at Wairau.

Grapegrowers were also under the gun as Jack Frost made an unwelcome return and damaged vulnerable vines near Blenheim and Renwick.

The news was better for south Marlborough residents and State Highway 1 users when the $15m new Awatere bridge opened in November.

The bridge, which replaced the decades old road/rail bridge, had not been due to open until 2008.

However, November proved memorable for all the wrong reasons for the developers behind a $56m big box retail development planned for Springlands after it was rejected at the resource consents stage.

The month also proved a bad one for Selmes Rd Garden Centre, which closed its gates with the loss of about 12 jobs for people with intellectual disabilities. A community uproar later saw the garden given an 18-month reprieve.

More problems with lack of beds at Wairau Hospital encouraged the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board to approve in December a new master plan for the hospital's upgrade.

The year ended in tragedy when 26-year-old newlywed Rebecca Stockwell was killed after being struck by a boat while snorkelling with husband Hayden on their Fiji honeymoon.

- © Fairfax NZ News