Wear sunscreen…

Posted on 7 July 2014 by SJPONeill

…and other handy things to know…

Yes, winter has finally hit the Central Plateau…and with it, the usual outbreak of idiots…

Handy tip #1. Snow is wet, hard and cold. Just because it is sunny, does not mean it is warm. Dress appropriately and, yes, that does include wearing sunscreen…

Handy tip #2. Your big 4WD does not make you immune from the laws of physics, or the road.

Sub-tip 1 to #2: when you crest a hill on the ice-covered road and you see the flashers on the Highway Patrol car at a breakdown, don’t hit your brakes. Score SH47 3, 4WD idiots 0.

Sub-tip 2 to #2: Chains are not equal to 4WD, nor do they make you a world-class rally driver. If you are not used to driving on ice, get the bus. If you miss the bus, get out of bed earlier.

Sub-tip 3 to #2: The absence of signs saying ‘slow down’ does not equal a defence when you are in the ditch. Use of the defence may justifiably be taken as provocation by the guy you hit on your way into the ditch.

Handy tip #3. Your quad headlights that can blind a possum at five kilometres will not melt ice on the road. Bridges and shaded corners may be treacherously slippery all day – drive appropriately.

Cautionary tales and idiots aside, heavy snow fall often sucks all the moisture out of the air and makes for beautiful days…The lower level tracks in the Park are all accessible and walkable but the higher levels of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing remain restricted to those with equipment AND experience above the snow line – those without should seriously consider signing up with one of the guided tours because a. it is safer, b. the Crossing in winter is a totally different experience to the Crossing in summer, and c. it is an experience not to be missed.

Scale Model Expo 2014

Posted on 7 June 2014 by SJPONeill

The last Scale Model Expo in Wellington was in 2011. It’s a Biennial event i.e. once every two years, but was slipped until this year to re-align it with its traditional April time slot.Even with this extended period between shows, I still had nothing finished!! In my defence though, I would like to claim points for consistency…

I overnighted in Palmerston North and set off at zero dark thirty on the Saturday morning for Wellington. It’s only about a 90 minute drive but I was catching up with friends on the way…Even then, I still arrived in Upper Hutt (a suburb of Wellington) an easy hour before the show opened. I scored a coup here as my aimless wandering while I waited for the doors to open took me into the local Noel Leemings where they had 4 terabyte hard drives for almost half price…snapped one of them up immediately for the enhanced home theatre project!!!

This year was the first time that the show has been in Upper Hutt. In previous years it has been in either Lower Hutt or the Wellington CBD. I was impressed with the new venue. It is much larger than the old one in Upper Hutt, is right in the middle of town and has a great little cafe right beside the doors. My only minor gripe is that the Upper Hutt City Council could invest a little more in signage for parking as I was unable to find any parks for more than 120 minutes and parked a little further away in a side street. Once I got to the show, I learned that there is free parking and lots of it by the train station about two minutes walk away…still, a little walking never hurt any one…BTW, the same council could also invest a little more in rubbish bins around the CDB as it is quite a trek to find one to dump (in a legal manner) one coffee cup and sandwich wrappings…

The show was well-attended and well supported…some material was repeated from previous years (not necessarily a bad thing) but there was a lot of new build work as well…below is a random selection of images from the first day of the Show…unfortunately I was unable to stay for the second day as much as I may have wanted to. I have loaded more pictures into Photobucket for anyone who may wish to see more…

A Kiwi take on Noah’s Ark…

A whiffed (What-iffed) exercise in imagination…

The Juniors section – this club has been a strong supporter of junior modellers for years…

The Rex Crawford Collection

Rex Crawford was a long-standing and very active member of the Scale Models Wellington club. His ambition was to build one of every aircraft ever operated by the Royal Air Force – as you can see here, he came very close to it. When he passed away a couple of years ago, there was a very real risk that his collection may have been lost however a collaborative effort by the club with Rex’s family has seen this collection preserved and placed in storage in Wellington.

Personally, I would like to see this collection eventually displayed in the RNZAF Museum in Wigram. While the RNZAF may not have operated nearly as many aircraft types as the RAF, the RAF remains the air force that we most closely identify with. In addition, not only have many Kiwis over the decades operated these aircraft types while serving in the RAF but there are also now many former members of the RAF now serving in New Zealand that did fly some of the later types (and I am including the Vulcan and Victor here as ‘later types’).

The large scale train set-up always attracts many viewers…

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Wingnut Models are Sir Peter Jackson’s very own model company and they specialise in a range of exceptionally high quality models of WW1 aircraft in 1/32 scale. The first day of this year’s show they unveiled their latest release, the Roland C.II, an aircraft type that will have bring back fond memories for many modellers of the old Airfix 1/72 Roland that dates back to some time in the 1960s… DSCF8229

Of course, the normal purveyors of temptation were there and I felt somewhat compelled to support local businesses.

When I left Upper Hutt in 2004, it was in a state of decline. A decade later it has managed to reinvent itself: it now has a flourishing town centre and is a great little life support centre for those living and working up the top end of the Hutt Valley.

Chilly…

Posted on 27 May 2014 by SJPONeill

…and I don’t mean the magic spice that overcomes all food preparation shortcomings…

I was driving back from town yesterday and could not help but notice that both Ngauruhoe and Tongariro had had some decent dumps of snow over the last two days…couldn’t tell you about Ruapehu because that is under that big mass of cloud where the fence line meets the skyline…

Compare Ngauruhoe with the shot I took of it at sunset a couple of posts ago...

The temperature dumped as soon as the sun disappeared…it was a beautifully clear and starry night…so still and so bloody cold…down to 0 at midnight and -2 at first light with a good frost…

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The sun is dealing to the frost already and it will be a ripper day til the sun goes down…I think we will get snow here as soon as we have a cloudy night…it’s been trying the last couple of days…

It’s safe to say that winter is here so if you are visiting up this way, think about putting some warm clothes, maybe even a sleeping back in the car, with some sensible footwear, gloves and a warm hat…just on case…it’s this time of year when drivers are still in summer daze and don’t think of shady corners and the risks therein. No matter how good a driver you may be, it might be the other guy that makes the mistake that gets YOU…take care out there…

Tongariro by air

Posted on 10 April 2014 by SJPONeill

One of the really great things about working for DOC on Mount Ruapehu is that opportunities arise to participate in some of the activities available around the Park. Last month, my planned trip to the rim of the crater lake on Mt Ruapehu was foiled by poor weather so when Mountain Air called to say they had a spare seat if anyone was interested, I was on the road immediately…

Even by midday this bank of cloud was still sitting just short of the base of the Mountain and more importantly for the day’s unplanned activity, just short of the end of the Chateau Airport runway.
DSCF7899 Our destination… DSCF7900

Our chariot…

The Mangatepopo car park in the lower right, the start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing…

The other side of the Alpine Crossing on the long descent from the Blue Lake to the Ketetahi Carpark which is the finish point of the Crossing…

A small patch of cloud mingling with steam from one of the volcanic vents on the north side of Mt Tongariro…

A closer look down on those steam vents…

Looking west over the Blue Lake which is a bout the halfway point on the Crossing walk…

The Blue Lake with the Emerald Lakes on the lower left and the majestic bulk of Mt Tongariro in the background…

Looking closer at the Emerald Lakes with the Crossing track running from top right to lower left…Looking over the Emerald lakes and Red Crater towards Mt Ngauruhoe (aka Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy). Just to the right of Red Crater, you can just make out the Crossing track: Red Crater marks the highest point on the Crossing at around 1780 metres, a good half kilometre above the 1200 metre start point at Mangetepopo…

Mt Ngauruhoe …you can’t see them but on a good day like this, there were dozens of ambitious visitors clambering their way to the summit – they said that they waved but I didn’t see them. The journey to the summit of Mt Ngauruhoe is probably the most challenging of the three peaks in summer as the slopes are very steep (a constant 30 degrees), covered in loose material so that you may spend as much time sliding back as you do pushing forward, and there is always a risk of getting clocked by a rock or stone dislodged by climbers ahead of you….

Between Mts Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu lies Whakapapa Village, home of the Chateau Tongariro the main DOC base for administering the Park. The light coloured roofs on this side of the Village are the Skotel accommodation complex, and the tracks to the north of it run to Tama Lakes and Taranaki Falls…

Last but not least the splendour of Mt Ruapehu, with a glimpse of the Crater Lake. In a few months this will be covered in metres of snow but at the moment it is still relatively easy to trek up to the crater rim as a day trip form the Village.

Just after taking this picture, i switch my camera to video mode and recorded the remainder of the flight back around all three mountains and back to the airfield. I meant to convert it to MP$ and upload it to Youtube before I came away this week but I am afraid that you will have to wait until the weekend for me to get that down…

I’d really like to thank the lads at Mountain Air for taking me up. I’ve been in and out of aircraft of all sizes over the last three decades and i would have to say that their presentation and performance was as good as any other top-line aviation activity that I have been involved with. If you visit us on a nice day (and most of them are), Mountain Air offers a great way to see the Park and its attractions in a way that a ground based perspective simply cannot match…

Tunnels, tunnels, tunnels….

Posted on 8 April 2014 by SJPONeill

I’be been sitting one this one for over a month, just waiting for a spare moment in which to get it written up in my next installment of Around and About…other things have gotten on top of me and it is only this week that I find myself with a little time on my hands and able to draw it together…

The old saying is ‘Don’t Leave Town Til You’ve Seen the Country’ and I have found myself sadly lacking in my knowledge of the area in which I have lived for the last decade. When an opportunity arose for me to drove over the New Plymouth for a business trip, I opted for the more adventurous route through Taumarunui and over State Highway 43, the Forgotten Highway over the longer but faster routes north or south along SH4 and SH3 (they are kinda like a loop road).

My journey started mid-morning after I put $40 into the mighty Ssangyong to get another 6 cents/litre loaded into my AA Fuelcard (it really does all add up). I crossed the bridge north out of town and took the hard left up past the hospital onto the Forgotten Highway. The first section is just through rolling farm country…

…which slowly gives way to more and more thick native bush…I caught up with this guy and his mate – quite an unusual vehicle to see on a road like this – but I couldn’t wait to get past them both as they were clearly not used to driving a left-hand drive vehicle on such narrow roads and were all over the place. I wanted to get well shot of them before their centreline-hogging habits collected someone coming the other way……this gives you some idea of the narrowness of the road….…and why staying well left is a really good idea.Navigating one;s one side of the road is also complicated by a reasonably long stretch of unsealed gravel road, where the centreline is not marked at all and where occasional drifts of gravel encourage the inexperienced out over the centreline… DSCF7757 I like tunnels…they always seem to be an indication of adventure and times gone by… DSCF7798 …and it is just neat bursting out into the sun on the other side.Whangamomona’s main claim to fame is that it used to declare itself a republic for a day as a bit of a tourist gimmick. I’m not sure if it still does that but on this day its claim to fame was clearly hosting……the annual Americana pageant…Loads of cool heavy metal parked up here and I would have liked to have stopped and had a closer look but I was running a little behind time. I would have to question the wisdom of holding such an activity in a location that can only be accessed via narrow winding country roads – and not a member of the constabulary in sight, of course – when most of the drivers have a real problem staying on their side of the road…Some of the few that were able to stay on their side of the centreline…

A ways on and I’m closing in on Stratford on the Taranaki Plains…that darker patch just to the right of the road in the distance is Mt Taranaki, climbable in summer and ski-able (just) in winter.

My business in New Plymouth done, I headed north on my homeward leg, heading for Ohura and back into Taumarunui from the north…

This part of SH3 is very nice as it winds through another tunnel…

…and bush-covered hills…

…before levelling out again.

This opportunity was just on the turn-off from SH3 onto the Ohura road…I burrowed into the parking meter money and exchanged some coins for two decent sized banks of tangelos…I saw this and figured that I was still sweet for fuel having at least enough for another 200 km in the tank.Yep…another tunnel…

All this winding up and over these roads with some quite long unsealed section ate into my fuel reserves more than I expected…

By the time, I reached this head-hunting bridge at Ohura, I was becoming quite interested in the movement of the little orange needle as the closest fill-up point was Taumarunui. I opted not to carry-on exploring – the are at least three different routes from Ohura to Taumarunui and I took the discretion option and went for what I thought would be the most direct route.This took me back over 40-odd km of the route I had taken in the morning – but repetition beats walking – and after a longish wait at some of the inevitable summer road works, I cruised into the Taumarunui BP with about 50km of fuel left in the tank. That would have just been enough to get me home but would probably have left me with a walk to National park if I had wanted to go any further…Note for next time: toss in another $40 in new Plymouth…

Here’s a map of my journey…south west in the morning to Stratford and north east to Ohura in the afternoon. Ohura is not marked on the map but is where the dark line of my trip cuts the yellow line at the top of the map before I drifted south back onto 43 towards Taumarunui…

If you are on The Central Plateau and looking to head across to Taranaki, and you have the time, take the Forgotten Highway. If you have a good GPS and strong forearms for all the corners, an even better (IMHO) route is the back road through Ohura…go adventuring..!

So who didn’t pay the subscription for summer??

Posted on 4 March 2014 by SJPONeill

So here we are….only the fourth of March, with only two really summery days all year (a really summery day being one where it feels too hot to do anything), and already we have had our first snow for 2014…I guess the ‘crust’ on the water in the wheelbarrow from yesterday’s rain and the brittle white grass on the lawn should have been a clue at home this morning….

Well, that wasn’t there when I went home last night…

Not as low as the office yet but it was hailing when I left this evening which doesn’t bode well for this summer thing…

…and a good dusting on Ngauruhoe and its offsider, Tongariro…

OK, so, yes, perhaps we were a little spoilt last year with a three month summer aka drought but SNOW IN MARCH! REALLY?

At a guess, this dusting won’t last long – although more is forecast for tonight – and normal summer services may be resumed but if you’re planning on visiting the Park, pack an extra layer of woollies, some really warm sox, good gloves and a decent beanie and take a few deep breathes before opening the door to step outside…

The Road to Pipiriki

Posted on 25 January 2014 by SJPONeill

One of the reasons that I was interested in my current part-time role at the Whakapapa Visitors Centre was that I wanted to learn more about the area in which I’ve lived for the last decade. Just how unaware on my local area I was, was made clear last year when I was the census collector for the northern part of Mt Ruapehu. What kept going through my mind was that old Tourism NZ advertisement “Don’t Leave Home til You’ve Seen the Country”

So I have set a new category “Around and About” to capture my explorations but don’t be surprised if they deviate off into other (geographic) areas as well…

I attended a farewell dinner for a friend at RNZAF Ohakea on Thursday night and woke on Friday morning to a bright sunny day (I may have appreciated the brightness and the Vampire jet buzzing the airbase if the previous night hadn’t been quite so good!). After brunching at Wendy’s and doing a little shopping in the big smoke, I set off home up SH4.

About 30km north of Wanganui, there is a signposted turn-off to Pipiriki (didn’t think to take a photo at this point). I was quite keen to drive this road as a tourist on the Visitor Centre had asked about it in my first week and I had said that I didn’t think that there was a road along the Whanganui River besides the last few kilometres of SH4 and had to be set straight by another staff member.

View of the Whanganui River from the lookout at the top of the first hill after you turn off SH4

I found it to be a nice drive that follows the river for 60 km to Pipiriki where it turns inland for another 30 km to pop out on SH4 again at Raetahi. It is quite narrow (down to single lanes at some points) and winding but surprisingly busy so it is essential that a driver assumes that there is oncoming traffic around every corner and is prepared to stop in half the visible road.

Obstacles…

…and more obstacles…

There are many single lane bridges and drivers need to be aware of who has the right of way and rural road etiquette e.g. the traffic coming up a hill generally has the right of way…

The road is always at least ten metres above the river so I think it unlikely that it gets closed often by flooding…One of those single land bridges will bring you into the historic settlement of Jerusalem…

There is quite a long stretch of unsealed gravel road between Jerusalem and Pipiriki…

It is drivable in 2WD but the surface in some parts is quite loose so I popped the mighty Ssangyong into 4WD for better control and a smoother ride…

I couldn’t resist the TipTop icecream sign so popped into the Pipiriki store for a Trumpet…

Pipiriki is a nice spot…

And then it was back on the road heading inland towards Raetihi…this road is probably more travelled and, while still narrow and winding at the river end, is certainly in better condition than the road south of Pipiriki…Halfway to Raetahi, the road breaks out onto the Central Plateau…

This is a drive that I would recommend to anyone looking to head south from the Ruapehu district with a little time to spare. I found it a nice change from SH4 direct to Wanganui or heading through Ohakune to pick up SH1 south to Wellington.

It is drivable by car i.e. 2WD but care has to be taken for other road users around the any many blind corners and single lane bridges. Small campervans i.e. those of people mover/SUV chassis would be OK but I would not be that keen on driving it in a large van-like campervan even though there are numerous small laybys where such vehicles can pull over to allow other vehicles to pass…

The scenery is nice and this drive provides and opportunity to see more of the Whanganui River than you can see from SH4 without actually having to get onto/into the river itself. If you want to get on to the river, there are opportunities to do this at Pipiriki with various canoeing, rafting and jetboating temptations…