I am fortunate my work brings me into contact with many rural folk. During a site visit preparing for a job, I inquired with the customer who owned the wee hill behind her house. Fortunately for me I was conversing with the owner and she was more than happy to let me access the hill for the purposes of photography and radio experimentation. Last Friday … Continue reading Pukerimu

On our last day of the long weekend we thought we would activate Kauri Mountain before heading home. This track is part of the Te Arararoa Trail, or New Zealand’s Trail. However for some reason it does not show on DoC’s file of walking tracks (ftp://public:public@ftp.doc.govt.nz/Public/GIS/KMZ_Files_For_GIS_Software/DOC_Tracks_2017_01_26.kmz). We got our info for this summit from another blog here https://nzfrenzynorth.wordpress.com/c12/ before we set out. At the carpark … Continue reading Kauri Mountain

For tonights twilight activation we found another drive up – almost right in the middle of town. Parihaka is a popular tourist lookout and tonight it was particularly busy. Your see about an hour earlier the power had gone out to Northland. A fire close to the Whangerei substation had forced Transpower to isolate the 220 kV circuits feeding Northland. This occurred as we were … Continue reading Parihaka – Zl1/NL-076

For our Sunday morning walk we decided to go for a drive to Whangaruru North Head Reserve. As far as summits go this is a fairly low altitude one, but it meets the 150 meters prominence requirements so it is valid. The track starts out gentle but then starts to climb. Fortunately its not a large ascent. Just before the true summit (about 10 meters) … Continue reading Whangaruru – North Head

After the nice day at Urquharts bay we went looking for a drive up to do a twilight activation. Mount Tiger looked like a healthy candidate, the road running right past the spot height. The plan was to set up roadside however there was a convenient lay-by at the summit to get setup. it was still and warm this evening so it was quite comfortable … Continue reading Mount Tiger

For Waitangi weekend we decided a get away to Whangarei was in order, to get some relaxation in and catch a few summits. Whangerei certainly has its share of summits on offering. Over the course of the long weekend we found 5 to activate, however there were plenty more available.   Mount Lion is a summit at the western tip of Bream Head. The climb … Continue reading Mount Lion

So the long weekend was upon us and as Emma and the Kids were already on Holiday for the last week of the school holidays, in Whangamata, I had planned a rather adventurous task.   Turns out that my SOTA eyes are….well in this case, were far greater in size than my SOTA belly.   I had planned a walk that covered three summits and decided it … Continue reading On top of the Coromandel Ranges