Monthly Report
Club Night April 2013
Friday, April 12th, 2013
The April meeting was well attended with 2 prospective members present.
Unfortunately the data projector has died so the Club is looking for a replacement as this media is an important way of communicating our activities and enhancing our guest speaker’s talks.
Ann and Steve Leideker are returning to London so the Club thanked them for their contribution during the 3 years they have been here.
Because of poor weather the Club s trip to Mt. Alexandra in the Arthurs Pass area was transferred to a stay in the Avoca Hut near the Torlesse Range, and exploring that fascinating area with views of the West Coast railway viaducts and tunnels, old coal mining relics and cableways. The return journey included a walk through the Cave Stream underground system near Castle Hill for about a kilometre, a cold but exciting trip.
Wednesday Walkers trips have been to Doctors Point near Purakanui with great views of the Otago Heads, Mts. Alexandra and Nobbler from Danseys Pass, and Herbert Forest where a rotted tree decided to fall down on the track very close to four passing walkers. Island Cliff farm was also visited by some where walkers were fascinated with the large ostrich eggs, while the rest climbed Mt. Te Huruhuru in the Hunter Hills.
Coming Club trips are to Mueller Hut at Mt. Cook, a Herbert Forest working bee, the Herbert Forest Guided Walk Day on the 28th April, Mt. Kyburn, and Tekapo. More information is available on the NOTMC website under “What’s on?”
The Guest Speaker was Mark Hay who gave us an insight into travelling in a group by motorbike through Vietnam. Some of the things they saw in their 8 day journey on their Russian bikes were floating fishing villages, a chopstick factory, a 31k long natural cave system with stalactites, and a similar length one dug during the war.
They experienced the wholesome fresh food of chicken, pork, rice and local vegetables, as well as reluctantly sampling weasel coffee and a meal made from a snake.
Vietnam has a young population having grown recently from 28m to 80m. Traffic was coped with under the “he who hesitates is lost” presumption that the locals use!
They marvelled at the huge number ornate shrines some which are still being built, the beautiful scenery, and were fascinated by the motorbikes being used as freight trucks and having to slam on the brakes for a large flock of geese crossing the road.
The final part of the trip included an overnight train trip to Hanoi. They thought Vietnam was an exciting friendly and safe place to visit.
Club Night – 11 /03/13
Thursday, March 14th, 2013
31 people attended.
A policy for non-members coming on trips which had been passed in Committee was put to the membership and endorsed. The policy will go on the web site shortly. There was also a reminder about the code of conduct for tramping particularly concerning gates and respect for landowners’ property as well as general safety. The President reminded members of the need to support the Herbert Forest Guided walks day in April as well as the working Bee on Sunday 21st April There were a number of notices from FMC and a reminder about the AGM. A discussion about the current membership followed and the need to encourage more involvement and active support with suggestions from members present. It was agreed with a show of hands that there would be no club night in December.
Recent trips included a weekend tramp to Mt St Bathans staying overnight at Boundary Creek hut. After exploring some local tracks on the Saturday there was an early start for the 6 members the following day. After nearly 5 hours of climbing with improving weather, the group were rewarded with amazing panoramic views at the summit. There was also a working Bee on the tracks in Herbert Forest but with only 5 members , the job list was only one third completed leaving many more essential tasks for the next scheduled day on 21st April. 8 people went on the walk from Camp Iona through to the Herbert forest tracks. A new programme is now posted on the website and available in hard copy. Wednesday walker trips included the stoneyards off Balmoral road, Gentle Annie hut where 2 juvenile falcons were spotted, Otekaieke hill and Mt Meyer. On average 20 to 25 people were on each walk. Wednesday walkers would also do some maintenance work on the Herbert Forest tracks.
The guest speaker was Ann Leidecker who described her trip to Zambia last year building houses with Habitat for Humanity. The group of 16 volunteers from different parts of New Zealand worked in a village in the copper belt. They constructed 2 houses using sun dried clay bricks and the photographs showed the construction in progress as well as the basic nature of life in the village which has no electricity or running water. Ann talked about visits to the local school and orphanage and the devastating impact that HIV Aids has had on the country. After the building project there was a visit to the Victoria Falls and one of the national parks.
Club Night February 2013
Wednesday, February 13th, 2013
A good variety of tramping trips have taken place since the last report.
The 25th November saw a group climb Elephant Hill, with 5 continuing on a round trip via Mussen.
The day after the Club Christmas party, 8 intrepid trampers scaled Razor Ridge, returning via Mt. David and descending down the south bluffs back to Bayley’s yards. Great views were seen of the surrounding peaks, and Ian Roger’s cairn on Razor Ridge was rebuilt.
An attempt was made by 13 trampers on the Mt. Domet east face in mid January. Although there was an early start from Chinamans Hut, by the time the half way saddle was reached, thunder, rain and lowering cloud had set in, so it was agreed to abandon the climb. A discoloured rising river had to be negotiated many times on the way back to the cars.
The 27th January saw 15 climb Mt Kohurau on a warm summers day. Half climbed the North East ridge, and half went up via the ski field road. The native flowers were well photographed on the way down.
In the last trip 9 bike riders took on the steep uphill 4wd track from Scout Hut to Mitchells Hut on Mt. Dasher Station. It was then mostly downhill to the Clifton Falls bridge for a great 40k bike ride.
Coming trips are to Mt. St.Bathans, and the Herbert Forest. Details are available on the NOTMC Website.
Wednesday Walkers day walks have been to Nimrod Reserve in the Hunter Hills, Kauru Hill and Fuchsia Creek, The North Temple above Lake Ohau, Waianakarua Reserve, Mt. Fortune, Herbert Forest, the Dome Hills big rock circuit, Kurow Hill returning via the Awakino Gorge, Kaiwarua Station down the North Waihao River, Ashlands Road to South Peak near Hampden, Clear Stream in Danseys Pass, and Deep Stream on Waitangi Station.
Guest speakers Brian and Margie Smith gave us a personal and graphic account of their tour of London, Switzerland and France.
We saw the historical and modern London with its sometimes unusual shaped structures and engineering features. Then it was on to the awe-inspiring Swiss Alps with walks among the unique peaks of Mt. Blanc, the Eiger and Matterhorn. Included was a cog train ride up through the Eiger with a coffee schnapps and cream at the top, where they also viewed pristine ice sculptures.
Then it was off to Nolay, in Burgundy, for a stay in a French Villa and a tour of a Chateau south of Dijon.
A stop-over in San Francisco for a ride in the cable car and a view of Alcatraz rounded off a great trip with stunning photos that would entice many to want to follow in their tracks.
Club Night, November 2012
Saturday, November 17th, 2012
The November meeting was attended by 34 members.
The Club is involved in assisting with local educational programmes. The latest session in Herbert Forest with Weston School pupils saw twenty-seven 8-9year olds, 5 Club members and 2 teachers on the Podocarp Track. Sessions on Mountain Safety, for Duke of Edinburgh Awards, have been conducted in local secondary schools.
Trip Reports: Silverpeaks was visited for a good round trip including the Tunnels Track, Rocky Ridge and Pulpit Rock. The Labour Weekend trip went to the top end of Lake Ohau, up to the South Temple and the Maitland doing track maintenance and marking and walking out in quite heavy snow. A group went up Tabletop to a point looking out to Staircase Ridge.
Wednesday Walkers climbed Mt. Studholme and were rewarded with a view to the Port Hills. A walk from Anderson’s Lagoon to the Shag River mouth and back provided a wormseye view of hundreds of Stewart Island shags nesting in rows along the rocky ridges of the limestone cliffs. Tabletop was climbed and a trip to Trotter’s Gorge and Trig L saw 25 admiring a great flowering of celmisias and clematis.
Wilding pines and sweet briar were dealt to in tussock land near Omarama by some Wednesday Walkers in a group organised by DOC.
The main feature of the evening was presented by Ross Milmine – an interesting talk with wonderful photography of a trip taken by him and his wife to Bolivia and Peru. It was challenging, with long flights, 4-5a.m. starts to see sunrises, cold weather, and much travel at high altitude, between 3,000-5,000m. (Mt. Cook is 3,746m.)
The first part of the journeying was to the Urumbaba River, a tributary of the Amazon. It involved river travel, staying in jungle lodge, mosquitoes, jungle views and varied wildlife- capybara, monkeys, macaws, tarantulas and Piranha.
The Inca trail up to Machu Picchu took the group of 16 up and down pathways and stone steps and over passes (Dead Woman’s Pass is 4,200m), camping at night with 17 local farmers acting as porters. The oldest man to walk the Inca Trail in modern times was an 82 year old New Zealander! We saw steep hillsides terraced by the Incas and potatoes and beans are still grown at high altitudes. Harvest is a time of colourful celebration. Condors with a wingspan of 2 metres were a sight to behold as was Manchu Picchu on its high, steep and isolated site, with green grass and the ruins of ingeniously constructed buildings and water systems.
After travel to Cusco, the group went down to Puno and Lake Titicaca, the biggest lake in South America at 400km. long and 50 -100km. wide, the highest in the world. They saw reed boats and visited the reed islands lived on and owned by communities with livestock and solar-powered TV.
La Paz, close by in Bolivia, has a population of 2 million. From there they visited the silver mine of Potasi with 15,000 miners now producing zinc, lead and tin, and Sucre where still visible dinosaur footprints were found. The great Salt Flats of Salar de Uyuni glistened and they drove across them to an island with 2000-year old cacti. A stay in a hotel constructed of salt blocks with salt furniture was novel, and salt-edged lakes had many flamingos.
The tour ended by going up to the High Altiplano volcanic area with minus 5 degree temperature but compensatory hot pools. From the Chilean border they could see Argentina.
In spite of challenges, the excellent photography showed a great diversity of relics and ruins, stunning natural scenery and wildlife which, along with colourful and friendly people, made it a trip to remember and gave us much to enjoy.
Club Night – 08/10/12
Tuesday, October 9th, 2012
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.