Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Mueller Glacier, Hooker Glacier Walk, Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park

A 4 day, circular jaunt, NZ Alpine country:

16.12.20. Day 1.

Drove from Pleasant Point along SH 8 to Lake Tekapo. Attended the opening of rebuilt Lake Tekapo School & school pool. Having taught at the school recently, Leah enjoyed catching up with friends, staff & parents. In the school foyer we admired George Emson's mural photo of stormy Lake Tekapo & surrounding Alps. We often saw George Emson's Alpine pics on TV1 weather reports. We overnighted at Lake Tekapo Campsite in one of the posh new cabins. Sunset over Lake Tekapo & Alps reminded us of all the Alpine walks we'd done by Lake Tekapo over the years, especially at Mt Hay Station & Mt Gerald Station. As it was Covid pandemic time the only tourists were locals. In S Canterbury we hadn't seen a tourist bus for many Covid months.

Day 2.

Drove from Lake Tekapo to Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park. En route, we stopped at the Lake Pukaki lookout to admire distant Aoraki / Mt Cook & Alpine ranges. Coffee bought at the Salmon Farm kiosk was expensive crap! Next door, old hydro-electric historical info boards had been revamped into new Ngai Tahu historical info boards with a window view over Lake Pukaki & Alps.

En route to Mt Cook village, beside Lake Pukaki, we stopped at the biggest lavender farm in the S hemisphere. We sat on wooden chairs among rows of lavender bushes for happy snaps. By the farm carpark, a food caravan & a shipping container shop touted food & lavender wares. Mt Cook village: We booked into Alpine Lodge for 2 nights. The reception man said the hotel was about half full with Kiwi guests during Covid times, better than no guests at all. We wandered Governors Bush Track, about 1 hour walk through native bush. Descriptive signs along the way gave us an idea of Alpine flora we could see in the park, like parsley trees, snowberry bushes... Had fish & chips supper at The Hermitage cafe. Due to Covid, the cafe & restaurant was about quarter full. The cafe & our hotel bedroom had grand window views of Mt Cook & Mt Wakefield below.

Day 3.

Checked out the DOC info centre: Lots of displays & details about Mt Cook wildlife & historical & current climbing in the Mt Cook region. Tourist shop too. The DOC foyer gave daily updates about avalanche dangers & current weather conditions. Wind forecast: 40km/h for our Hooker Valley walk.

Drove to Mt Cook campsite carpark for our Hooker Valley walk. Starting from the campsite saved us an hour or so walking to / from our hotel. Although Mt Sefton peak was cloudy, we had good views of its icefalls. We passed the dead mountaineers' memorial. After crossing the rocky, bushy terminal moraine, from the DOC path near the first suspension bridge (swingbridge) we had a grand view of Mueller Glacier Lake, but no sign of receding Mueller Glacier round a moraine corner, just steep, lateral moraine walls & waterfalls from icy peaks above. The wind whipped up dust devils above Mueller Glacier Lake moraine walls.

Mountain walls both valley sides, the well maintained DOC path continued up windy Hooker Valley, over numerous wooden steps, 2 more swingbridges, a long, winding boardwalk & a small, wooden footbridge near 2 longdrop toilets. Smarter, durable concrete, longdrop toilets were being built nearby. Along the way many Alpine flowers bloomed: Wahlengbergias, celmisias, Mt Cook lilies, bush snowberries.

Snowy Mt Cook loomed over receding Hooker Glacier at the end of its glacier Lake. At the other end of Hooker Glacier Lake, a DOC sign, red & white print, warned:

DANGER

Glacier Lake - Mutiple Hazards Exist.

Unstable Icebergs. - Icebergs can move & spin violently at any moment. Keep a safe distance.

Glacier Terminal Face is very unstable. - Ice can break off from above or rise violently from below. Keep a safe distance.

Extreme Cold. - The water is only 3 degrees Celcius.

Surge Wave. - Ice can calve off the glacier & create a large wave.

Thin Ice. - When the lake is frozen, ice is not safe to walk on.

Your safety is your responsibility.

Lunch at the DOC wooden table beside Hooker Glacier Lake: The wind was so strong we held onto our daypacks to stop them blowing away. Using my binoculars, I checked out Hooker Glacier's terminal face, a high striated ice wall, grey moraine stones on top. No snow on top of the glacier, as it was high summer. A small iceberg was grounded near us in shallow awater near a lateral moraine where the path continued deeper into the Alps below Mt Cook. Despite Covid, we'd encountered many trampers on the Hooker Valley walk, 10 km return, approx 4 hours return including lunch. The walk rose gently from the campsite, only 124 vertical m, 800m - 924m.


Day 4.

Completed our circular trek: Mackenzie Basin, Twizel: Bought honey at the honey farm. Near Lake Ruataniwha: Bought fresh salmon at the Salmon Farm, had sushi lunch there. Past Benmore, down Waitaki River Valley, via Omarama & Otematata, past hydro-electric lakes Benmore, Avimore, Waitaki to Kurow for cafe tea. Over Elephant Hill. Down Waimati Gorge to Waimati. N1 to Timaru, SH8 back to Pleasant Point.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Monday, December 21, 2020

Mt Barossa, Hakatere Conservation Park

Mon 14.12.20. I drove from Pleasant Point to Mt Somers village & Hakatere Conservation Park.

From Ashburton Gorge Rd, I climbed Mt Barossa, 1364 m, Topo50 map ref, BX19 573687, a 7 hour return climb, approx 4 hours up, 3 hours down, incl many catch-breath, pic & lunch stops. Distance: 7 km return, 820 vertical m. A sunny day with grand Alpine views & views of Ashburton lake district, most lakes seen from the top, incl lakes Emma, Roundabout, Camp, Clearwater, Heron...

Many distant peaks were seen, too numerous to list: Some summits seen: Clent Hills incl Mt Barossa; Peters Range, branching off Moorhouse Range; Mt Tripp, slightly higher than Mt Barossa; Trinity Hill, Hakatere Station below; Tara Haoa Range, incl Coal Hill & Mt Peel; High Claytons; Sherwood Range, incl Mt Fox; Two Thumbs Range; Harper Range; Mt Guy; Dogs Range; Brother Range; Black Hill Range; Taylor Range; Winterslow Range; Mt Somers Range, Mt Somers coming into view on the right, about half an hour's tramp to the top of Mt Barossa. Canterbury Plains were hazy due to a high pressure system & brown smog over Timaru & Ashburton districts. As Mt Barossa summit ridge was above smog level, Alpine peaks were easily seen, like The Thumbs & D'Archiac.

The DOC track started at the DOC carpark as an easement off Ashburton Gorge Rd. The track went up a middle ridge, gullies & ridges both sides, was well marked with DOC marker poles & occasional cairns near the top. About a third of the way up there were several tors to negotiate, some the track sidled by, some a rocky scramble with scree underfoot. My aluminium walker poles were handy as a kind of zimmer-frame. High summer, many alpine plants bloomed: Bulbinellas, Hebes, Snowberries, Celmisias, Pentachondra pumila, Wahlenbergias, Coral Broom, Spear Grass...

The summit ridge had many big rocks for wind protection & many geode chips, bluish / grey agate, scattered amongst tussock grasses & Dracophyllum shrubs. Where someone had left hammered geode chips lying about, I took one as a paperweight souvenir. More weight in my backpack for my down-climb. My backpack had my usual safety kit, all weather clothes, food, water, maps. There was no cell phone coverage on top of Mt Barossa. I texted Leah on my return to Mt Somers village.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Rangitata Gorge Walk

Thurs 05.03.20. I did the Rangitata Gorge walk, halfway along to the highest point on Rangitata Gorge track (aka Tenahaun Track), map ref BX 557545, on the 500m contour, about 6 km return - 2h to my 3km turning point, 1,5h return. A sunny, windless day.

I drove 70 km from Pleasant Point, via Geraldine, crossed Rangitata River, upper bridge, and on the Mayfield Rd turned left along Ealing Montalto Rd, driving beside Mt Peel / Tara Haoa Range for about 20 kms, Mt Pukanui / Moorhouse Range straight ahead. I turned left at Klondyke Station turnoff & followed the Rangitata Diversion Race (RDR) canal along the canal dirt road for about 7 kms until the road ended at a DOC carpark, several signs at the entrance gate fence: RDR history info, DOC easement, Fish & Game Angler Access, Protect Our Waterways - Didymo... Outdoor Access video surveillance signs...

A Public Works Department, bronze, memorial plaque said:

          Rangitata to Rakaia Diversion Race

IPENZ recognises this engineering work as an
important part of NZ's engineering heritage.
Approved in 1936 to provide employment relief &
a vision for Canterbury's future, this 67 km race was
the first major river diversion for development of
water resources. It supplies 66,000 hectares as well
         as 27 MW of hydro power in winter...
                                                             Opened 1945.

Besides Rangitata River & the RDR canal I wandered past 2 bucket cranes, one under a green canopy & surrounded by a fence, NO ENTRY signs on the fence. The RDR inlet had several DANGER signs on a fence above the inlet: KEEP OUT AUTHORISED PERSONS ONLY...

From the river terrace above the RDR inlet, I watched 5 rubber rafts, filled with thrill seekers, shoot the rocky weir across Rangitata River, flowing partly into the RDR inlet & mostly along its river course to the Pacific. Also from the terrace, I watched a farmer across the river in his blue ute & his 3 huntaways herd red deer down 3 river terraces through a farm gate on a lower Rangitata River terrace. The huntaways ran like wolves.

The DOC easement track followed a farm fence along the E lip of Rangitata Gorge & sidled W side of Mt Pukanui & Moorhouse Range with grand views of Rangitata River running several rapids between Waikari Hills W & Moorhouse Range E. Waikari Hills' vertical strata showed tortured seismic activity over geological time.

After the the second farm gate, above a Flying Fox over Rangitata Gorge, the DOC easement track became bogged by Hereford herd pugs, so I climbed through the farm fence & walked through matagouri scrub on farmland, a safer stretch, avoiding cattle pollution & the potential for being trampled by the Hereford herd gathered on a gorge ridge at another farm gate on the DOC easement.

I climbed through another farm fence to a sheep paddock below Moorhouse Range & wandered the sheep-muddy, 500m contour track, across steep ridges to my 3km turning point, the track eventually leaving Rangitata Gorge. Grand views of Harper Range at the head of Rangitata Gorge.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.


Monday, February 24, 2020

Mt Pukanui, Moorhouse Range, Summit Ridge

Mon 24.02.20. Near Mayfield, from Hinds River Gorge, I climbed Mt Pukanui, 1153m, Moorhouse Range, Map ref: BX19 562563. Moorhouse Range has Rangitata Gorge W side & Hinds Gorge E side.

Stats: From Chapmans Rd, DOC carpark easement, 10 km return hike / climb, 4 h up, 3.5 h down, 670 vertical metres climb. Beautiful cloudless day, gentle zephyrs, grand Alpine & Rangitata River views.

See Tramper NZ link for terrain pics. The Tramper time of 3 h 30 mins return for a 10 km hike / climb, 670 vertical m, was nuts!

From Chapman Rd, DOC easement carpark, for 2.5 km my hike undulated along a DOC marked farm track, sidling E around the bottom of a Mt Pukanui ridge & passing through paddocks & 6 farm gates to Hinds River Gorge, between Moorhouse Range E & Peter Range W.

2.5 km E Ridge climb: Beyond the 6th farm gate, I crossed a creek at the bottom of a tuatara-back ridge, E side of Moorhouse Range. The E ridge climb was between two more E ridges, creeks below each ridge, the S ridge, 815m, overgrazed farmland, the N ridge, 906m, bushy DOC conservation land. The "track" up the climbed ridge was not marker poled by DOC. By a creek the "track" began at the N side of the ridge before topping the ridge along a disused, overgrown, farm track, through snow tussock & matagouri, over a series of shoulders, then when the farm track petered out, the "track" followed a fence through snow tussock & Dracophyllum to Moorhouse Range summit ridge.

More alpine plants seen: Coprosmas, Porcupine Plants, Cyathodes, Wahlenbergias, Celmisias, Snowberries, Spear Grass, Geraniums, Gentians...

Moorhouse Range summit ridge was a series of knobs: Mt Pukanui S, 1145m... Mt Tripp N, 1378m... The E ridge I summited, 1153m  was closer to Mt Pukanui.

The clear day enabled 360 degree Alpine views: E: about 150 kms across Canterbury Plains, hazy Banks Peninsula. SW: Mt Peel. W: Waikari Hills, Coal Hill on Tara Haoa Range. Further W: High Claytons, Sherwood Range & Mt Fox. Beyond: Two Thumbs Range with tops of Mt Edward, Mt Maud, Mt Dobson about 150 km away... NW: Ben McCleod Range & Main Divide...

Curving far NE: Mt Grey, Mt Thomas, Mt Oxford. Mt Hutt obscured by Mt Somers. Fresh snow on Old Man Range... Just some of the Alpine ranges seen forming headwaters for Ashburton River & Rangitata River, the latter flowing through Rangitata Gorge between W side of Moorhouse Range & E side of Waikari Hills.

Caution: Hill walking fitness, backpack, all weather gear, food, water, map, walking stick(s), boots, hat needed. There was cell phone coverage on top of Moorhouse Range.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Beyond Quake Walls. Greeting Friendship, Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Indonesian email focus. Email exchange about Christchurch quakes:

28.01.20.

Hi Mark,

My name is NM. I am a freelance writer and live in Palau City, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. I am very happy to find your blog and read your writings there, especially about the 2010 and 2011 Chch earthquakes. Unfortunately, I only discovered your blog when I returned from Chch last December 2019. For a week I was there to see Chch city immediately after the  earthquake, including several locations such as the CBD, the red zone around the Avon River, Bexley, and as far as New Brighton.

 I want to ask you a few things which I want to know about, and hopefully you will be pleased to give me information related to my questions.

1. Where were the residents moved / relocated in Chch after the government determined the red zone could no longer be inhabited?

2. What is the condition of the people who were moved from the red zone now? Do they have new, better life and better housing?

3. The city where I live in Palu experienced an earthquake which was followed by the tsunami and liquefaction on September 28, 2018. Some areas were decided as red zones and prohibited from being occupied. Residents in the red zone were moved to a new location with the construction of temporary shelters for them and waiting to be moved to a permanent location along with their dwellings. Does Chch also apply the same as this scheme?

4. There is an EQC in Chch, NZ. Before the earthquake, residents who have a house must pay insurance to the EQC? How much insurance costs do residents / homes have to pay EQC? Are payments monthly? or every year?

Thank you, Mark.

30.01.20.

Hi NM,

Glad you found my blog useful. Your questions:

1. Red zone residents moved elsewhere to houses or rentals of their own choice, in Christchurch or elsewhere. Some rented government built, small houses in 2 Christchurch parks. Government temporary rentals were expensive. And there were few govt rentals, some built many months after the quakes. Many people whose houses were damaged or destroyed moved elsewhere to live with family or friends [or lived in temp rentals] while dealing with payout settlements from EQC and / or insurance companies.

2. Condition: Those who got good payouts from EQC and / or insurance companies were OK. Many people had to fight slow EQC and slow insurance companies to get fair payouts. Some court cases are still ongoing today. [2023. Class actions still ongoing]. Slow payouts caused psychological damage to claimants. Please Google the EQC Commission of Inquiry for more details about slow EQC payouts & poor house repairs done by EQC.

3. NZ govt did not provide free housing for house damage claimants. NZ govt did supply temporary wage cover to businesses / workers who lost wages. My eldest son got 6 weeks wages paid by NZ govt for his job loss / wages lost in the hospitality industry during quakes. Thereafter he had to find another job. His house rental was smashed in the 22 Feb 2011 Killer Quake and he was out of work for 6 months. He overwintered in a garage with a chemical toilet during 2011, after February & June quakes. As parents we helped him with rent, cash, food, clothes, etc, till he found another hospitality job. Many families lived / survived like that during quake years 2010-13 incl - 16 000 quakes...

4. All NZ homeowners had to pay EQC premiums to NZ govt to cover some land, building, possession damages. [House contents no longer applies for EQC claimants]. Homeowners also had to pay premiums to their private insurance companies to cover more damages to housing & personal possessions, like clothes, furniture, carpets, cars, etc... I don't know the cost of EQC premiums. If you Google the EQC website you should be able to find details of EQC premiums & more information about EQC.

Hope you have recovered from the 2018 quake.

Kind regards,

Mark.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Coda.

Deja vu 2010-13 quakes, Geonet: Wed 20.09.23, 9.14am, M6.2 quake, depth 10km, 45km N of Geraldine, Rangitata River region. Approx 70km S, shook our Pleasant Point rental house for several seconds, leaving us jittery. Leah cancelled her school visits, I filled up our 2 cars with petrol & our bath with cold water, just in case! Luke said he felt the quake in Christchurch! A local school which Leah visited weekly had a real-time "drop, cover, hold" practice. Geonet later downgraded the quake to M6, depth 11km. Quake boffins opined that the quake fault was a side fault off the Alpine Fault which eased pressure on the Alpine Fault.