Monthly Report
May Clubnight
Wednesday, May 17th, 2017
May Clubnight
At the AGM, John Chetwin was elected President. Our thanks go to Jane Green who stepped down after three years of dedicated leadership and loyalty to the Club. Recently, some members walked the Motatapu Track from the Glendhu Bay end. An excellent weekend. Upcoming tramps include Mt Obi from the Pigroot and Little Mt Peel. See our website for details.
Our guest speaker was Club member, Maurice Gray who has recently been doing Volunteer maintenance work for DOC on the Pyke River Track in Fiordland. From Milford Sound, five Volunteers and a DOC Ranger flew north east to Big Bay. The task at Big Bay Hut was to dig a new toilet. Two volunteers were left to paint the hut while Maurice and two other volunteers departed down beside the Awarua River. They then reached the Pyke River and the route followed this. They had route markers which were two metre high wands with tape on top. These were used to replace markers that had disappeared with high river flows etc. DOC dropped food to them on their first nights camp. Along the route, they cleared windfall where possible with a handsaw and if not, they put in markers to re-route around the windfall. They had two nights at the Olivine Hut. Here there is a winch bucket over the Olivine River which required maintenance. A side track to the Olivine Falls needed re-routing. Maurice and fellow volunteers made camp when they reached the north end of Lake Alabaster. Trampers can avoid the 4-5 hour walk along the side of Lake Alabaster with the help of Sammy Stoat who camps in the area and ferries trampers from Alabaster Hut to the north of the lake. With the job finished, DOC picked up the three volunteers and they flew back via Big Bay Hut to pick up the other two volunteers who had made a great job painting the hut. The DOC website has Volunteer Vacancies which you can apply to help. The Volunteer is liable for some expenses however, DOC will provide transport and fresh food.
Club Night April 2017
Tuesday, April 11th, 2017
The 10 April meeting welcomed 2 new members.
The Club will celebrate its 40th Anniversary on the 28-29 October this year with a dinner and a walk in the Herbert Forest.
Wednesday Walkers walks over the past month were a Mt. Meyer circuit on the North side of the Waitaki River, Gunns Bush and White Horse Hill near Waimate, Doctors Point at Waitati, and the Millenium Track to Moeraki then up to the boulders.
Club Trips were; the Otago Aniversary weekend trip to the East Matukituki in good weather with side trips up valleys to spectacular circs and waterfalls.
4 members guided Arthur Street School children on a walk upstream from Camp Iona to introduce them to our N Z bush.
Members biked the back roads from Dunback to Shag Point and a working bee was held in the Herbert Forest tracks, clearing the tracks and putting in steps.
The main event for the month was the Herbert Forest Guided walks Day where 20 members organised and guided 80 guests through the podocarp bush on a brilliantly fine day. Many were family groups with young children, keen to enjoy the outdoors.
Our Guest Speaker for the evening was Eion Rutherford, who together with his wife Liza, travelled by motorhome with two other motor homers from London to China and back. Careful preparation was essential including joining the Silk Road Club, obtaining visas and insurance and establishing contacts in Europe who could obtain and send spare parts when necessary.
Their route lead through Europe and Kazakhstan to China, where they toured for 3 months, then back through Russia and Europe to London.
They became proficient at negotiating Borders, dealing with corrupt police and solving breakdown problems, the roads being fairly hard on the vehicles.
They stayed mainly at truck stops surrounded by huge rigs, found the locals friendly and helpful and they enjoyed some spectacular scenery.
In a few months they set out on an extended trip in their motor home round South America.
Club trips planned for the next month are the Motatapu Track, with groups starting from each end and Hidden Lake via the Omarama Saddle. The NOTMC website has more deteils.
The Club AGM will be held on the 8 May, at which the Gray’s will share their experiences of volunteering with DOC.
Club Night Report March 2017
Tuesday, March 14th, 2017
Trip Reports
After trying to get to the North Temple basin for several Wednesdays but being put off by wet weather the Wednesday Walkers finally made it near the end of February. A lovely easily accessible alpine basin at the top of Lake Ohau.
24 headed over to Queenstown and Cromwell to bike the trails there in ideal weather, and last week was a walk up Deep Stream beside Lake Aviemore.
The tramping Club had a weekend trip to Dunedin, walking up and along the Maungatuas, followed the next day by a climb up Harbour Cone on the Otago Peninsula and then a walk out to the Pyramids and Victory Beach. Last week was a day walk to Gentle Annie hut in the Horse Range.
Coming Trips
A weekend trip to Aspiring Flats, Glacier Burn and Junction Flat.
A mountain bike ride in the McRaes area with a visit to the Redbank skink enclosure.
The Club is again holding a guided walks day on the three Herbert Forest tracks on the 9 April starting at 10am. Cancelation because of wet weather will be on the NOTMC website on evening of the 7 April.
The Club is starting preparation for the celebration of its 40th Anniversary.
Guest Speakers
Club Members Gail and Tricia shared their Federated Mountain Clubs trip to the West USA National Parks last September October.
They started in the Sequoia National Park with massive Sequoia trees and the odd nosey grizzly bear.
Large areas of trees are dying because of the bark beetle.
Yosemite NP was the highest at 15000 ft. and they did a lot of walks above 9000ft, with a drive through Death Valley at 280ft below sea level, being the lowest.
They had 3 days walking the rim of Grand Canyon, but the amazing shaped rocks of Monument Valley, Arches NP and Goblin Valley with self-explanatory names, were one of the highlights.
Yellowstone NP was the last stop, where they joined some of the 350 million tourists to visit the US National Parks each year, the park being a decidedly larger version of Rotorua’s hot pools and guysers!
Their travels took them from the heat of summer in the south through the autumn colours to an early sprinkling of snow at Yellowstone.
Club night November 2016
Tuesday, November 15th, 2016
The Tramping Club’s main trip in the last month was to the Edwards and Hawdon Valleys in the Arthurs Pass area.
In ideal weather 4 members arranged a car at each end and then walked up the Edwards Valley to the Edwards hut. The next day was over Tarn Col to Hawdon Hut, with a short walk down Hawdon Valley to the car on the final day.
Herbert Forest now has stoat and possum traps spaced out along its 3 tracks with a few more to be placed on the 2 loop tracks. The Club will check the traps regularly. We look forward to more bird life in the future in this podocarp remnant forest.
The Wednesday Walkers had 2 day trips on the A2O bike trail because of wet weather making access to other areas difficult. They also walked the Andersons Lagoon to Shag River Mouth, Kurinui Creek Circuit and Domett Loop below Little Domett.
Coming Tramping Club Trips are an A2O return bike ride from Duntroon to Kurow on November 20.
Contact Phyllis by Friday if you want to come. Thousand Acre Plateau trip is planned for 2-6 December. The Christmas Party is on the 12 December. See the NOTMC website for details of these events.
There will be a Mt. Potts trip in late January.
The night’s speaker was our own adventure traveller Bronwyn McCone, who recently spent a month on the Spirt of Enderby cruising to Antarctic via the sub Antarctic Islands with 50 other passengers.
There was never a dull moment with bird watching, whale watching and guest passenger lectures while at sea, walks or coastal zodiac boating around the Sub Antarctic Islands, and a historical visit to the Ross Sea coastline.
Highlights were visits to Shackleton’s and Scott’s huts with all the stores and furnishings still there, McMurdo and Scott Bases with a population of up to 2000 in the summer and cruising the Ross Ice Shelf with spectacular photos of ice walls and caves, Adelie and Emperor penguins, seals and sea lions and distant views of smoking volcano Mt. Erebus.
A never to be forgotten trip.