Short 450m climb up to Karangahake Trig and back down the same way. The Settled forecast did not eventuate this time (mostly ended up with White) so will be one I have to come back again to do with a larger group and probably part of a weekend trip.
Click picture to view gallery (on NUI.NZ)…
Track conditions on Mt Karangahake Walk Track were very wet and slippery. Be very cautious particularly while descending down the track.
Short trip down to Wellington to Attend the New Zealand Shareholders’ Association Annual Conference. Prior to that, paid a visit to the Zealandia Eco Sanctuary… Click image below to access the gallery.
Recommend paying the extra for a guide for your first visit to the Sanctuary just to get an insight on where the wild life is hiding. The Sanctuary has yearly access options available which Is an option I would take up myself should I live in the Wellington Area. Aside from the main visiting area, the Sanctuary has quite a network of walking tracks [PDF].
NZ Shareholder’s Association conference on the following day was packed and fully subscribed. A number of speakers presented including…
…Recordings will be posted to the NZ Shareholders website for paid up NZSA Members.
Jetstar has so far been good to me (as is Air New Zealand with other trips). No Delays this trip. Maybe one advantage Jetstar has over Air NZ is that they offer meals with the Flexi ticket option at least for their Auckland to Wellington Leg (though I’m sure the extra 2nd meal I got on the way down wasn’t meant to happen and probably came about when I encountered a bug with their online booking system trying to select meals and seats)
Main highlights included Dukono (in North Maluku), Komodo, and Kelimutu. Running from about 29th July 2017 to 6th August 2017 on a rather packed schedule with about 12 different flights in total cris-crossing over the Eastern side of Indonesia.
Matt Davison’s Video of our Dukono Trip
Places stayed at (Will hyperlink these when I get over my Indonesian cold)…
Assorted Notes and observations… (Still to be filled out as of 2017-09-06)…
A large portion of the Indonesian private vehicle Fleet are Toyota “Avanza” and “Kijang” Multi-purpose vehicles. The older Kijang has a larger 2.0 litre motor with it’s smaller successor, the Avanza, having a smaller 1.5 litre motor.
The driving style over much of Indonesia is typical of many Asian national (except Singapore / Hong Kong) with a more aggressive driving style and which will often strike fear into Westerners who are not used to it.
The roads in the more remote parts of Indonesia that we visited where suprisingly good with many key routes sealed. Have to admit, was thinking the island of Halmahera to be mostly of gravel / dirt roads.
Everyone in the group took Anti-Malarials as we had entered into areas which were deemed as high risk.