Annual Meeting and Club Night May 2019

Tuesday, May 14th, 2019

43rd Annual Meeting 13 May 2019

In his Annual Report President John Chetwin spoke about the diverse range of activities the Club had enjoyed over the past year. Things like nordic ski-ing, mountain biking, track maintenance, School bush-craft education and of course, single and multi-day tramps.
He also spoke about the need for the Club to be more flexible in arranging activities and trips that meet the expectations of Club Members.
Robbie Verhoef was elected the new Club President, and most other office bearers remaining the same as last year. There were some changes in the committee.
In the General Meting following there was more discussion about flexible planning and the change to Trip Planning meetings to be during the Monthly Club Night. Trap baiting in the Herbert Forest is to be extended from 2 to 3 weekly intervals. There is now a Facebook page for the Tramping Club.
Trip reports over the last month were the biennial Herbert Forest Guided Walks day where 50 guests were guided around the 3 bush tracks in the forest. Then the Otago Peninsula day walk where 16 members walked around the Macandrew Bay, Larnach Castle, Sandymount, Portobello area.
Coming trips are to Deep Stream with a walk up the gorge and over a saddle back to Fisherman’s Bend and a winter overnighter to Big Hut near Middlemarch. This NOTMC website has more details in “What’s On”.
The Wednesday Walkers had walks to Ashlands Road – Trotters Gorge, a Ngapara Farm walk, Otematata Walkway to Benmore Peninsula, Tapui 3 Peaks and 2 Tunnels, and a new one on Roseneath Station above the Aviemore Dam.
The event of the night was a talk and photos of 8 members “Old Ghost Road” Trip. This was a 4 day tramp from Murchison, climbing over the Lyell Saddle, crossing an unstable slip, staying in a hut built on top of a bluff, sidling steep faces on a narrow track above the bush-line, descending 300 steps and dodging mountain bikers determined to do the whole 85k trip in one day!

Club Night March 2019

Tuesday, March 12th, 2019

20 members were at the Clubs March meeting, with some preliminary discussion on trip planning, which will be looked at further next month.
Trip Reports
The Ahuriri Bike ride had 6 members riding up the Ahuriri Valley from just past the Birchwood Homestead because of serious washouts further on. This entailed riding the 9k on a rough road to the locked gate. Some decided to turn back at this point, while the rest rode to Shamrock Hut for lunch, shared with a swarm of voracious lunching sandflies.
Several members spent the day at Camp Iona showing the Arthur Street school children the basics of bush craft, including what to take and practising river crossings.
A trip down Clear Stream from the lavender farm to the Beatie’s Hill bridge was enjoyed.
Coming Trips
Otago Aniversary weekend, tramping from the East Ahuriri to Lake Dumbell and tenting at the tarns on the way, and two Herbert Forest days doing track maintenance and checking traps.
Wednesday Walkers walks were the Herbert Forest clockwise circuit, followed by a swim at Cosy Dell and an evening barbeque Milmines, Mt. Dryburgh with 2 groups doing either a short or long walk, Deep Stream where we saw the preparations for the next days A2O Ultra Marathon, and Derden Hill and Mt. Baldy a new walk behind Waikouaiti.
Guest Speaker was club member Bronwyn McCone who spoke and showed photos of the first part of her Cruise to “Siberia’s Forgotten Coastline”.
With only a 30 day Russian visa allowed and a 29 day cruise, it involved some slick work by her travel agent to get in and out of Russia in the remaining 24 hours.
The cruise was on the same ship that Bronwyn had done Antartic cruises on and started at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy on the Russian side of the Bearing Sea, visiting the fiords up the coast towards the Artic Ocean. They needed permission to land anywhere, and on Bearing Island, not far from the USA owned Aleutian Islands of Alaska, they were not allowed to take pictures of the military installations or personal.
They were able to travel up rivers in Zodiacs seeing wildlife feeding on salmon and walk up valleys and over the tundra among the blossoming rhododendron and ranunculus wild flowers. Highlights were seeing lots of brown bears, artic foxes, grey and humpback whales, thousands of walruses, sea otters, puffins and sea eagles. The first part of her cruise finished in Anadyr.

Club Meeting November 2018

Wednesday, November 28th, 2018

The November meeting was attended by 28 people. A reminder was given about the Herbert Forest Guided Walks Day on 14 April 2019.

Some interesting trips had taken place: to Glenorchy at Labour Weekend where trampers stayed at an excellent new eco camping ground.Walks went up the Glacier Burn in the Humboldt mountains, and they spent a day up Mt. Judah exploring sites and remains of old scheelite mines. There was also a walk around Lake Sylvan.Other trips were a Waimate mountain biking trip and up Dromedary Hill off the Lindis Pass.

Wednesday Walkers went to Herbert Forest and had a very windy walk on Mt. Miserable. They also went to Shannon(near Outram) for a farm walk and from Andersons’ Lagoon to the Shag River, seeing many shags and their young nesting in rows along the cliffs. There was also a walk from Otekaieke to Kurow partly on the A2O trail and mostly along the Waitaki.

The main part of the evening was Marion Shore’s account and photographs of her recent trip to Nepal where she trekked for 28 days in an area with no road access in Phoksundo National Park. Her group of 13 was accompanied by 35 mules, some horses and 13 guides and helpers. The trek began at Jephal (altitude 2,500 metres). The highest pass the crossed on the trip was 5,560m. from where they could see the Anapurna Ranges.A day’s trekking was between four and a half and nine hours, covering between 12 and 23km.daily and often accompanied by some altitude sickness.Trekkers walked up towards the Tibetan border and back down to departure from Jomsen.

Among many notable features was the masterly dry stone walling often for terracing for buckwheat and barley cropping. Potatoes were also a staple crop in many areas.Many stone chortens(shrines) and prayer wheels – one made from Budweiser cans- were passed en route. At higher altitudes were houses where the men lived while taking yaks for summer pasture,trading and carrying milled timber while the women tended crops and wove yak hair for tents and also spent months making traditional woollen blankets which could be sold.These areas were home to the last examples of a nomadic way of life.. Yak trains were usually between 10-20 animals although they met a caravan of 30, and the yaks and drivers shared narrow paths with the trekkers.

Phoksundo Lake,the deepest in Nepal, was a stunning sight – brilliant blue within a cup of mountains.Apples were grown and dried all through Upper Dolpo, and when they reached Mustang there was bush and lush growth, a result of careful water harvesting.
Medical care was scarce but schools were funded by overseas agencies with trained volunteer teachers.

We were given a picture of such a different way of life and stunning scenery, experienced and seen by few people in this world and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to share some of this adventure.

Club Night October 2018

Tuesday, October 9th, 2018

The Club intends to hold another Herbert Forest Guided Walks day on Sunday 14 April 2019. This is a family day for those who would like to find out more about bush walking, with walks of different lengths in this podocarp forest remnant.
Trip reports;
2 car loads did a circuit from Sullivans dam to the top of Mount Cargill via the difficult north route. Map reading skills were practiced on the way.
9 members climbed the Little Kyburn Track to the Mt. Buster shelter and from there to the white gravel Kyburn diggings and Mt. Kyburn.
More work has been completed on the Swallows Track in the Herbert Forest with a 20m boardwalk installed plus more graveling over wet areas.
Coming Trips;
The head of Lake Wakitipu, with day walks including Mt. Judah and Mt. Alfred.
A Waimate walk or bike day.
Dromedery Hill. A 1000m climb on a 4WD Track in the Lindis Conservation Area. This website has more details for these trips on the “Whats On” page.
The Wednesday Walkers had day walks along Katiki Beach with fascinating rock formations, Dave’s track in Trotters gorge, Glen-Ridges beside the North Waiho River and a 15k there and back walk up the Timaru Walkway to Centenial Park.
Our Guest speaker for Club night was Rob McTague from the North Otago Sustainable Land Management group. He told us how they are working with farmers, regulatory authorities such as the Otago Regional Council, North Otago Irrigation Co. and community groups, to improve the quality of North Otago’s rivers and streams.
Farmers have water quality testing sites at strategic positions on their farms which enable them to make suitable decisions, such as where to do riparian planting and how much fertilizer to apply, so as to meet the ORC thresholds. He pointed out that it is not just farmers who can pollute rivers, but also urban areas and wildlife such as seagulls who can cause problems.
NOSLAM is also working with Tourism Waitaki to enhance the A2O bike Trail corridor with suitable native tree plantings. Funding for this type of community work is available from the Otago Regional Council.

Club Night August 2018

Tuesday, August 14th, 2018

The committee has been working on amendments to the Club’s constitution mainly to enable it to become an Incorporated Society. This will be voted on at a special meeting at the next Club night.
Trip Reports:
July saw a mystery bike ride which entailed visiting a series of local attractions, including Devils Bridge wetland, the reservoir mountain bike track, Glen Reserve, the Oamaru Historic Precinct and Harbour, the Art Society Gallery and concluded with a refreshing visit to the local brewery.
In early August 7 members did two day walks below Dunedin. The first up the Taieri Gorge from Taieri Mouth and the second on the next day, up Berwick Forest’s Government Track near Waipouri Falls, both return trips of 18k each.
The Wednesday Walkers climbed Elephant Hill, returning via Mussen Hill, a Tapui farms round trip and another round trip on Roseneath Run near the Waitaki Dam, returning down the Awahomoko Creek.
They did 3 short walks near Waikouaiti of the Hawksbury Lagoon, Matanaka historic site and the Karitane Peninsula and last week a new Blackcap Scout Hill circuit. All walks were in the 12-18k range.
A new group are doing short, up to 4 hour walks, doing sections of the A2O bike track at the moment.
Coming Club Trips are Station Peak from the Waitaki River returning via the Kowhai Grove which should be in flower, a cross-country ski day on the Pisa Range snow-farm followed the next day by a walk to Diamond lake and walks at Mt. Nimrod Reserve and Hook Bush. On Labour weekend there will be 3 day trips in the Glenorchy area. The “What’s On” Page has more details.
Guest Speaker was club member Jane Green on her and Graham’s bike ride in Central America. She started off with 3 vivid video clips of the inside of a live volcano, leaf-cutter ants carrying their loads 150m home, and a howler monkey doing his thing.
The cycle trip was 15 days with some bussing in between starting in Nicaragua, going through Costa Rica and finishing on the Panama Canal. Temperatures were around 30 degrees with high humidity.
We saw pictures of bright coloured buildings, some modern, some just shacks, rubbish everywhere, high fences and tall mountains with no snow because of their proximity to the equator. In Nicaragua the average income is just $2 per day. Bikes are the main form of transport with freight cartage by anything from horse and cart to large trucks. Navigating around is not easy as there are no street numbers or names.
The best photo was of a squirrel eating a large nut with its head buried inside the nut.
The most stressful episode they had was getting left behind by the bus at the first border post, though luckily someone eventually noticed and the bus driver came back for them.