Thank you all for the well wishes. The night passed without incident. At 9 this morning everybody in the locality went to a meeting with civil defence, police and the national fire service. We were told that they had managed to get around the perimeter of the fire overnight, 22 miles and, with light winds forecast today, hoped to secure it with firebreaks and chemicals. So we headed off for the day and had a great time. As we drove back into the city it was obvious that things had taken a turn for the worse. The winds had picked up and the fire had escalated causing another 25 homes to be evacuated. Lots of livestock has had to be put down. The fire has come slightly closer to the cottage but the situation hasn't changed in the last couple of hours. Tomorrow the winds are swinging round and picking up again. We have booked to walk in the Abel Tasman park which is far enough away to be completely safe. We plan to take essentials with us....passports, cash, computer, change of clothes etc and leave the rest packed up (as it will be overnight) so that it can quickly be moved out by the owners. If the fire moves this way then the road between here and the Abel Tasman will have to shut and we'll have to find accommodation there tomorrow or maybe fly privately back to Nelson. We'll worry about that if we have to. The Prime Minister visited today. We called at a friend's on the way back, just 15 minutes away, and it was like another country! You could see the smoke in the distance but the sun was shining, the sky was blue and people were playing on the beach....weird.