4th to 5th of November 2017 – Weekend in Palmy. Click image below to access the gallery on NUI.NZ…
Took yet another Jetstar flight, this time down to Palmerston North.
Locations visited (includes links to Official external websites)…
Short walks this afternoon to Mount Taupiri and Pukemokemoke, click picture below to access the photo gallery at NUI.NZ.
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
Quick little shots Miscellaneous shots from Cornwall park after having attended the Flight Centre Travel Expo. Was hoping to see some blossoms, but it didn’t quite eventuate as planned. It was also the middle of the day where most people would be visiting the park so didn’t quite get any descent photo opportunities that weren’t essentially just crowds of people…
Normal day walk with the Auckland Hiking Group revisiting some regular haunts in and around the Waitakere Dam. Pictures posted to NUI.NZ
A spontaneous trip to do some little walks up north in and around Orewa and Waiwera. Photos uploaded to NUI.NZ. Click image below to go to the photo album.
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)
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
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…
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”
This falls well into the Cool Story Bro Category (at least more so than usual), so only read if you have an excess amount of time on your hands.
En route to collecting my Faceborg messenger messages tonight, took a curious side road to look at some 1080 anti- / pro- groups that for some reason which escapes me, regularly gets suggested to me in Faceborg’s User Interface side panel (somewhere)
To this day, I still struggle to see as a common pleb why 1080 is such an explosive topic. I think the first and only discussion I had ever about 1080 was while being driven by a Corporate Cabs Taxi Driver to the Airport (for our Software Conference / Technical symposium in Melbourne for work)… Appears she (The driver of the cab) came from a family of avid Duck Hunters, I mentioned I tramped the Cape Brett track and I was asked. “DId you noticed how quiet it was?”
While I feel perhaps both sides on balance have presented good arguments, a curious glance through the various Facebook 1080 groups, intellectual dialog over the matter appears to be (at least in part) trounced by petty tribalism. it is clear that this issue has turned a select few grown middle age / baby boomer aged types virtually into petulant children.
I imagine if the aforementioned participants in question stepped back for a while, and reviewed their behavior as a 3rd person, then they’ll probably realize how childish they’ve all been acting. (To me, it’s yet another mass pre-occupation away from bigger wider reaching societal issues that I feel matter more to us in the longer term)
All I will say is that “In the Abyss the truth lives” Continue reading “Things one may not understand”
