Windy Tops

  • Bird watching, bread baking and new routes

    The Kapiti Island thing didn’t go ahead yesterday, due to excessive wind or something. The boat skipper wasn’t keen to go out, and that seems fair enough. They didn’t take any of our money and DOC is happy to defer the visiting permit to a later date. Consequently we’ve put it off until next Saturday.

    I spent some of this morning baking bread, for which I’m still trying to get my recipe exact. I’ve increased the amount of yeast I put in over earlier occasions, because wholemeal flour doesn’t seem to like to rise as much as regular flour. I’m also trying to make some bread rolls just by rolling up some well-kneaded bread slop that I mixed together and putting it directly on a baking tray, rather than a nicely shaped bread baking pan. At this point it’s not clear how they’ll come out, but I guess we’ll find out later today. Right now the yeasted slop is enjoying the sunshine. Some time I hope to get a good enough technique to make some nice bread to take tramping. The problem so far is that it usually doesn’t last long enough for it to still be around when I’m packing.
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  • More consultation processes in the works

    It must be the season for government entities to be spreading consultation documents that relate to outdoor recreation. Here’s a quick summary of three particular consultations that are going on at the moment about legislation that might affect outdoor recreation.

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  • Being hip and groovy, just like skiers

    Trying to help dig a snow cave during a blizzard a couple of months ago (during that training course) really made an impression on me. I realised that although handy at times, regular sunglasses can be seriously out of their depth in some conditions. For much of the weekend it was difficult to choose between being blind from perpetually fogged up glasses (thanks to warm breath coming up the balaclava) or being blind from a stinging and freezing wind in my eyes. In the end I guess it was fortunate that we were digging the cave about 30 metres from the club lodge, so it didn’t really matter.

    It’s true that we were there on a weekend that was noted for its unusually severe weather, and as we were sipped hot chocolate in our toasty lodge, about 2,000 skiers were being hastily evacuated from the mountain. Perhaps I’ll never experience that kind of thing again, but one thing I learned was that the people with proper goggles protecting their faces were a whole lot better off than people like me who’d decided to try and put off getting any. It inspired me to buy some proper snow goggles before my next alpine trip, primarily for a safety thing I suppose, just in case. This will probably be a few weeks away, but I thought I’d try to go shopping now before all the stock’s gone, since it’s getting towards the end of the ski season.
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  • Onward to Kapiti Island

    I’m taking a break from tramping next weekend. To help fill it in, Stacey and I are hoping to go and visit Kapiti Island. I’d been put off in the past because my speedy anecdotal investigations had implied that it must be quite complicated to arrange a DOC permit to visit the island and separately arrange the transport. I browsed the online booking system (for DOC permits) last Friday, however, and discovered that rather than having to book weeks or months in advance, there were actually quite a lot of permits available… even for the following day.

    Earlier this afternoon I ordered a couple of permits for next Saturday. I only hope that DOC’s online booking has improved since I last used it about 3 years ago, when we booked some huts on the Abel Tasman Coast Track (aka the Hiker’s Superhighway). That time we booked the huts about 3 months in advance, as soon as the online booking system was opened for that period. This seriously confused the DOC ranger at Anchorage Hut on the first night, who tried to tell us we didn’t have tickets. It turned out that because we’d booked as soon as we were able, the records of our tickets were off the end of her print-out.
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  • Trip: Cone Peak, towards Neill and back

    We began the weekend with an ambitious plan to start from Cone Saddle, and walk to Alpha Hut during Saturday via Neill, Winchcombe and Hector. It didn’t quite work out, but we still had a good time.

    2855744654_e2bf28a702_m-2407949
    A Tararua Rainbow, looking
    south from near Neill Peak (1158).

    Dates: 12th – 14th September, 2008
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Walls Whare Road-end.
    People: Alistair, Sarah, Illona, Amanda, Bernie and me.
    Huts visited: Cone Hut (1 night).
    Intended Route: Walk to Cone Saddle and camp on Friday night. From Saturday morning head up to Cone, over to Neill via Neill Saddle, across to Winchcombe Peak, continue to Hector, then follow the Southern Crossing track to Alpha Hut for Saturday night. Out via Marchant Ridge on Sunday.
    Actual Route: We got to about point 1055 below Winchcombe Peak, then decided to turn around and head back to Cone Hut for the night and head back to Walls Whare on Sunday.
    [Photos and movies]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    We arrived at Walls Whare in coordination with another club group that was indirectly aiming for Totara Flats, with both groups planning to walk the first leg of their trip on Friday night. The others intended to spend the night at Cone Hut, whereas we thought we might just camp up the hill at Cone Saddle, which was marginally closer to where we planned to go.
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  • Protecting the landscape in the Tararua District (maybe)

    As has recently been pointed out by Robb, who spends a lot of time tramping in the Ruahines, several large energy companies have recently made submissions on the proposed Tararua District Plan. The companies concerned are Genesis Energy, TrustPower, Meridian Energy, and Mighty River Power. Each of the energy companies has made one of the most detailed submissions to the proposed plan. Some of their comments look interesting as far as the Ruahine and Tararua ranges are concerned.

    The Tararua District Council has published the proposed plan on its website. In addition, comments received about the proposed plan are also available for download, either as a summary or as a complete scan of every submission.

    The Tararua District is already known for the Tararua Wind Farm, which is operated by TrustPower and sits in the wind tunnel between the Tararua and Ruahine Ranges. This is probably why the energy companies have such a vested interest in the region. As Robb pointed out, however, the changes proposed by the energy companies might result in changes to the District Plan which make it much easier for very large wind turbines to be built, and which could potentially affect the skyline of the Tararua Range and the Ruahine Range, whatever that might entail.

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  • Reflecting on tramping and the transformation of New Zealand

    For a while now, the third floor at Te Papa has hosted an exhibition titled “Blood Earth Fire — The Transformation of Aotearoa New Zealand“. The exhibition looks at the effects that human settlement has had on New Zealand over time, and I think it’s one of the most insightful exhibitions I’ve seen. The whole thing is fascinating, but the small part I find most telling every time I visit is a display which shows three maps of New Zealand, side by side.

    The first map shows native forest cover throughout New Zealand before humans arrived, which is effectively everywhere except for certain alpine locations where trees won’t grow. The second map displays native forest after Maori settlement, but before Europeans arrived, at which point several large areas of native forest had been cleared. The third map shows the cover of native forest as it is today, by which time the vast majority of the country had been cleared, leaving behind a few delicate islands of native forest. Most of what’s left surrounds mountain ranges, and wasn’t cleared due to the difficulty of farming there anyway. The display very effectively expresses just how much of New Zealand’s original environment has been destroyed to make way for human settlement. It wasn’t only when Europeans arrived in the 19th century, although the European settlement had a major impact.

    The rest of this post documents a collection of thoughts that I’ve had over the last few years about the state of conservation in New Zealand. It’s a fairly wide topic and I’m not really sure where it’s going, but I’ll see how things go in writing it down.

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  • Even more track consultations for Wellington

    If you’re like me and spend much of your spare time wandering around local tracks in the Wellington region, you might be interested to know that the Wellington City Council is currently consulting on its Draft Recreation Activities Policy, which governs how the WCC balances the needs of walkers, cyclists, horse riders, 4WD enthusiasts, and crazy mountain runners throughout Wellington’s track network. Consultation is open until Monday 22nd September, and an Online Submission Form is being provided.

    The consultation covers tracks throughout most of Wellington’s Town Belt such as the Tinakori Hill, parts of the Southern Walkway, parts of the Skyline Walkway, Wrights Hill, Te Kopahou Reserve, and a few others. Actually after a brief scan, at least part of the proposals look to be opening up certain areas to mountain bikes which frequently get used by people on mountain bikes already.

    If you’re interested in the tracks around the area, it might be worth your while to have a browse of the draft policy and make a submission, either in support of the proposals or not. Additional related WCC policies that are up for consultation during the same time period are the Draft Walking Policy and the Draft Cycling Policy, which respectively aim to frame the policies around encouraging walking and cycling in Wellington and making them safe.

  • Trip: Howletts Hut via Longview and Taumatataua

    Last weekend we visited the Kashmir road-end on the eastern side of the Ruahine Range, which I hadn’t visited since I went up to Longview Hut on a WTMC club trip near the end of 2006. Our group planned to go some distance further than Longview this time, and on to Howletts Hut which is quite a lot further into the range.

    2816347787_f0882c68f3_m-2771786
    Frosted alpine grasses just
    below Otumore.

    Dates: 29th – 31st August, 2008
    Location: Ruahine Forest Park, Kashmir Road-end.
    People: John, Alistair, Sarah, Paul, Pete and me.
    Huts visited: Longview Hut (1 night), Howletts Hut (1 night).
    Intended Route: Camping at Kashmir on Friday night, up to Longview then down to a short river walk up to Daphne Hut (brrrr, cold), then up to Howletts for Saturday night. Return the same way.
    Actual Route: We actually walked to Longview for Friday night, then went direct to Howletts over the tops via Taumatataua and along Daphne Ridge for Saturday night. Returned the same way over the tops.
    [Photos and movies]
    [More photos (from Pete)]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    The Kashmir road-end is more or less a dead-end and although DOC has been nice enough to provide a dunny at the end of the road, it isn’t surrounded by much in the way of good camping sites. There might be some possible camping just inside the start of the track, and it also looked possible to set up a tent fly or two under the pine trees a few hundred metres back along the road. Having driven up from Wellington on a Friday night, however, our plan had been to set up a camp at one of the private farms down the road, after gaining permission to do so. (Being in a club’s great when you have those kinds of contacts.) Turning up at 11pm, though, we were having second thoughts about camping at the road-end at all.
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  • Recreation Survey for Rimutaka Forest Park

    DOC has posted an online survey regarding recreation in the Orongorongo and Catchpool Valleys in Rimutaka Forest Park, which is worth a look (and submission) if you happen to have an interest in the area. More information about these valleys is available on DOC’s information page.

    The catchment is very accessible to Wellington and probably one of the most commonly visited forest parks in the area. As well as being popular for daywalks, tramping and hunting, it’s full of private batches — some of which are quite extensive, particularly along the Orongorongo River, and is accessible by 4WD from around the coast. No doubt there are a lot of interests.

    The Poneke Area Office is also planning a couple of information evenings, and instructions about how to become involved in these are also available on the survey page.