Gavin Grimmer
March 2012
On my recent trip to the South Island (February) I twice visited Oxford hoping to get a clear view of the mountains to compare what part of the mountain ranges the lady remembered that she saw the smoke plume coming from, to that shown on Google Earth.
The problem is, due to the length of time that had passed (14 years) that she was trying to remember back to, it is very possible that she was remembering the wrong area.
She was quite certain she saw it while she was driving down the main street of Oxford, directly in line with the road, yet the spot on the mountain range that she picked was a little further north. She was surprised when I pointed this out to her and so she thought maybe she had seen the smoke as she was turning into the road on the right, off the main street.
As we know, generally the first memory is usually the correct one, so I thought it was only fitting that I explore both options.
The photos shown above were taken in Oxford looking west in Main Street.
The hills shown are further south of Mt Torlesse, and if her initial memory is correct, then it would have been from these hills she would have seen the smoke plume.
These hills are known as the Big Ben Range (south of Porters Pass)
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