Fixture Card 2017 Club Nights

Use for ski forms We welcome new people at all club activities

2017

3, 10, 17, 24 January  

Clubrooms closed

31 January Summer barbecue

• 5.30 to 9.00pm
• catch up with other club members and talk about your Xmas/New Year adventures.
• please bring the BBQ food that you want to eat, and also food (eg: salad) and drink to share.

07 February Liz and Alan's Te Araroa

Last spring Alan Graham and Liz Martin walked the Far North section of Te Araroa from Cape Reinga to Auckland, trudging along beaches, navigating steep muddy bush ridges, crossing numerous estuaries, and experiencing great kindness and hospitality along the way.

14 February An evening for prospective members

Thinking of becoming a member of our club? Come along and hear about the wide range of outdoor activities and instruction courses the club offers. Meet new people and stay safe in the outdoors with the TTC!

21 February Europe by bike

Over the summer of 2015, Janie Cook and her husband Graeme did seven bike trips in Europe, from Norway to Tuscany and the Croatian coast.

28 February Sailing and cycling the Croatian Islands

For seven eventful and fascinating days, Barbara and Don Crump island-hopped Dalmatia on the 37 metre ship Harmonia, cycled the islands of Korculaz, Mijet, Lastovo and Sipan, and explored the historic Old Town in the Bosnian city of Mostar.

07 March Exploring the Kimberley

Ever fancied walking and canoeing in the Kimberley(approve sites)? Lesley Haines took a break from the Wellington winter to explore this remote land of gorges, waterfalls, luxuriant vegetation and abundant bird life.

14 March More than fire and ice

Last July, Shaun Barnett spent three weeks in Iceland on a photographic tour and walked the popular four-day Laugavegur Trail(approve sites). Known as the land of 'fire and ice' with its volcanoes and glaciers, Iceland is also a place of surprising greenery, abundant waterfalls, puffins, turf-covered churches and corrugated iron buildings.

21 March Protecting big cats across Africa’s vast wilderness landscapes

Conserving the declining numbers of Africa’s lions, leopards and cheetah is a massive challenge. Panthera is a global NGO committed to protecting big cats and their habitats. Club member Tong Young’s daughter Kim Young-Overton is the Director of Panthera’s Cheetah Program, based in Kafue National Park(approve sites) in Zambia.

28 March In the footsteps of a famous author and his donkey

In June 2016 David Holland and Barbara Camfield walked the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail(approve sites) in France from Puy en Velay to St. Jean du Gard. Joining them for several days were Carol Kelly and Doreen Launder. The path has changed somewhat since Stevenson travelled it in the 1870s with his famous donkey, Modestine, but the beauty of the countryside, the small villages and the footpaths remain delightful.

04 April A traverse of the Kaimanawa tops

Last November, Peggy Munn and her party of TTC members set off to explore the tops west of the Waipakahi Valley.

11 April Achieving the extraordinary

In October 2011, Jeremy Scott began a two-and-a-half year, solo bicycle ride from London to New Zealand. As an adventurer, author, and keynote speaker, he now dedicates his life to inspiring others to achieve extraordinary feats. Jeremy's book The Long Road from a Broken Heart(approve sites) will be available for sale for $65, cash or Eftpos.

18 April Rimutaka Ridge Track proposal

Ken Fraser and Tom White present a proposal? to cut and mark a 7km track along the ridge from the South Saddle of Mt Matthews to Kotumu.

25 April Anzac Day - no meeting tonight.

Clubrooms closed

02 May Saving lives in a heartbeat

When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, their chances of survival go up hugely when bystanders administer CPR until help arrives. Learn the basic skills that could help save a life by coming along tonight for a fun, interactive Heartbeat training session run by club member Dave Reynolds, a paramedic with the Wellington Free Ambulance.

09 May The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake: A geologist’s perspective

The magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake on 14 November 2016 caused ground rupturing on many different faults across a 180 km-long swath. The Kekerengu Fault experienced an especially large displacement. Tim Little of VUW gives us his perspective on what happened and reviews recent research.

Tim has kindly made his presentation available for download.

16 May Exploring the headwaters of the Tauherenikau and Waiohine Rivers

Franz Hubmann and Paul McCredie recently did some trips into the headwaters of the Tauherenikau and Waiohine Rivers, where they donned their wetsuits, did a lot of rock-hopping, discovered a new “lakelet”, and filmed a few short videos of their antics.

23 May TTC family trips and activities

The TTC has a long tradition of family trips with family members participating in a wide range of outdoors activities, from tramping, camping and cycling to skiing and snowboarding, canoeing and caving, river tubing and tree planting. Anne Dowden has been the TTC Family Group Coordinator since 2005.

30 May Winter activities evening

Join the Club’s winter sports enthusiasts for a glass of gluhwein, then sit back and hear how the Club can help you to enjoy some great adventures in the snow this winter, and to stay safe.

Please note the earlier start time of 7.00pm and $4 entry charge.

06 June Sustainable Summits Conference 2016

Last August Patrick Arnold and Sean Buchanan represented the Club at the Sustainable Summits Conference(approve sites) hosted by the New Zealand Alpine Club at Mt Cook Village. Topics discussed included the environmental effects of climbing and tramping, and how changing environmental factors may affect our activities in and enjoyment of the outdoors.

13 June Critical safety gear: crampons and smartphones

Drawing on his experiences in the Southern Alps and the Tararuas, and on Fox Glacier and Mt Ruapehu, Dave Grainger will help you select the type of crampon you need for your winter tramping, climbing or backcountry skiing, and explain how the use of a smartphone GPS for backcountry navigation can save lives.

20 June To the North Pole

Andrew Bayly has added reaching the North Pole last year to his achievements as an adventurer. Not only has he summited Aoraki/Mt Cook and completed several successful coast-to-coast events, he is now one of the few people to have reached both Poles across the ice, trekking and skiing 120 km minimum for each journey. Andrew, the National MP for Hunua, will take a break from the House to speak to us about accomplishing his successful expedition to the North Pole.

Please note that Andrew's talk replaces the programme for this evening advertised in the Tramper.

27 June Tour Aotearoa

Tour Aotearoa(approve sites) is one of the world's great bike packing journeys. It follows a 3,000-kilometre route from Cape Reinga to Bluff, and explores diverse landscapes, welcoming rural communities, and several Great Rides. Cyclist and author Jonathan Kennett has written an illustrated book(approve sites) about the experience. Copies of the book ($60) and a small guide book(approve sites) ($20) will be available for sale

04 July Te Urewera revisited

Paul McCredie recently walked through Te Urewera(approve sites), visiting Maungapohatu(approve sites), where the prophet Rua(approve sites) created his ‘new Jerusalem(approve sites)’ in 1908, and retraced the route of two early TTC trips on which David Ogilvie’s father (1931) and Paul’s mother (1951) were party members.

11 July A bicycle odyssey

Anna and Ollie Yeoman present a film, Five Square Meals: A Bicycle Odyssey, they made of their year-long, 16,000km cycle trip across Central Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. It won the People's Choice award at the 2016 New Zealand Mountain Film Festival in Wanaka.

18 July Quiz night

Come along to a fun Quiz night and enjoy an evening of quizzing, prizes, a drink and nibbles and a raffle where proceeds will go toward supporting young people into the club. Bring some cash and have fun, from 7pm.

25 July Two contrasting South Island tracks

The challenging 84km Dusky Track in the Fiordland National Park takes eight to 10 days to complete. The 60km Abel Tasman Coastal Track can be walked in a leisurely three to five days. Pip Newton walked the Dusky Track in summer and the Abel Tasman in winter.

01 August Promoting access to the Great Outdoors

Wellington Regional Field Advisor Chris Ward explains how the Walking Access Commission promotes free and lasting recreational walking access to the New Zealand outdoors, demonstrates its mapping system, and talks about cases he is currently involved with.

08 August Shared Meal

Delay your dinner, bring it with you and come along to a shared meal. This is a BYO everything (food & drinks) starts around 7pm.

We will also discuss informally some of the proposed TTC rule changes that are coming up at the AGM.

15 August AGM

Annual General Meeting

• Election of officers
• Notices of motion
• Officer's reports
• Rule changes

22 August A very long walk beside the seaside

Running 1000km along the scenic coastlines of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, and Dorset, the South West Coast Path is perhaps the UK’s ultimate challenge for the long-distance hiker. Lyn Taylor likes a long walk and is always up for a challenge, so decided to give it a go!

29 August Toaroha Circuit

In February/March this year, Peggy Munn’s party of five Club members did the rugged Toaroha circuit on the West Coast, crossing two alpine saddles and the Lower Whitcombe, Hokitika and Toaroha rivers. Along the way they met some interesting people.

05 September Traversing the Himalayas

With three other New Zealand climbers, Nina Sawicki completed the South (Oktang) and North Kanchenjunga base camp treks, along with traverses of the Mirgin La and remote Nango La Passes. They followed the tracks of the endangered snow leopard, visited schools, medical facilities and health outposts, and got lost in a rhododendron forest.

12 September Te Araroa: South Island

On Boxing Day 2016, Celia Wade-Brown and her husband and tent-carrier Alistair began walking the South island section of Te Araroa. Highlights for Celia were the ‘trail angel’ support of her mother-in-law in her campervan, the locals and fellow trampers they met, swimming in rivers, the food at Ohau Lodge, and photographing orchids and fungi.

19 September Day trips in the Tararua Ranges

As the time to compile yet another Fixture Card approaches, Colin Cook surveys day trips in the Tararua Ranges that he has done or might be fun to do. Most are MF grade, have a significant off-track component, and start from a wide range of entry points, from the Mangahao to Kaitoke Regional Park and Putara road end.

26 September Project Kaka: The battle for our birds

Project Kāka is an intensive 10 year pest control and monitoring programme targeting species that threaten native bird life in the Tararua Forest Park. James Griffiths, lead DOC scientist on the project, provides an update on the progress of efforts to carry out predator control and restore native bird, insect and plant communities.

03 October A geological trek in Papua New Guinea

In 2014 Kevin Norton and a fellow geoscientist from Victoria University went to Papua New Guinea to carry out groundwork for a geological investigation of Mount Dayman, a 3000 metre peak that is being uplifted along the Mai’iu Fault. Their trek from the small town of Agaun in the mountains to Kewansesap on the coast hit on some of the geological, natural, and cultural highlights of this little-seen part of the world.

10 October Conservation of kakerori: to the brink ... and back

The kakerori, a forest bird of the Cook Islands, was on the brink of extinction in 1989, due to predation by introduced rats and cats. Hugh Robertson and Lynn Adams tell the story of the conservation efforts in the rugged interior of Rarotonga to save the species and ensure its long-term survival.

17 October TTC Photo Competition

24 October Patagonia: A dream destination for trampers

Earlier this year WTMC member Andrei Zubkhov spent six weeks exploring Patagonia. Come and hear his tips on how to get around, save money, and see the best sights!

31 October 50 Year and Life Members' Evening: Our TTC Centenary Book

Chris Maclean and Shaun Barnett will outline the process of researching and writing this special book. They will explain the role of the TTC sub-committee and feature some of the highlights and themes they have written about. They would also like the audience to respond to a few queries they have. (All members welcome.)

07 November A vision for Queen Elizabeth Park

Much of Q E Park originally consisted of wetlands but they were drained decades ago and converted to farmland. Among the aims of the Friends of Q E Park are to retire leased farmland and to restore and enlarge areas of wetland and native planting. The Chair of the Friends is environmentalist, Russell Bell.

14 November Biking in Tokyo and tramping in the Japanese countryside

Barbara and Don Crump found that biking in one of the largest cities of the world, Tokyo, is an exhilarating and safe experience. They contrast that experience with their tramping trips in the Nagano area of Honshu Island and the mountain thermal region of the Kiroshima National Park, Kyushu.

21 November In the steps of gold miners along the Chilkoot trail

In 1897 over 100,000 stampeders made their way our the Chilkoot Pass with 400kgs of supplies to find their fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush. In May of this year Peter Smith & Trish Gardiner-Smith with much lighter loads, independently took 5 days following in the stampeders' footsteps to walk the Chilkoot Trail from Dyea in Alaska to Bennett in Canada.

28 November A storeman in Antarctica

Chris Horne worked for Antarctic Division, D.S.I.R. as ‘Cargo Monitor’, reporting to the Stores Officer in the Ghuznee St office. In 1961 he sailed south on HMNZS Endeavour to work at Scott Base for six weeks.

Using bioacoustics to monitor the effects of 1080 on native bird populations

Before Chris' presentation, Roald Bomans, the first recipient of the Michael Taylor Memorial Award from the club with give a brief introduction to his project "Using bioacoustics to monitor the effects of 1080 on native bird populations” and explain how our grant will assist him.

05 December Murder in the Mountains

Trish McCormack grew up at Franz Josef Glacier and is fascinated with murder and its motives. An archivist by day and a crime writer by night, she has written three crime novels set in national parks and featuring glacier guide and amateur sleuth Philippa Barnes. Her books will be available for sale at $15 each.

12 December Christmas Finale

An evening of Christmas cheer to celebrate the end of another successful tramping year. Come along, have some Christmas cake, and sing Christmas carols with the Salvation Army Band. Please bring a small Christmas gift for a child.

19 December   Seasons greetings

Clubrooms closed

26 December   Happy New Year

Clubrooms closed