Ranger says No

Relatively short Multiday Trip to Tama Lakes, Waihohonu Hut and Oturere hut and back out to Desert Road. Was going to go around to Mangetepopo Hut and complete the Northern Circuit though an updated 11:00 a.m. Weather report upon reaching Oturere Hut, the Ranger advised us not to proceed due to dangerously high wind gusts.

Click photo below to access the gallery…

Mount Ruapehu

Hut Rangers, Doug and Horse, who we met on the trail, were fantastic.

A dip in the Springs near Waihohonu Hut provided some much needed refresh and temporarily removed the pain of my Left foot.

Ranger says No

Diwali + Blossoms Assorted photos

Random Assortment of pictures from the Diwali Festival and some blossoms at Cornwall Park. Click image below to access photos…

Resene Sponsored Diwali sign

The Diwali Auckland Festival this year was perhaps sightly smaller than in years preceding, though I thought was still certainly worth a visit.

Ended up walking into the Equippers worship service by accident, thinking it was part of the festival.

Diwali + Blossoms Assorted photos

Week Beginning 13th November 2017

Note: These are simply quick thoughts that have been jotted down. They have been categorized as “Insignificant” for very good reasons. They may contain hunches which will be unsubstantiated, unqualified and unquantified. Some of these points (each separated into their own paragraphs) may or may not be spawned into more substantial posts.

 

Wayward Email

Appears a Local New Zealand accommodation software and systems provider has fairly recently (within the last year or so) rebranded themselves  as “Nui Software” along with getting a domain nui.global. As a result, I have been getting the odd stray email landing in my catch all inbox from accommodation providers who are inadvertently sending their query to “@nui.co.nz” or “@nui.nz” instead of “@nui.global”. It is an easy error to make.

While I have been advising senders of wayward emails as I find them I may look to put in an auto-responder in (for specific receiving addresses), asking senders to double check they have the correct email domain.

Stoney Creek

Brought a collection of shirts and shorts from the Stoney Creek stand at the National Agricultural Fieldays event about a year and a half ago. They did have rather flashy marketing behind their brand, launched a brand new bold logo and put a lot into their social media presence along with their slogan “it’s in the blood”. Welp, the blooming garments appear to be falling apart only after a few excursions into the bush.  Upon purchasing them, the garments felt as if they were pretty solid and I was somehow (in this case, apparently incorrectly) sure they would last the distance. Even my more recent purchase of shorts, the drawstring completely failed and the blooming thing is stitched right in (Can’t be removed).

Now have to fossick around and find the frigging proof of purchase, which always seems to makes it’s escape from the receipt holder when you most need it. Don’t know if I can be shafted dealing with this.  Feeling is that the Price to durability ratio is quite stacking up for me with this particular brand.

 

Week Beginning 13th November 2017

Road Trip Awhitu Lighthouse

An afternoon Roadtrip explore up to Awhitu Lighthouse. Click picture below to access the gallery on NUI.NZ

Awhitu Lighthouse

Rebuilt in 2006 using the original plans from 1874. Official site: Manukau Heads Light House

The Road up to the Lighthouse becomes very windy half way up the Awhitu Peninsula. Beware new speed camera about 400m out (north along Awhitu Road) from Waiuku.

It was observed that a seemingly substantial percentage of the real estate was being marketed for sale, particularly the further north you went (e.g Big Bay). However the reason why this was the case remains unknown.

Road Trip Awhitu Lighthouse

Mount Taupiri + Pukemokemoke Reserve

Short walks this afternoon to Mount Taupiri and Pukemokemoke, click picture below to access the photo gallery at NUI.NZ.

Kauri Trees at Pukemokemoke Reserve

The Taupiri Mountain Bushwalk was approved for by Maori Elder, Turnate Mahuta, and cared for by Local residents along with the Taupiri Young Farmers Club. Pukemokemoke Reserve is under the care of the David Johnstone Pukemokemoke Bush Trust in conjuction with Friends of the Pukemokemoke.

Both Bush Walks (to the summits and return) are about 1-2 hours each.

Elevation gain for Taupiri Mountain is approximately 270 while the elevation gain for Pukemokemoke is approximately 150.

Detail indepth description about the Pukemokemoke reserve is available on MotoWalk Pukemokmoke page

Mount Taupiri + Pukemokemoke Reserve

observations20171001

Note: These are simply quick thoughts that have been jotted down. They have been categorized as “Insignificant” for very good reasons. They may contain hunches which will be unsubstantiated, unqualified and unquantified. Some of these points (each separated into their own paragraphs) may or may not be spawned into more substantial posts.

Photobucket decides to charge for 3rd Party hosting upsetting the Interwebs

Okay, so the decision to start charging users for 3rd party hosting would be a business decision, but to jump from ‘free’ directly to 400 USD without any notification to their users and then not expect a user backlash I feel strongly warrants some sort of sanity check to take place.

 

observations20171001