Northland news in brief: Super Blood Moon may make appearance tonight; and suspicious fire investigated

Niwa forecasters say the cloud above Northland may clear enough tonight to see the Super Blood Moon.

Northlanders may see the Super Blood Moon tonight after all, with Niwa saying the forecast clouds may clear up enough. Niwa forecasters say expected clear skies are looking good for spotting the Super Blood Moon across most of the country tonight. A Super Blood Moon is a rare combination of three factors: a full Moon, the Moon being at its closest point to Earth in its orbit and a total lunar eclipse. Between 11.11 and 11.25 tonight the Moon will appear rusty red in colour and larger than usual. The red colour is due to the Earth blocking the Sun's light and only heavily filtered light reaching the Moon.
Meteorologist Ben Noll said there is scattered cloud forecast for Northland, but stargazers shouldn't be discouraged because there may be enough breaks in the cloud to spot the Moon. The last Super Blood Moon in New Zealand was in December 1982.

Shooting investigation continues

Northland Police are continuing to investigate the shooting incident in Awarua, Northland where two men died on Monday morning. A scene examination was completed at the rural property late on Monday, Detective Inspector Rhys Johnston, from Northland CIB said. Post-mortems were scheduled to take place yesterday and today. ''Police are supporting the families of the deceased men, who we are not in a position to name at this time,'' Johnston said. ''We expect to be able to release their identities later this week.''
Police are not seeking anyone else in relation to the shootings.

Firefighters tackle roadside blaze

A Far North firefighter works in the early morning darkness to extinguish a roadside fire believed to be deliberately lit.

A suspicious vegetation fire in Ahipara dragged three volunteer brigades from their beds around 3am yesterday. Firefighters from Kaitaia, Broadwood, and Mangonui responded to the roadside blaze on Kaitaia-Awaroa Rd that was around 150m long and 10m wide - at its widest point - down to about 4m. Ahipara fire chief Dave Ross said after successfully extinguishing the early morning fire, firefighters were then off to work for the day.

Ready for plantings

Friends of Rangikapiti picked up 600 plants from Kerikeri Plant Production last week, while Sana Ryan, of Waikura Nursery, at Maitai Bay, dropped off a further 170. All are now ready for Saturday morning's planting. The Friends are also looking for help transporting plants and spreading gravel on the Mill Bay track tomorrow, in readiness for Saturday, meeting 9.30am at the pa end of the Mill Bay track, with wheelbarrows and spades (in case there's a chance to plant a few trees as well).

No more fireworks

The Warehouse will no longer sell fireworks, after research showing customer support for the move. More than half of the customers surveyed said they preferred to attend public fireworks displays. Twenty-eight per cent didn't participate in fireworks at all. The Warehouse chief product officer Tania Benyon said the sale of fireworks no longer held true to the company's values.