Time to get back out and scout some new summits. This one looked like a good candidate and hadn’t yet been activated. In fact I was somewhat surprised no one had beaten me too this one. The walk is a good one and the track is well formed. The main part of the track is shared with cyclists and I did meet a few on … Continue reading Whakapoungakau ZL1/BP-152
Hukaroa is a summit just South of Raetahi. I have been scoping it out to site radio equipment for work and to also get to try SOTA out. On Sunday we got the land owners permission and drove up to get a feel for the site to help me build a business case for work, and naturally to get a little bit of SOTA in. … Continue reading ZL1/MW-097 : Hukaroa
We had a weekend in Hawkes Bay planned so I scoped out a new summit to add to the log. This one is called Te Ahioteatua. Its about half way between Wairoa and Lake Waikaremoana. I had the contact details for the land owner from car rally days of siting STSP repeaters up this hill. SILLY WARREN FORGOT HIS RADIO – DOUP! The previous week … Continue reading Te Ahioteatua : ZL1/HB-110
This is a hilltop that I am fortunate enough to have access to via work. We have a land mobile repeater at this site to provide voice coverage for our staff in the field. This area is generally closed to visitors and trampers due to a rare frog living in the area. You may be able to convince DoC that you will take the necessary … Continue reading Maungamangero : ZL1/WK-050
Much to Myah’s amusement we discovered a summit named ‘Riley’s Mountain’ – Back home in NZ her best friend at school is named ‘Riely’ so we decided to humor her and go and activate this summit, which of course suited Warren just fine. We headed back out from our home base for the week in Darling Harbor to the Blue Mountains early afternoon arriving around … Continue reading Riley’s Mountain
Not too far back down the main road we traveled to Mount Banks, is Mount Tomah – a nice easy drive to, though no views to admire any which way you look. Since we were in the area however Warren decided it wasn’t to be left un-activated and so we ticked this one off for the day’s second summit. There’s really not much to say … Continue reading Mount Tomah – Sydney’s Blue Mountains
The end of June marked a very full on last few months for us and we had already decided a family holiday with the kids outside of our own backyard was in order this year so Sydney it was for us all for a week. Of course for Warren, no holiday is complete until SOTA has been included, and well, who were we were stop … Continue reading Mount Banks – Sydney’s Blue Mountains
This little unnamed summit is quite a walk in but it isnt as bad as it appears on the map. The first climb to the trig at 899 m is the steepest part – the rest is a healthy but not painful gradient. The track is in good shape with plenty of views along the way. This summit is located on the southern end of … Continue reading South Kaweka
This summit is in reserve land on Hauturu road. It is not far from the road however there is no track to the summit so it is a tricky one. A good map and compass is required to navigate to this one as it is very easy to get spun around in this bush and point the wrong way. Do not rely on a smartphone … Continue reading Hauturu Bushbash
Tuhua is very near one of my work’s radio sites. A fault at this site had me make plans to spend a few days at the site, repairing the fault and installing new equipment. There is no vehicle access to this radio site so access is done by helicopter. I was delivered to site Thursday afternoon and planned to be picked up again Saturday morning. … Continue reading Tuhua
