Righteo, here’s our Southland Road Tripping Pictures and other side trips before Stewart Island / Rakiura, in between, and after Humpridge Track.

Photos have been uploaded here for Stewart Island and here for Humpridge Track. Will write up trip reports for them both at some point. For some reason feeling really zonked out… Sleeping for about 12 hours straight. Will also get around to uploading the Road Trip photos (that were taken on side trips outside of the Two main Hikes)

Merry Christmas all, Season’s Greetings! Be sure to take some time out of your busy life to enjoy the magic of the holidays this season with friends and loved ones.

May this holiday season sparkle and shine, may all of your wishes and dreams come true, and may you feel this happiness all for the coming new year.

21st December 2016 – Photos from a nice and easy short little walk around St Heliers with the Auckland Hiking Meetup Group Wednesday walks series. Hosted and led by Ruth Donde whom gave excellent commentary on the history of the area throughout.  Walk concluded with an excellent public performance by the Auckland City Brass

Archilles Point, Looking back towards the CBD

Announcing a brief Historical overview about the area

Looking out towards Rangitoto Island from Archilles Point

Churchill Park

Churchill Park

Totem Poles at Archilles Point

Pop up Orchestra – Auckland City Brass

Pop up Orchestra – Auckland City Brass

A little walk around the Tahi Estate, in Pataua North, Northland (about an hours drive from Whangarei), photos posted to nui.nz

Tony Alexander, while a well respected and highly regarded Auckland housing market commentator (and perhaps champion of) in his 1st December 2016 Weekly Overview does not speak for me individually in this regard…

Young people probably don’t want space for three chainsaws. They have grown up amusing themselves indoors with technology and its progression rather than seeking open spaces and adventures outdoors which physically and spatially challenge them. They have looked down their noses at outside work and hut building and seem to want an adult life quite different from what earlier generations aspired to. Older people bemoan the lack of new houses with big sections. Young people and probably most immigrants instead want something low maintenance and handy to transport routes. If that means small then so be it. Creation of lots of tightly packed small houses/townhouses does not imply the societal dystopia many older people fear. Get with the times.

I regularly get cheek for my rather slow adoption of new consumer technology, despite working as a computer geek as a day job. Will admit, that I now finally have a Faceborg account (going on 1½ months)… After much shirt tail tugging and escalating annoyance at me from friends at my lack there of.

As an aside. Noticed that the Weekly Overview it self seems has perhaps gone from reasonable and broad economic commentary to predominantly commentary focusing on Auckland’s housing market and dare I say, Bubble denial (I sense a possibly dangerous level of over confidence based on how his columns are worded), with economics merely becoming a side snippet. Not really my cup of tea I have to admit (have decided to unsubscribe). If he gets back to a more broad based economic commentary, will decide to resubscribe then and there.

A little, very short stroll around GIlls Scenic Reserve in Albany.  Pics uploaded to nui.nz

Started from the Lower end of the reserve at GIlls Road entrance and did a figure eight type of loop. There’s a possibility to enter the park at the Carol Lee Place end instead though car park when I walked past seemed to be full, however for some strange reason, I didn’t encounter anyone else in the reserve while I was there.

Apparently there’s some board walk section to this reserve, however, didn’t manage to find it.

Continue reading “Gills Scenic Reserve” →

Did a spontaneous walk along Pararaha… Heck I wasn’t actually going to go all the way, (was going to stop at the log jam then head back) but continued on anyway.  Weather conditions were showery initially while I was walking down Buck Taylor track, but later cleared up once I embarked on the Pararaha Stream (after the Pararaha Campsite)

Grippy footwear really is a must for this.    You will most probably get your feet wet.  Dry bags for your more sensitive gear (e.g. Non-Waterproof electronics) is highly advisable.

Log Jam can be a little daunting, particularly the bit where you get through past the logs and then climb up a moderately sloped rock. Thankfully the rock is fairly grippy

While it is technically possible (after the log jam) to continue directly up the stream, there are 3 (or may be 4 Points) where it may be better to scramble up the side of a cliff for those who wish to avoid a full immersion swim. The cliff routes are failry well worn in, it’s just a matter of finding them… If you find that a section of stream is deeper than chest height, then there’s most probably an alternative cliff trail somewhere.

Regarding Still Gully, (According to the map posted to Auckland Hiking Group meetup, it seems they are planning to go up this). In short, It’s easy to miss, which may not be a bad thing because it’s difficult to go up it.  There’s a small stream and lots of thick bush and according to the Topo Map, it gets quite steep.  Tried for about a 100m then gave up.  There doesn’t appear to be much to see there (except dense vegetation).  I believe you are better to continue up Pararaha stream till you get to intersection of Odins TImber Trail and then turn left on to it to Odens TImber Trail and head back to the car park from there.

Will shortly upload photos to nui.nz

(Temporary post to document Meetup Issues)

Using the Latest version of the Meetup App for Android…

Test Run #1: Upon RSVP’ing “Yes”, Got all 3 questions presented. https://peak.nz/2016/09/30/meetup-rsvp-bugs/#jp-carousel-3755
Answered Only the first question while leaving the other two blank and clicked ‘Continue’
The Answer was successfully Saved.

Test Run #2: Updated RSVP and answered all 3 Questions (change answer to first question.) and then clicked ‘continue’. None of the Answers were saved… Was still showing the answer I had given in #1 with questions 2 and 3 blank.

Test Run #3: Updated RSVP and changed the answer to the first question, leaving the other 2 blank. Answer was successfully saved.

Appears if you answer just the first question, you should be Okay, answer the other two along with the first question. None of the Answers get saved.

Now that Meetup HQ have deployed their anticipated New Branding, I will confess that it does on the surface perhaps present a happier, playful, more casual and ultimately more
inviting feel.

The changes however are not without controversy, with many paying organizers understandably feeling upset that Meetup HQ is seemingly running roughshod over their desires and wishes, with several documented bugs still outstanding while focus and resources supposedly having been instead directed into this rebranding exercise in order to deploy their “Vision”

It is quite possible that MeetUp are possibly following more the same path that many Consumer Tech companies (e.g Apple) have gone and creating / spinning off their own market (where perhaps none existed before) where in effect, what they’re selling is a dream or (their brand of) Experience.

Having played with the App, my feeling is that I perhaps enjoy the cleaner feel of the Mobile Website instead.  While the new App presents a fun loving “brand”, the app is a lot more cluttered then the Mobile Web interface I feel

More soon (When I have time)

Photos from an aborted hike.  Streams were all swollen…

Short mid-day solo stroll around Puhinui Reserve.  Solo in that I was the only human in the park for the majority of the time.

Mid week visitation to Gibbs Farm (off the coast of the Kaipara Harbour)

We did have an incident in the Hunua’s last weekend where a 2 hikers from our group got separated and supposedly went down a possum trapping track.  Probably worth mentioning that in terms of the Auckland region at least.  Most trails are marked with…

1. An Orange plastic Triangle marker with the most pointy tip marking the direction of travel.
2. Or an Pole (Orange or faded orange)

Please be aware, the Pink Triangles and ribbons are not the ones to follow (unless you are a trapper)

If one finds them off the track, in the bush, with no clear path direction and no orange markets, it would be wise advised to retrace your steps until you find Orange Makers.

Moderate loop track around southern Hanua.   Click picture below to view photos from the trip.

Trying to update my Skype Account using their Web Interface… Changed my primary Email address from my Gmail one to my “young.zone” Email address and received this Gem upon typing in my password and clicking “Enter”…

The line of thought that popped in my head “Of course, it’s invalid Email address because it isn’t a blooming Email address!!”

After much time spent prodding around, turns out it doesn’t like domain email addresses ending in “.zone”, But who would have known from the above dialog?

Outdoor New Zealand (OTNZ) Navigation Training (practical component)… https://nui.nz/2016/08/07/otnz-navigation-course/

A little explore around Pukapuka Track (Hunua Ranges) https://nui.nz/2016/07/28/pukapuka-track-explore/

Welcome,

This site was originally a Forum for family / friends to act as an alternative to using Facebook, however never achieved adoption and subsequently evolved into a personal general blog that it is today (serving as my personal self-hosted surrogate to Facebook).

As always, the views expressed here are my own and (unless otherwise explicitly stated) I do not purport that any of my views to be factually correct and opinions on any given topic are most certainly subjected to change. The intended audience of this blog is Family and friends and the content here should be regarded in the same vein as a series of personal public Facebook posts as opposed to a fully-fledged blog.

Regards,

—
Fergus Young
www.young.kiwi