Cattle at the blow hole being driven up the coast to Paturau.
Stock trucks today make the movement of stock around the country an everyday affair. But the horse-mounted droving of farm animals up and down the country were real feats which will never be seen again. Mobs being driven through small towns and rural localities were commonplace, the reason sturdy front fences and gates became common across the country. Local farmers often helped out with the musters as they went through - snorting horses, barking dogs and dust everywhere. A lot could go wrong, but panic was an unknown word.
The Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter responded to an emergency beacon set off in Takaka on Friday morning.
A hunter has suffered serious injuries after falling 20 metres into a rocky riverbed in Takaka. Emergency services were alerted to the situation when a beacon was set off from a property in Upper Takaka, just after 8am on Friday morning. The Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter arrived at the scene and winched out a 25-year-old man found injured in a shallow creek bed. Pilot Barry McAuliffe said the man was a pig hunter who had fallen from about 20 metres from a bluff overlooking the river.
At one point, Armstrong retrieved a 23 centimetre knife, which his associate pleaded for him to hand over. When the police arrived, Armstrong was arrested and taken to the patrol car. His associates tried to intervene and were pepper-sprayed.
John Bisset/Stuff
Twenty kilometres into the 100km journey to Nelson, Armstrong became abusive, and began threatening to harm the police officer. He spat and told the police officer “now you are gonna get Aids”. Due to Armstrong s intoxication and the violent incident the police officer decided to take him to the police station in Nelson. Twenty kilometres into the 100km journey, Armstrong became abusive, and began threatening to harm the police officer. He tried to remove his handcuffs and kicked out at the windscreen.