Windy Hilltops

Commercial Consents and Pest Control (watch that space)

Posted on 8 November, 2011 by Mike McGavin

Maybe this is old news, but I was interested to discover tonight, through a press release of a speech last night, that the Parliamentary Commissioner of the Environment (PCE) is beginning an investigation into commercial use of conservation land.

The PCE was in the news in June, at the release of an evaluation of the use of 1080 poison for pest control in New Zealand forests. The findings were very positive towards its use, and strongly encouraged a big increase in its use, as long as it were being done with due care. This inflamed criticism from some areas because 1080 poison is controversial in some communities, particularly parts of the hunting community.
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Posted in musing | Tagged department of conservation, government policies, media, musing, parliamentary commissioner for the environment | Leave a comment

Trip: Ruahine Corner and Ikawetea Forks Hut

Posted on 6 November, 2011 by Mike McGavin

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Kevin and Illona ready to go,
Sunday morning.

Normally I wouldn’t worry about getting muddy when sliding through a 30 centimetre entrance of a flapping tent fly at 1400 metres, but a moment of realisation hit when I began to piece together a continuum of past and likely future events which might prove a problem during the 5 overnight hours I’d have to get my gear clean and dry before checking into an international flight. Back to the beginning, though.

Dates: 21st – 24th October, 2011 (Labour weekend)
Location: Ruahine Forest Park, Masters Shelter off Mangleton Road.
People: Illona, Kevin, Amanda, Richard and me.
Huts visited: Aranga Hut (0 nights), Ruahine Corner Hut (0 nights), Ikawetea Forks Hut (1 night) (aka Ikawatea Forks Hut).
Route: From Mangleton Shelter up Golden Crown Ridge, around past Aranga Hut and 1406, 1407 and over Piopio to camp just below (next to tarns) on Saturday night. Then to 1503, north-west along ridge around 1370 to Ruahine Corner Hut. Across to 1234 trig over bluffs, north to 1206, then following taped trapping line north-east past 953 to Ikawetea Forks Hut for Sunday night. Straight up to Tauwharepokoru (1403) via marked track, then approximately following poled route past the road leading to No Mans Hut and south-west over Ohawai (1368) back to the top of Golden Crown Ridge. Then down to Masters Shelter.
[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.

What better way to spend the long weekend of the Rugby World Cup Final than isolated in the second best mountain range for tramping in the world? I certainly couldn’t think of a better way, and it was easy to wing my way back to New Zealand for a few days and head into the Ruahines! I stapled myself to a trampey club trip being organised by Illona, with some personal goals being to bag more DoC asset numbers, and to keep my tramping gear sparkly clean for getting back into Australia.

Over three days we’d loop around through the high point of Piopio (1437m), Ruahine Corner Hut, and Ikawetea Forks Hut, and back to where we began. The route follows around the circumference of some private Maori settlement land at the northern end of the range. It’s mostly conservation land, despite some being outside the official Ruahine Forest Park boundary. Although we saw no signs to indicate as such, we discovered later that we weren’t certain if the entire route remains on public land, although the Walking Access Mapping System suggests there’s a marked DoC route across the sliver of private land at the northern end. Best to check with DoC to be certain in future, though.

Ready to leave from Masters Shelter.

Richard and Amanda near the lower
part of the 800 metre climb up
Golden Crown Ridge.

We arrived at Masters Shelter, roughly west of Hastings, from about 11pm. There’s no drinkable water available at the shelter, only a stream that flows through the neighbouring farm, so we’d each obtained several litres of flavoured tap water from Carterton. A light drizzle arrived in the night, and when we left at 8am for the 800 metre climb up Golden Crown Ridge, the morning was providing a general greyness. It wasn’t too murky, though, to obscure the dampened scenes of the surrounding landscape with its reds and browns and greens of the dracophyllums and tussocks into which we were entering. I was relieved to discover that 10 months in the generally flat Melbourne hadn’t crippled me too much to reach the top. Until now I’d been mildly concerned that the only accessible up-hill I could find for preparation was an inconvenient fire escape stairwell. Not long after leaving, I realised I’d forgotten to search for my first asset number at Masters Shelter, a slightly demoralising beginning but at least I could nab that one on the way back.
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Posted in tramping | Tagged asset number bagging, bagged:aranga hut, bagged:ikawetea forks hut, bagged:masters shelter, bagged:ruahine corner hut, ruahines, tramping, wellington tramping and mountaineering club, wtmc newsletter | 6 Comments

NZMS 260 and 262: Our Metric Topographical Heritage, edited by Graeme Jupp (review)

Posted on 16 October, 2011 by Mike McGavin

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Topographic maps worldwide often appear utilitarian, if not a little boring graphically. By comparison the new 260s were stylish and modern without losing any utility. They were undoubtedly among the best looking topographic maps in the world.

—David Balm, In Order to Make a Good Impression: Printing 260 series topographic maps, 1976-1984, (reproduced in the book being reviewed)

Cover image of NZMS 260 and 262: Our Metric Topographical Heritage, edited by Graeme Jupp

This is a review of Graeme Jupp’s recently published booklet, titled “NZMS 260 and 262: Our Metric Topographical Heritage”, which was published in February 2011 as part of the CartoPRESS series by the New Zealand Cartographic Society. I’m not giving a complete qualified review, because I’m neither a cartographer nor am I very familiar with much of the history the material to comment on accuracy. It’s more of a perspective from someone who’s enjoyed using New Zealand’s topo maps over the last few years from a tramping perspective. If anyone notices mistakes in some of my comments to do with mapping history or technical issues, please feel welcome to correct me in the comments below. An alternative review by Shaun Barnett has been published in FMC Bulletin 184 from June 2011 (see here for a download link), which has been republished by the NZ Cartographic Society.

If you’ve spent any of the last several decades using New Zealand’s official topo maps to plan interesting trips, you might find a moment to turn an eye to a short collation of recent cartographic history. This book combines a history with a comprehensive tabular appendix of maps. The combination of the history and the tables means it will make a handy reference item to have on the shelf for many people with an interest.

The 260 and 262 map series’ are now obsolete, having respectively been replaced by the Topo50 and Topo250 series’ as of September 2009, but until that time they became extremely popular, and many are still in circulation today. As concluded by the editor, more than 2.8 million maps of the 260 series, and a further 408,000 maps in the 262 series (which shared the same geodetic datum but was drawn to a different scale) were printed between 1978 and 2009. Production of the 260 and 262 series’ provided a platform, and also established techniques and technologies upon which New Zealand’s topographic map-making continues to be built. The influence of this period of time in the production of maps in New Zealand seems hard to argue with.
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Posted in musing | Tagged book, land information new zealand, maps, musing, review | Leave a comment

Keep an eye on the Tararua hut books

Posted on 8 October, 2011 by Mike McGavin

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Don’t be too surprised if you get pushed over from behind by a few hut-baggers racing through the Tararuas during the next couple of months. Lower North Island LandSAR is running a Tararua hut-bagging contest for its members. (Specifically with entry being open to lower North Island LandSAR, the Police SAR Squad, and Airforce BCF.) Until 7th December 2011, entered teams will be allowed three 48 hour “trips” to clock up as many points as possible. This will probably encourage some non-stop no-sleep rogaining techniques by the more committed teams.

The competition’s only open to people associated with LandSAR, but the rules and points table are amusing to read all the same. As well as bagging huts and points of interest, points are being awarded for providing GPS tracks, and for logging in Mountain Radio Skeds. There seems to be nothing in the rules to prevent a team from calling into all three of the Wellington, Central North Island and Hawkes Bay skeds in an evening, but I guess they might also need to decide if it’s worth another 10 points to stop moving for another 30 minutes, given how long it can take to properly get a mountain radio aerial up and down.
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Posted in musing | Tagged huts, link propagation, search and rescue, tararuas | 4 Comments

DoC announces its camping restrictions

Posted on 16 September, 2011 by Mike McGavin

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As was noted in this thread in the NZ Tramper forums (thanks madpom), the Department of Conservation has published its list of places where it prohibits “Freedom Camping”. Note that this list only relates to DoC land, and doesn’t include any local authority land on which freedom camping might also be prohibited under the Act.

This list follows from the enactment of the Freedom Camping Bill, now known as the Freedom Camping Act, and which I’ve posted about previously [1] [2]. Among other things, the Act provides for DoC and for Local Authorities to issue instant fines for people found camping in places where camping has been prohibited or restricted, under the Act, by either DoC or the relevant Local Authority depending on who manages the land.

As might have been expected, the DoC list is mostly composed of carparks, picnic areas and occasional lookout points, where DoC has supposedly encountered or has good reason to expect problems. This is consistent with the marketed intent of the Bill to give power for authorities to restrict tourist-style camping in problem spots. An odd exception to this list seems to be the inclusion of “Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (except at approved camping sites)”.

Yes, DoC has actually stated that Freedom Camping is prohibited in The Entire National Park. [Update, 7th October 2011: Some helpful people at DoC have clarified a few things which I've noted in this comment.]
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Posted in musing | Tagged aoraki mount cook national park, department of conservation, government policies, musing, news | 7 Comments

Nostalgic Exposure (aka Such a Stupid Way To Die)

Posted on 25 August, 2011 by Mike McGavin

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I should have posted about this when it came out, but missed it at the time and have since not had a suitable excuse. I still don’t have one, so I’ll just post it anyway with the expectation that it may be new for some.

Forty years ago, in 1971, the New Zealand National Film Unit produced this educational video designed to terrify young people with the horrors of “exposure” (aka hypothermia) and, with luck, teach them how to avoid it. I was never subjected to this film during my educational years, but as recently as 1997, some schools were reportedly still petrifying their youth with the words:

“Thomas Cougan will tomorrow night be DEAD!”

Two years ago, NZOnScreen digitised the film and put it online. (There’s a press release here.) Happily the entire thing is available for all to see, from mountain mules, disgusting breakfasts and fashion of the late hippie era, to a relatively young Ray Henwood who draws concise diagrams on a blackboard as he expertly pronounces the symptoms and causes of “exposure”.

The digitisation comes in two parts, followed by the credits. (Part Two is below if you’ve clicked into the full post, or you can just wait for Part One to finish.)

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Posted in musing | Tagged history, link propagation, media, search and rescue, tramping | 7 Comments

Let’s acknowledge some Avoidable Mistakes

Posted on 4 August, 2011 by Mike McGavin

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Last week was a very media-busy time for people being rescued from the New Zealand back-country. That time of year again, perhaps?

Just a general kind’a day when the weather’s not so happy.
This eventful day, where our actions were strongly influenced by conditions, was the 27th of June 2010, near McKinnon Hut in the Ruahines.

For instance:

23rd July 2011: A couple of people were rescued having spent “a week” stuck at Kime Hut (Tararuas). If you read past the inexplicably incorrect headlines whose authors seemed to ignore the text of the articles, the more correct version of the story is that they left home on Tuesday and were collected on Saturday (4 nights). Asking around further, it turns out that they were really only stranded at Kime at all for the last three nights (two of them unplanned) prior to being walked out by a SAR team. Still very unenviable and risky circumstances, but the media seems to have been over-hyped, maybe encouraged by a highly publicised (and less happily-ending) incident near Kime Hut a couple of years ago.
24th July 2011: A group of kayakers spent an unplanned night near Tauranga, having run out of daylight. Two girls were airlifted out on Sunday morning whilst the remaining two men paddled their way out.
24th July 2011: Three men who were out pig-hunting in Marlborough got lost, spent a night outside, and were collected by a helicopter.
25th July 2011: Two trampers were rescued from Cass Saddle, in Cragieburn Forest Park near Arthur’s Pass at 10am, having spent a freezing night in the open and then been stuck in the small Lagoon Saddle Shelter for three additional nights. Graeme Kates, who publishes records of incidents near Arthur’s Pass, notes that flying conditions were marginal, it took two attempts to reach them, and walk-in LandSAR teams were on standby in case flying turned out to be impossible. I’ll get to this one later.
25th July 2011: A young 17 year old hunter became lost, separated from his father, and spent a freezing night outside between Opotiki and Gisbourne. An overnight search failed to find him, but he was located at 8am and air-lifted out by a helicopter.
27th July 2011: A small Alpine Cliff Rescue team spent a cold night on Mount Taranaki having shown up at 10.30pm, after a 90 minute walk from a helicopter drop, to rescue a stranded and disoriented snowboarder. The man was flown out, but deteriorating weather meant the rescue team was left on the mountain until the following day in a night they described as one of the worst they’d ever had.
30th July 2011: An injured 13-year-old tramper was collected from Nelson Lakes, between Speargrass and Angelus Huts, after he fell about 1 or 1.5 metres.

There will have been other call-outs during the same time-frame which haven’t been reported. That last one, which involved an injury evacuation, occurred several days later and I just threw in for show. Out of all of these media reports that describe distinctly different incidents, the 30th July incident was the first to describe a rescue from a situation that probably couldn’t have been easily prevented. The rest all involved bad judgements or decisions, and people losing awareness of where they were. In short, big storms sweep the country and many people who are unfamiliar with the conditions make mistakes.

I think it’s great to go out when there’s stormy weather, for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes I only notice it once I’m back, but I appreciate seeing places in ways that many people simply don’t see them, plus it can help to gain and retain familiarity and a better appreciation of what the environment can really be like when it’s not playing nicely, as well as how to cope with it. That said, stormy weather presents new risks and challenges that need to be managed very carefully. Decisions need to be taken with great care, and that’s a separate issue which I wrote about some time back in a post titled The Next Three Hours. I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to build up a collection of friends whom I trust my life with and learn from. In my case it’s been through my association with the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club.

With this post, however, I wanted to focus on the 25th of July rescue near Arthur’s Pass, listed as the fourth bullet point above.
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Posted in musing | Tagged link propagation, media, musing, news, search and rescue, tramping | 6 Comments

Tutuwai Hut damaged

Posted on 13 July, 2011 by Mike McGavin

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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).

Posted in update | Tagged department of conservation, huts, tararuas, update | 4 Comments

That Freedom Camping Thing (Part 2)

Posted on 28 June, 2011 by Mike McGavin

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Following my post a few weeks ago regarding the Freedom Camping Bill (yuck! I hate that name!), I’ve finally gotten around to authoring my submission. Submissions are due on June 29th so if you have anything to say, you’ll need to be quick. You can submit directly online by following this link, and I think it’d be great if anyone with an interest did so. (I really don’t care if you agree with me or not, I just think it’s important that people’s views get considered.) You can view the Bill online at the New Zealand Legislation website.

I’ve included my submission in the rest of this post. It was something of a rush job in the end, and I re-wrote about two thirds of it this evening having given myself a few more days to think. I hope it came out okay. [Update 7.55pm, 28-6-2011: There were a few grammatical and cut/paste errors towards the end that really annoyed me, so I made some small changes and resubmitted. Hopefully they'll take the revised one instead.]

Freedom Camping Bill Submission

A submission for the Local Government and Environment Committee to consider in relation to the Freedom Camping Bill.

This submission is based on the Freedom Camping Bill at its first reading.

Thanks for the opportunity to submit on the Freedom Camping Bill. I think the intent of the Bill is a good one, in that it aims to give local authorities and DoC the practical ability to police their own bylaws. That said, I also think some parts of the Bill need careful reconsideration.

The concerns I raise relate to how current wording of the Bill might affect back-country tramping and (in particular) tramping clubs that presently spend some time camping on road-sides. This is despite the Bill’s introductory text which claims that it does not target back-country users. I also believe the wording includes some inconsistencies which should be clarified.
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Posted in musing | Tagged department of conservation, government policies, musing | 13 Comments

That Freedom Camping Thing

Posted on 1 June, 2011 by Mike McGavin

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“Freedom Camping” is a term that’s been around for about as long as New Zealand’s been a popular international backpacking tourist destination. Along with its sibling term “Freedom Tramping”, the two typically refer to camping or tramping without the structure of a camp-ground or a guided walking company.

I really hate both terms. The “freedom” prefix implies that camping and tramping aren’t already free and independent things to do. Camping and tramping were free and independent long before tour operators and journalists decided to explicitly label them as such, as if independence was a more novel thing than paying thousands of dollars to have a multi-day guided tour in an area that’s completely free to enter courtesy of New Zealand citizens. I’d much prefer that camping was camping and tramping was tramping, and that the operators and journalists could have adopted a novel term for what they do rather than what everyone else does. “Premium-priced guided walking” would have worked. Whatever.

Sadly one of my two pet hate terms is about to be formalised into New Zealand Law, thanks to the incoming Freedom Camping Bill 2011, which was introduced to parliament a couple of weeks ago. Without this Bill being passed it’s only been possible for local authorities and for the Department of Conservation to pursue the annoying breed of Freedom Campers through courts, which is often far less practical than simply handing out fines (like parking tickets), and so its progression is much to the joy of a lot of local body authorities who should soon be able to police their areas more effectively. DoC and Internal Affairs published a joint Regulatory Impact Statement with reference to the Bill, which can be read here.

It’s likely that the Bill will be pushed through fairly quickly because the government is keen to get it in before hoards of freedom-seeking transients arrive from overseas for November’s Rugby World Cup. Scanning through the text of the Bill, it seems unlikely that this law change will strongly affect back-country tramping experiences, but there’s some crossover potential and a few things to be aware of, perhaps even concerned about, which I’ve listed below.
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