With the warmer months behind us the Maintenance team have started winter activities kicking the season off with our first event on the SH73/77 network. We are a supply partner for Downer with the Client Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. This work will keep the team busy over the next 4-5 months and is additional to the day-to-day activities that are performed.
The winter work involves gritting for ice, snow clearing, spraying of de-icing CMA, managing of road checkpoints, slip clearance and anything else that gets thrown at us.
What we can see in the background is the Galactic Kiwi that can be seen when looking towards the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. The galactic centre of the Milky Way galaxy contains around 10 million stars in the form of star clusters, nebulae, and constellations such as the Scorpion and Sagittarius constellations.
It is visible in the dark skies of the Southern Hemisphere during our autumn and winter months providing us with the best places in the world to see it. Photo was taken by Jono Townsend on one of the snow nightshifts on the NCNOC.
