Winter wonderland of thick white snow blanketing the Central Plateau. Spontaneous trip to view the snow. Click photo below to view Gallery.

23rd to 26th June 2017 – Post Work formalities Road trip to the Grampians and The !2 Apostles (Now really only 7) along the Great Ocean Road before flying back home to Auckland.

After the Software Technical symposium concluded on Friday Afternoon, grabbed a rental car and drove to Halls Gap next to the Grampians National Park, staying at Comfort Inn Halls Gap. Continue reading “Grampians and Twelve Apostles Trip Notes” →

Return to the Whangarei area to catch up with a few friends. A short overnight walk to Peach Cove Hut via the shorter and direct Peach Cove Track, returning via Te Whara Track and staying up at the peak to take in the views of the Whangarei Area. Later on a short flat walk around Whangarei’s town basin. Pictures posted here.

Short little Loop Walk Around Whatipu’s Omanawanui Track. (pictures posted to NUI.NZ)

Route Details as follows… (Best looked at in conjuction with a topo map)

From Whatipu Car park. Walked towards the beach, follow signs to Omanawanui Track and then a reasonably steep climb up to the first (lower) peak along Omanawanui Track, then a descent and a steep climb up to the second peak. We descend for a second time before meeting a gradual incline up to the junction of Whatipu Road. Cross the road.

After crossing the road, continue along track till the junction of Puriri Ridge track and Kura track. Turn left down Kura track which descends somewhat steeply then flattens out before the first stream crossing. There are 4 stream crossings in total.  From there, it is a relatively flat path (with a few fallen trees to climb over) back to Whatipu Road.

Once at Whatipu Road, cross over the Road bridge and you should be back at Whatipu Car Park.

Other notes

• At Whatipu Car park, there are Two toilets and an information board.
• Road to Whatipu (after Little Huia) is narrow, unsealed and very windy, take extra care driving around the corners as there is often plenty of traffic coming in the opposite direction
• Fishery officers are sometimes seen in the area and along the Whatipu coast.
• Time taken to do this track. About 3¾ hours at a leisurely pace with about an hour total stopping time (including Lunch, Afternoon Tea and a few short toilet / drink stops). If done at a moderate pace, with shorter stops, can do this in about 3-3¼ hours.
• Distance about 6-7 km (if you exclude spur to ‘Wing Head’)

29th April 2017 to 30th April 2017, Walk to Crosbie’s hut (in the Coromandels) via Tararu Track and back down via Te Puru Track. Pictures posted here

With Glen Doughty, Carl Brett, Lina Zhou, Juliaty Jap, Helen Zhang and myself (I’m taking the picture above)

For me, due to the proximity to the Taranaki Trip and the fact that I hadn’t yet unpacked my tramping pack, this trip pretty much felt like a continuation of the Taranaki Trip.

15th April to 17th April 2017 – A rather spontaneous Explore around Russell, Whananaki and surrounds. Photos posted here

This is a price chart of what particular financial security / instrument?

Continue reading “Unpredictability of the Financial Markets” →

Some pictures from an easy and leisurely coastal walk around Leigh and Pakiri with the Auckland Hiking Group Meetup. Pictures posted on NUI.NZ.

Been quite a number of months (Approximately 4 months) since I last went out with the Auckland Hiking Group. Was great to catch up with some old faces again.

Staff and friends events with Air New Zealand farewelling the last 767 in the fleet. T’was a splendid Morning.

Photos from the Auckland Indonesian Festival 2017

Small and quaint little festival held on the Grounds of the AUT Wellesley Campus celebrating Indonesia and it’s culture

While I am fairly sure that the folks at MetService try to do their best, the Auckland Regional Rain forecasts specifically have not been particularly dependable. I did have a First world problem where I missed out on hiking this weekend due to acting on MetService’s warnings for the Auckland Region that did not eventuate (except for parts of the Waitakare ranges) until well into the Evening.

It would be timely to Note, this non-expert opinion from myself does not include MetService’s Marine (Swell and Wind), Mountain and inland forecasts, which I hear are at least a little bit more on the mark if not more, with the Mountain forecasts being reasonable enough in the times I’ve needed to refer to them.

I’m not quite sure what it is, I do get the weather is simply the weather, but to date, much of the rain forecasting for Auckland just “isn’t quite there” to be of tangible enough benefit. It’s almost despite advances in technology, we’ve hit right into the walls of diminishing returns, as in, every Dollar being put into improving weather forecasting accuracy is now returning very little, if any improvement… as if we’ve hit a ceiling.

Some critics whom are more critical of the MetService forecasts suggest using MetVUW instead, to be honest, I don’t know how much better MetVUW are… While I’ve found the longer term rain forecasts perhaps slightly more on the mark, they may not be that much more reliable as people are lead to believe.

One of the reasons offered for the current state of Auckland’s rain forecasts appear to be that we’re coastal and that there are far less data points available to go on as opposed to an inland location on a larger continent, where there will often be many more weather stations and monitors in between the said Inland location and the coast.

I’ve called financial market and economic forecasting a “mug’s game” before.  Could the same term apply to weather forecasting at least with regards to the rain forecast specifically in Auckland? It would seem that both forecasting systems rely, at least in substantial part, on computers crunching numbers. Anyway, It would be fair to say, there is undeniably perhaps a bit of “Boy who cried wolf” effect creeping in to my psychology as the MetService has issued multiple rain Warnings in the past only to have no or not very much rain occur in the majority of the Auckland Region.

The plan from here on in. If the MetService issues rain warnings again and we’re planning to head out for a day hike or other activity, on the Morning of the Activity…

• Look at the Rain radar on the MetService website.
• Briefly review the Rain forecast maps on both the MetVUW and MetService website.
• Look out the Windows or go outside to assess.

If the live rain map really is looking dire, then cancel or perhaps delay departure, if not (only patches of isolated rain), then continue with plans. Regardless of the forecast, always be prepared for change of weather, bring rain gear always and be prepared to abort if the weather changes en-route.

General random photos from today. 25th Pasifika Festival at Western Springs during the day and later on “While you were sleeping” feature consisting of an iceberg texture projected on the walls of the Auckland Museum.

Having watched the awe inspiring trailer on the “While you were sleeping” page combined with the word “cinematic” along with the recommendation to “bring a blanket and a themo” at the bottom of the page, I have to admit, I was perhaps anticipating may be some transition to different varied imagery or may be even a few photo snap shots or videos of some Antarctic expeditions being creatively incorporated with the display.

The display itself was more maybe a slow gradual animating texture with an orchestral musical score playing in the background rather than being a “cinematic” show. In my mind, it didn’t quite lend itself to being a “sit back and watch” affair. In order to get the most out of the evening display itself, it requires one to circumnavigate the Museum Building… albeit slowly. Was good in itself as a 10 minute side visit (drop in) while going to or from one’s main evening activities in town.

Parked Vehicle spontaneously catches fire. Fire Brigade called and arrived in 2 minutes.

Not sure what caused it. Neighbour saw it and said the engine bay started smoking. Firefighters did a jolly good job in putting it out. Continue reading “Vehicle Fire” →

Flew to Wellington, stayed overnight in Wellington at the Cambridge Hotel near town. Visited Te Papa, Parliament (doing the Parliaments Highlights tour), Botanic Gardens (Taking the cable car up), Mount Victoria.  Weather was wet pretty much the entire time I was there, with some brief periods of the sun trying to break through.

Next day, decided to leave the wet weather behind, grabbed a hire car from the Wellington Thrifty Branch and headed north, via Wairarapa before staying the night in Palmerston North / Manuwatu

On the next morning, the Wet weather had caught me up, visited Manawatu Gorge then drove onwards to Whanganui before heading to Taumarunui for a snooze.

On the final leg, stopped by Ruakuri caves and then headed directly back to Auckland.

Pictures of Epiphyllum Oxypetalum Flowers. Opens only once a year at night.

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23rd June 2020: This plant is no longer in my possession and has since been given to a relative down country.

Have been receiving the occasional inquiry about where to possibly acquire this plant (or clippings of) from site visitors both locally and overseas. If people know of any Garden centres (or otherwise) in New Zealand that may be able to supply this plant or otherwise assist, please do state in the comments below to help out fellow Netizens :o) Thanks!

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

Very short stop at Omeru Falls and a much needed swim in between errands. Pictures (as usual) posted to NUI.NZ

Short little walk around Ngaruawahia and up to Hakarimata Summit again. This track gains around 300-350m elevation up mostly stairs. Popular with Waikato locals as an exercise and fitness training track.

Conditions were cloudy on the walk up to the summit, then later started clearing as I made my descent back down.

Did two hikes over the weekend. One was an explore around Waiorongomai, near Te Aroha and a much refreshing stream hike down Piha Valley Stream.

Easier stream bash along Mokoroa Stream (Goldie Bush). Pictures uploaded to Mokoroa Stream Track album.

Beware, the trail head of this reserve now has parking enforcement at the Horseman Road End. Avoid parking on the side with the “No Stopping” / “No Parking” signs. Upon our arrival, we saw a Parking warden going around issuing tickets.

When to explore Moirs Hill Walkway before the Pine Forest surrounding it gets deleted.  Including an explore around Pohuehue Falls.  Photos posted to NUI.NZ.

Walked to the Moirs Hill Road end, returned back the same way back to Beverley Price Loop Track and returned down the other way to complete the loop. Although several cars were parked there at the Pohuehue Car Park, I did not meet anyone on the trail itself… Most cars had just pulled off to have a rest.

Have to admit, struggled a little with 25°C heat which I found zapped my energy levels (hence, won’t be doing any hiking tomorrow as it has been forecast to be higher than that.).

The Pine Forest behind Pohuehue Scenic Reserve is going to be logged in preparation for expanding the Motorway North, hence the closure of Moirs Hills Walkway.

Total time spent on trail about 4 hours, includes a few bush bashes and side tracks (to explore).