Club Night – 08/10/12
33 people attended the recent monthly meeting of the North Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club. Members heard about the relaunch of the web-site and were invited to send any comments as well the success of the recent programme with Weston School taking pupils into the Herbert forest. The president reminded members about the pot luck Christmas dinner on the 8th December. Recent trips included Mt Stalker with 13 people initially starting in foggy and cold weather but soon clearing for a long circumnavigation via the Gentle Annie and Cayenne huts with marvelous views out toward the Pigroot. A breakaway group of 5 went directly up Mt Stalker on the south side meeting up with the others and then finishing on a gently undulating ridge walk. There were a couple of independent trips to Mt Kohurau from the bottom car park up a steep spur directly to the top with the final third in snow. Both trips were eventful as far as the weather was concerned and reminded us all on how changeable conditions can be and to always be prepared. The first group suddenly experienced complete white out conditions on the descent to the Awakino ski field making navigation difficult and the second group a week later had to contend with near gale force winds.
Wednesday walker trips included Studholme bush in good weather and a new route for Deep stream starting in a nearby gully up to a ridge and back down the stream. The last 2 walks were Sheepwash creek off the road to Ben Lomond in fine weather until lunch and then turning quite foggy by the end and last week the Weston escarpment. Most Wednesday trips have been enjoyed by over 30 people.
Bronwyn McCone was our speaker and described a trip to the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador and a jungle experience near Coca in the Amazon rainforest. We had a short history of the Galapagos made famous by the visit of Charles Darwin in 1831 as well as the geography sitting nearly on the equator between several major sea and wind currents and between 2 main plates. The trip was a combination of snorkeling, biking and walking on several of the 6 main islands. The photography was simply stunning with a rich variety of flora and fauna both in the sea and on land . Most notable were the bright pink flamingos,dolphins, giant tortoises and very prolific and colourful iguanas. There was a spectacular crater and lava tunnels and in the towns, not just in the sea, the ever present sea lions.
The jungle trip showed just how dense and diverse the environment is but also how vulnerable to both large scale tourism and the exploitation of natural resources, in this case oil and gas. A highlight was the canopy walk giving a different perspective on the rainforest below. Again the photography was superb with close ups of various species some of which, including a tarantula and piranha, you might not have taken quite as calmly as the presenter appeared to do.
For more information on the club go to www.notmc.org.nz.