Checking out the Paekakariki Escarpment Track

Posted on 12 May, 2013 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post
DSCF2587
Iconic coastal scenery, albeit without the
iconic coastal exposure to the elements.

Another of the things I found myself doing during the recent visit, besides this Easter tramping trip, was to check out the new Paekakariki Escarpment Track, one of the contributing sections of the Te Araroa Trail. When completed, this route will provide a dedicated walking corridor between Paekakariki and Pukerua Bay, alongside the coast north of Wellington. It’ll make the most of both iconic coastal scenery and iconic coastal exposure to the elements, and it’s completely accessible at both ends by Wellington’s metropolitan commuter train network.

I’d not even considered visiting this track until I noticed in the DomPost that the access was about to be partially opened, although its pending construction has been in the news since at least mid-2011. My only available day was Saturday 23rd March, so I bought myself a Day Rover ticket, hopped on a train to Paekakariki, and went off to hunt for it. As an aside, the Kapiti and Johnsonville metro lines in Wellington are both very interesting tourist lines when you’re not a daily commuter.

As is typical for me when I do things on a whim, I messed this up. It was a few days before the Te Araroa Trust had posted this on their website, which would have been useful information to have had in advance. In my haste I’d assumed I knew where I was going without making the effort to check. I mean, I’ve been to Paekakariki heaps of times, and I imagined that the obvious starting point for such a track would be near the intersection of SH1 and the Old Paekakariki Road. There was nothing obvious there, however, and I spent an hour walking around Paekakariki searching for a vantage point on the hill across the road, thinking it must somehow begin from further north. Failing to find it, I then spent 40 minutes walking up the Paekakariki Hill Road before I finally decided I was going the wrong way.

DSCF2560
Part of Kapiti Island.

Continue reading →

Posted in daywalk | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Protecting our place in silence

Posted on 1 May, 2013 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post

In my recent trip report, which described several days in the northern Ruahine Range, I referred to the presence of whio (pronounced fee-oh), also known as New Zealand’s Blue Duck. The bird has evolved in an isolated fashion and is not closely related to other ducks. It’s a strong swimmer, and one of very few birds in the world that lives its entire life on fast-flowing, bouldery mountain rivers. It’s most active during the edges of the days, and sometimes overnight, and it’s named after the feee-oh sound of the male’s call… moreso than the responsive squalk of the female. Whio are not as iconically popular as some of New Zealand’s other birds such as the kiwi or the kea, yet if you turn over a New Zealand $10 note, you’ll see a pair of whio on the back.

Whio are also listed as vulnerable to becoming extinct. They nest for three months a year in caves, log jams and under other vegetation, so the eggs and chicks are vulnerable to both spring flooding and introduced predators. The total population is hard to count, but a current estimate is for as few as 2,500 individual birds, scattered throughout the country and dropping. Being exclusively territorial they’re usually seen in pairs at best, which doesn’t help towards improving numbers. Occasionally, however, there are also good stories.

Its requirement for clean water and a high diversity of aquatic insects means the presence of whio is considered a key indicator of a genuinely healthy river, something that’s all too uncommon in New Zealand today. If you find whio, it means you’ve found a waterway that’s in a fairly pristine state. Keep this in mind next time you’re thinking of leaving a mess that will seep into a waterway, or throwing unwanted food-scraps into a stream, or washing dishes in a river outside a hut or camp-site. You may well be making life harder or impossible for vulnerable species such as whio, not to mention all the insects it relies on.

It’s fortunate to be able to see such birds in the Ruahine Range, but it’s something I’ve taken for granted that I can report having seen them without putting the very birds I’ve seen in danger. Sadly it’s not always the case. Despite being at risk of eventual extinction for several reasons, the whio is, at least, not generally in danger from people of malicious intent simply knowing where they live. From this point on, I’m going to write about lizards.
Continue reading →

Posted in musing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Trip: Sparrowhawk, Maropea Forks, Colenso and Upper Makaroro

Posted on 23 April, 2013 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post

Easter of 2013 comes towards the latter part of a lengthy drought, especially in the North Island. Rivers are low or dry, municipal water use restrictions are in place, and total fire bans are active.

DSCF2724
Gareth approaching on the tops, from Orupu (.1475)
in the background towards Maroparea (.1511).

Visiting Wellington again for a week or so to go tramping, after frustrations like 10+ days in a row of temperatures higher than 35 (thank you Melbourne), I really am keen to see some rain, wind, snow, hilly and/or mountainous landscapes, anything relatively cold. Statistically the Ruahine Range, which is where we’re going, is good for four out of five of these, though the western Tararua Range still beats it hands-down for rain. Did I mention that the Roar is just starting? Hunters hunters everywhere.

Dates: 28th March – 1st April, 2013 (Easter weekend)
Location: Ruahine Forest Park, Makaroro Road.
People: Craig, Gareth and me.
Huts visited: Sparrowhawk Biv (0 nights), Maropea Forks Hut (1 night), Colenso Hut (1 night), Upper Makaroro Hut (1 night), Barlow Hut (0 nights).
Route: From Makaroro Road up to Sparrowhawk, along tops and down to Maropea Forks for Friday night. Then along marked track through Unknown Campsite to Colenso Hut. Follow river North into Mangatera River, and walk up creek towards Potae (.1312), drop into marked track and back to .1503, then down Totara Spur to Upper Makaroro Hut for Sunday night. Follow Makaroro River through gorgey section to Barlow Hut, then back out to Makaroro Road.
[Photos]
[Download GPX] [Show map] [Display in new window][LINZ Topographic Map in new window]

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.

On Thursday night, being the night before the public holiday of Good Friday, we pile into a van and drive to Carterton for a short dinner. It’s nice to see that Istanbul (a great kebab restaurant) is still going strong after a couple of years—it seems to have become a popular dinner stop for tramping groups who drive north. During dinner, we’re surprised to see a couple of other friends (Paul and Sharon) drop in, on their way to the Tarauras. They’re apparently aiming for Dorset Ridge over the long weekend. Back into the van, and Amanda, Richard, Craig, Gareth and myself aim for Dannevirke, where Amanda and Richard have managed to arrange a cabin for an overnight stay. This beats staying at the end of Makaroro Road, where camping’s not allowed, or walking until 2am to reach somewhere like Sparrowhawk.

Richard and Amanda had their own thing planned. On paper it looked similar to our own plan except they have, for some reason, decided to include additional circles to make the distances further between stopping points. On Friday morning, after about another hour’s drive, they’re out and walking up the Makaroro River. They’re sporting fluorescent clothing and pack covers, as they don’t want to be accidentally shot by an over-enthusiastic rifle-bearer.
Continue reading →

Posted in tramping | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Re-visiting New Zealand

Posted on 20 March, 2013 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post

We’re getting ready to go back to New Zealand again, in another of our recurring visits. For anyone who reads these things and has not been aware, I’ve been living abroad for the last couple of years. My plan, having caught up with some friends and family around Wellington, is to visit the Ruahines over Easter as part of a small WTMC group. All of the cool kids in the trampey club like to go south on long weekends for some reason, so we’ll be a more dynamic, small group in what is the second best mountain range for tramping in the world. These are my favourite kinds of groups to go out tramping with, so it should be enjoyable.

Being the Ruahines, as with many other parts of NZ, I anticipate steep climbs between coasting around on the mildly undulating tops, possibly in cloud and strong wind. Trying to prepare for this type of thing, when based in Melbourne, has been a novel task in itself. When living and working in Wellington, I really didn’t have to think about hill-walking fitness issues too hard, as I could easily organise my life to factor in some good routine walking activities which tended to keep me generally walking fit. I’d have a 200 metre vertical climb upwards every evening when I walked home from work, and an 80′ish metre vertical climb upwards when I walked to work in the morning. A large chunk of the route was in Wellington’s town belt, generally away from immediate clusters of population. It was a nice escape at both ends of the work day, and I think having this day after day worked.

That type of interwoven landscape doesn’t really exist in Melbourne. Here I have a 40 minute walk into and out of the CBD every morning, but it’s all flat, through landscaped grassy parks with footpaths, sports fields and planted trees alongside busy roads and cycle routes. It’s nice in other ways, but it rarely feels physically taxing as far as getting walking-fit. Therefore, as with the previous times I’ve returned NZ to go tramping, I’ve attempted to simulate a hill-side by climbing up and down the stairs of the building in which I work.

DSCF2377
An interwoven landscape, November 18th last year.
DSCF2385

Continue reading →

Posted in update | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Clarity on not charging for Search and Rescue in New Zealand

Posted on 18 February, 2013 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post

This incident occurred just over a week ago, but I’ve avoided posting until now. I was annoyed when I first saw it, and still am, but not for the same reason as most other people who have expressed their brief opinions in the comment thread below that article.

A man activated a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB), sometimes called an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), whilst tramping in the Paringa Forest area of South Westland [map], and a helicopter collected him. The pilot later reported the man as having said “he had significantly underestimated the amount of time to get out of the area and was struggling with the challenging terrain”. This has become a media article with a headline that complains about the rescue helicopter being treated as a taxi service, and begins with a claim, not clearly substantiated by other information, which asserts the man was “running late and wanted a ride to his car”. Now, the Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand (RCCNZ), a sub-section of Maritime New Zealand, is “considering” whether to charge the man, threatening a possible penalty of up to $30,000.

A carbon copied story has been replicated throughout the Fairfax eco-system of newspapers and websites within New Zealand and Australia. The Herald has an identical take. It’s identical because the journalists on all sides are merely parroting a Friday press release from the RCCNZ, including the headline and opening paragraph.

I’m disappointed with this press release and its inflammatory tone. The facts are not established beyond hearsay, and if Maritime New Zealand truly does plan to take the matter to court, I don’t think it should be spreading such things in the media. Thanks also to the one-sided nature of the text, comment threads on those media repetitions which host them are mostly one-dimensional hang’em brigades. Based on the press release they scream that the man is an idiot, and that he should be heavily charged for the rescue. If it’s enough to indicate that there may be another side to this story, however, the Nelson Mail’s rendition of the story (from the man’s home town) attracted a comment from a person who claims to know the man and the circumstances, and believes the RCCNZ’s information to be sensationalised.

PERCEPTION OF COSTS

Charging a person for search and rescue in the back-country is not easy under New Zealand law. It’s also unprecedented. One of the most important reasons is that if people are dissuaded from requesting a rescue when they need it, the situation can become much worse, and risk can increase for all involved.
Continue reading →

Posted in article | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

My submission about increasing maximum penalties on the Conservation Estate

Posted on 9 February, 2013 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post

I’ve finally put my submission in for the Conservation (Natural Heritage Protection) Bill, which (if successful) will increase maximum penalties available for many crimes on the Conservation Estate by about ten-fold. Often this will be good. For example, judges have commented on the frustration with the low penalties they’ve been restricted to when sentencing international criminals who’ve been caught smuggling out protected wildlife for sale on the black market. Enabling a higher penalty will increase the risk, set a much higher black market price on our wildlife, and hopefully make the practice less common. The Bill has cross-party support for these types of reasons, and will most likely enter law. You can read everything they said about it when it had its first day in parliament over here.

My main concern is that the existing indirectly-specified $10,000/1-year-jail penalty for entering “closed” Conservation Areas was already disproportionate and inconsistent with the $500 fine for a nearly identical National Park situation. Following the Bill, that inconsistency will be magnified to a $100,000/2-year-jail penalty compared with a $5,000 fine. This is part of what I discussed in my earlier post regarding DoC and the word “closed”.

The Bill is now at the stage of receiving public submissions, which will be considered by the Local Government and Environment Select Committee (a selected committee of sitting MPs) to make recommendations for any changes to the Bill before it’s sent back to Parliament to be voted on again. If you’d like to make a submission, which can be as short or lengthy, formal or informal as you like, and you don’t have to agree with me, the closing date for submissions is February 28th 2013. A submission can be completed online by visiting Parliament’s status page for the Bill, clicking the Make a Submission link on the right hand side (it links to here), scrolling to the end of the page and following the instructions to make an online submission.

Anyway, I’ve included the text of my submission below.
Continue reading →

Posted in musing | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The entry restrictions of Matiu/Somes Island

Posted on 6 February, 2013 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post

My previous post criticised some aspects of closed public land, and how DoC sometimes handles it, and so I found it interesting to read a report on Tuesday of DoC rangers being verbally abused in a comparable scenario. It occurred after they instructed two divers to immediately leave the shore of Matiu/Somes Island, in the middle of Wellington Harbour, and return to sea. To be clear, this is not the type of land closure I referred to in my previous post. It happened in a Reserve rather than a National Park or Conservation Area, and the land is legally closed (except for entry under strict entry rules) for reasons appropriate for the purpose of the reserve.

The highest concern here with people landing uncontrolled on the edge of this island is a biosecurity concern for the Scientific Reserve, whereby unwanted pests could enter the island and wreak havoc amongst its local eco-systems that rely on the island’s status for their protection. Scientific Reserves are specifically set aside “for the purpose of protecting and preserving in perpetuity for scientific study, research, education, and the benefit of the country, ecological associations, plant or animal communities, types of soil, geomorphological phenomena, and like matters of special interest”. (That’s from section 21 of the Reserves Act.)
Continue reading →

Posted in musing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Brief Question: Public Land Access Rights and DoC

Posted on 22 January, 2013 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post

The introduction below was an opinion piece for the November 2012 Federated Mountain Clubs Bulletin. With permission I’m republishing it, plus extra content that includes legal references and various opinions of my own. Please be mindful that nothing here is legal advice. I’m trying to learn about this and be accurate from my own research but would appreciate notification of any errors so I can correct them. As always, constructive discussion is welcome.

Introduction [from Pages 40-41 of FMC Bulletin 190 (November 2012)]


No it isn’t.

We often take for granted our freedom to access public land, and over time I’ve encountered confusion about what’s meant when DoC labels places as “closed”. Some people ignore such directives, confident that reasons are often trivial and they’re not enforceable. Others would avoid a “closed” place, believing there’s likely a good reason, or through fear of being caught breaking rules.

My layperson’s reading of the law (and I welcome correction) is that it emphasises the importance of free access to public land. DoC is not automatically permitted to close access to anything except specific maintained facilities like huts and bridges. Closing access within National Parks and Conservation Areas (including Forest Parks) requires the Minister of Conservation, although the Minister has confirmed a current ongoing delegation to DoC’s Director-General, who has further delegated this authority to Area Managers and Conservators. If part of a Conservation Area is “closed” under Section 13 of the Conservation Act, DoC must advertise the closure, and entering becomes an offence with a penalty of up to a year in jail or up to a $10,000 fine. Access restrictions within National Parks require the Minister to create a bylaw, which can’t be delegated away and which must be consistent with the park’s Management Plan. A person entering could potentially be fined up to $500. Severe penalties are unlikely, but the fact that it could happen is meant to convince us to avoid “closed” places.

Despite these provisions, the law’s tone is that restricting access is serious and genuine closure of public land shouldn’t be easy, which is consistent with a view that DoC is a caretaker and not a gatekeeper. How, then, is a term which represents an offence used by DoC so frequently? Often the “closed” label is applied for discontinued maintenance, or a heightened risk for certain classes of visitors but not for everyone. It’s also commonly attached to tracks, as if they’re facilities which define where we may go rather than impressions on the land of where we have been. “Closing” a track makes little sense to someone who’d happily tread on public land alongside it, but referring to a track as “closed” may still impart to the less initiated that entry to the land beyond, or to any non-tracked land, is illegal. In most if not all cases it seems unlikely that closure is official, but with official looking signs, alerts and press releases being used by DoC to communicate about such “closures”, how can we know the difference?
Continue reading →

Posted in article | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Feather-weight safety protocols

Posted on 1 January, 2013 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post

As I was writing that previous post about how EPIRBs aren’t automatically everything that they’re sometimes made out to be, an incident was unfolding in the Tararua Range where an EBIRB would probably have been really really useful. Fortunately things worked out well, with a high portion of luck, as reported by TVNZ (including a video), via Stuff, and the NZ Herald. Wellington LandSAR, one of several LandSAR groups to be called in to help, also put out a press release.

In short, a mountain runner entered the range at Holdsworth Lodge on Saturday with the reported intent of running around the Holdsworth/Jumbo circuit. He didn’t, instead changing his mind to run up the Baldy Track to South King, and presumably then around the Broken Axe Pinnacles, back past McGregor and Angle Knob, and back to the original circuit. This is a significantly longer and more remote route by comparison, on which he’d have been likely to meet fewer (if any) people depending on the conditions. If you want to check this all on a map, start about here and then scroll around.

As it happened, he became completely disoriented on South King. When standing on a high point with cloud in all directions, he probably thought he’d turned around to go back the way from which he’d come. Instead, however, he was following the complete opposite direction into Dorset Creek on the other side, and into an even more remote part of the range. He sheltered for Saturday night under an improvised rock bivy, somehow then made his way along Dorset Creek into the Waiohine River, breaking a toe in the process and “having a particularly nasty experience in the river where he went under”. Upon noticing an orange track marker he eventually found Mid-Waiohine Hut some time after 2pm on Sunday after much hunting around in heavy rain, at which point he was finally able to determine where he was.

He left a note for possible searchers, started a fire and ate half a jar of peanut butter that had been fortuitously left behind by someone. By now it was Monday and the first helicopter had finally been able to fly in, having previously been restricted by weather. The note was discovered, and soon after the man was spotted and collected, climbing up the track towards Isabelle and back to Mt Holdsworth. Meanwhile, multiple teams of searchers had started by scouring other parts of the range, based on information that he’d intended to run the Holdsworth/Jumbo circuit. With his decision to deviate from the route, it’s no wonder that the man wasn’t found on Sunday.
Continue reading →

Posted in musing | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

PLBs and Media

Posted on 30 December, 2012 by Mike McGavinPrint This Post Print This Post

Lately there’s been an obvious promotional push from Police, the RCCNZ and SAR officials to tell people to carry PLBs (Personal Locator Beacon) when they visit the outdoors. This makes sense as a progressive way to be able to indicate distress, but I’ve found it interesting to watch how the message is injected into the media machine.

It’s now standard, in a New Zealand media article about a back-country search and/or rescue, to see a comment about whether or not a person is believed to be carrying an emergency beacon. For better or worse, those who aren’t are often criticised as if they should be. The latest story to be pushed into the press is this one, repeated in several media outlets, which uses a recent incident in Milford Sound as an excuse to advise everyone to carry beacons. Browsing the comment thread under the above-linked article, the initially expressed public opinions mostly seem to be one-dimensional about how great and useful beacons are and how people are idiots not to carry them. Until the second wave of responding comments from readers, there was no acknowledgement that a PLB is effectively an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff which transmits no message except “fly a helicopter here to find out what my problem is”.
Continue reading →

Posted in musing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 30 Comments