Club Night August 2013
North Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club Monthly Report
The Herbert Forest tracks were damaged by the June storms, so 10 members have cleared the trees, but more track and bridge work is needed yet.
Trip Reports;
Nine hardy trampers did a round trip at Sullivan’s Dam in blizzard conditions coming back through the Leith cloud forest. An ascent of Mt. St. Cuthberts in the Benmore Range was rewarded with great views of four lakes and Mt. Cook.
Wednesday Walkers did a round trip of Rakis Table, Belmont Hill and Victoria Hill at Tapui, which included a walk through an old railway tunnel. The old Waitaki Bridges at Kurow led to a walk over the hill to Hakataramea Valley and back down the gorge with a side trip to view the old slip road that is hoped will become part of the Alps to Ocean bike trail. They also did farm walks on Matsingers and Altavady farms and up Boundary Creek from Murrays Road past the old Oamaru water race aquaducts and tunnels.
Last Wednesday they climbed Conical Peak from the Dunback side.
Coming ClubTrips are Big Ben, Station Peak from the North, and Trotters Gorge to South Peak. More information about these trips is available on the NOTMC website.
Guest Speakers were Club members John and Margaret Chetwin who entertained us with their 2012 tour of the cities and vineyards of France. It was a trip with a difference from the Paris metropolis with its majestic buildings and art culture, out into the rolling countryside of the Burgundy vineyards. It included gourmet cooking lessons, and 500 year old wineries that have seen 18 generations pass through. They stayed in Sala, a town smaller than Oamaru where 180 resistance workers were killed and another 160 taken to concentration camps in the Second World War. They marvelled at houses built into cliffs, bronze to middle age cave dwellings, stunning stalactite caves, and 17000 year old cave paintings. These 2000 paintings of mainly animal images were unique with their good depiction of movement.
Bordeaux was the last city visited with numerous wine shops and grand old buildings connected with a modern transport system. Then it was back to Paris on a high speed train and home.
8 July Club Night
The July meeting was again well attended.
The Herbert Forest tracks have sustained some serious damage especially with fallen trees. This will be attended to as soon as possible.
Two changes to the constitution were notified.
Bad weather again inhibited Club trips with the only one being seven members visit to Mt. Summers in waist deep snow, interspersed with climbing over fallen trees after the recent storms. The night in a warm hut with good food and company made up for it though.
Wednesday Walkers day trips were a Ngapara farm walk, the inland Timaru Walkway from Saltwater Creek, Katiki Beach and Shag Point, and an Island Cliff farm walk.
Coming Club trips are to Sullivans Dam North Dunedin, Mt. Staint Cuthbert, and the Mitchells Hut Siberia area. Further information is available on the NOTMC website / What’s on.
The guest speaker was Belinda Mellish. Belinda spoke of and illustrated through photograghs her love of the outdoors and adventure. She spoke of her very early family trips to the mountains in places like the Kakanui Range, Arthurs Pass and the Hopkins area. From an early age she was also taking part in trips with this local club. She developed her skills in bushcraft and rock and ice climbing with the assistance of local club members and also the local Alpine Club.
With the aid of excellent photography, Belinda took us down a journey of some of the trips she had completed in New Zealand and overseas. With her skills and excellent companions she tramped and climbed to some exquisite locations. These locations included Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, Fiordland and further afield in the Southern Alps. It wasn’t just climbing though as she also enjoyed rafting down the grade 3 Waiatoto River, and potholing down the 180m Howards Hole.
Overseas trips included rock climbing in Arapiles (Australia), Yosemite National Park (USA), and Thailand, and ice climbing in the Canadian Rockies. The frozen waterfalls she climbed were spectacular!
To finish the evening Belinda showed a range of images set to music, selected from over 20 years of outdoor adventures. Her passion and enthusiasm for the mountains shone through in her talk, and she left us enthused to get out there amongst the outdoors.