It’s been quiet on the blog post authoring front lately. This is not because there hasn’t been much to talk about, so much as because I’m presently on holiday in the UK and Ireland. Apologies to those people who’ve left comments which I haven’t yet had time to address. I’ve also spent a while trying to research and author an opinion piece for the FMC bulletin (which has been an experience in itself) regarding the word “closed” as it is sometimes applied to parts if the New Zealand conservation estate. That probably won’t come out until about November and I don’t want to undercut it, but I’ll post it here some time after that and probably decorate it with some lengthier detail and references which didn’t fit very well in the Bulletin edition.
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Tag: update
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Historic Relationships
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Just for a few days
I’ve been back in New Zealand for the last few days. We came back mostly for a wedding (in the Coromandel) which has been and gone. After that we drove down the North Island via Taranaki, turning many corners and driving over many hills, which is something else I’ve really missed. Thankfully the frequent Taranaki sunshine relented for a day, providing an unusual day of low cloud and heavy rain for me to hop up towards the mountain and read a few pages my book. I’ll write something more properly about that later once I have a chance.
Now I’m in Wellington for a few days, just hanging around and enjoying the place.
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Tutuwai Hut damaged
I know a few people who follow this blog visit the Tararuas. If this is you, make a note that Tutuwai Hut is presently damaged thanks to a fallen tree in the recent stormy weather, and officially closed until further notice. If you go that way, you’ll be camping outside in your alternative mobile shelter option.
The current alert from DoC is published as part of the Wairarapa Alerts.
I’ve no idea to what extent the damage is. If anyone happens to know (or has any photos they don’t mind sharing), please feel welcome to comment here.
Edit 24-July-2011: Ross Browne has posted a couple of photos [1, 2] (from a third party) on the Tararua Range Facebook page.
Edit 25-August-2011: As Liam noted in a comment below, the hut now appears to be repaired (although the main track in is still as washed out as it’s been for a while).
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Meridian, DoC and the Mokihinui River
Just to add to some of happenings around the Mokihinui River (historic references: a trip report about walking it, a decision to allow damming it, and the Department of Conservation’s appeal to that decision), it looks as if there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes earlier this year.
Claire Browning (over at Pundit) has made use of the Official Information Act to obtain communications between DoC and Meridian which make some weird reading. It’s an insight into how these large project applications can work. It gives an idea of the strong differences of opinion between DoC experts and Meridian over use of the land, and also shows Meridian as trying to evade the Official Information Act, essentially by trying to stop DoC from writing certain things down.
More politics. I’m going back to the Ruahines this weekend. It should be fun.
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Mokihinui to be dammed
Well, probably. Several months ago I wrote about our trip along the Mokihinui River, which has been under threat of being dammed by Meridian Energy for some time. A few months later than planned, the Official Commission has finally released a (very long) report in favour of the decision to allow a dam. This will be a surprise for some, because late last year Gerry Brownlee (Minister of Energy and Resources, and Minister for Economic Development) let slip that he didn’t think it would go ahead, before he pulled back and claimed he didn’t get involved in local politics. [Update 22nd May 2012: Meridian has now withdrawn its project from the Environment Court and will not proceed.]
The decision was majority rather than unanimous, with two of the three commissioners (John Lumsden and Terry Archer) finding in favour of the consents, but the other commissioner (Greg Ryder) considering “that the effects of the proposal on the ecology of the Mokihinui catchment were not only adverse but could not be satisfactorily mitigated”. Their full decisions can be read from page 296 of part one of the document linked from above.
It is very likely that this decision will be appealed before anything happens. The New Zealand Wild Rivers campaign more or less echoes my thoughts on this.
A media report from The Press is here.
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No time to get out this weekend
Today I went for a walk with Shaun around Belmont Regional Park, starting at Korokoro and up to Belmont Trig, then over to Cannons’ Head and back through the valley. I’d taken annual leave from work, and it was a really nice day for it. More photos are over here.
Shaun’s temporarily here from New York, to where he migrated (from Wellington) about 7 years ago, but it’s really cool that he’s come over. He did most of the work for organising a bachelor party last weekend, and I was able to drag some people along part of the Skyline Walkway. Everyone kept up.
All this walking around, of course, was an ulterior motive to make it on topic for me to write that I’ll have a few other things on my mind over the next few weeks, and probably won’t get out walking or tramping much during that time unless things are hideously wrong. Not that this is a problem as far as I’m concerned. 😛
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Tragedy near Kime Hut, part 2
Also see Tragedy near Kime Hut and Tragedy near Kime Hut, part 3.
Last winter there was a tragedy when two trampers died of hypothermia in blizzard conditions near Kime Hut in the Tararuas. One was particularly high profile, which is possibly why the story has gotten so much attention. I wrote some thoughts about it at the time, but reserved comment with the lack of information. The coroners’ inquest began a few days ago, and is now being reported on by the DomPost:
- 16th February 2010
- 17th February 2010
- 18th February 2010
- Update 10th March: 10th March 2010 — coroner’s findings released
It’s interesting reading, especially the latter articles, and seems to developing into some good examples of things they might have done better, but more importantly the presence of a culture that wasn’t a safe one to mix with the outdoors, yet also one which is very prevalent (in my opinion at least).
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Just a little frightened
It’s neat getting home and finding one of these inside the curtain. We get them outside from time to time, but I’m not sure how this one found its way in. We probably left a window open, and once inside I guess this was the closest thing it could find to an old damp tree-stump.
It seems they can pinch very noticeably when they’re crawling over your skin, or maybe it was just surprised at my waking it up to get it outside.
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Claustrophobic bivy bags
It’s bright orange!I commented to Craig and a couple of others earlier this afternoon that to me it seems the most embarrassing kind of tramping accident that didn’t necessarily involve idiocy might be to become trapped inside a sleeping bag. It’s just been a pet fear of mine for a while now and something I might one day like to produce a horror movie about. I find something disconcerting about completely zipping oneself up inside a sleeping bag on a cold night without the certainty of being able to locate the zipper in the morning, or having the zipper get stuck on something and refuse to move. For some reason this leads to mental visions of a giant sealed sleeping bag bounding out of the Tararuas.
The reason this topic of conversation arose was because I’ve taken the claustrophobia one layer further and bought myself a nice little bivy bag, primarily for emergencies and as a possible alternative to carrying around my Huntech 2 to 3 person fly as backup shelter when I’m not planning to camp.
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