ZL1/WL-102 01/12/2023

ZL1/WL-102 is situated within the Akatawara Forest park. The park covers an area of 15,000 hectares and stretches between Upper Hutt, near Wellington, and the Kapiti coast to the north. Despite its size, there are only a few SOTA summits within the park boundaries.

From the road end to the summit of ZL1/WL-102 is roughly 10km one way. I felt I needed an alternative to walking this one! So it was to be a bit of a Mountain bike ride to cover some ground quickly, quicker than walking anyway. 

Mostly, my ride would be on well maintained forestry logging roads like the one above, and then, after they ran out, I didn’t really have a clue what I’d find. I guessed it would involve a bush bash for the last part and I wasn’t wrong. Over the 10km I would ascend to just below 500m. Most of this climb being achieved in the steeper first half of my ride. 

Exit point off the road, summit in the background.

For the last 500 meters or so I had to hide the bike away in the bush and continue on foot on a very overgrown old track that had once been wide enough for a vehicle and went all the way to the summit.

The track to the summit.

On the summit, some removal of old man gorse was required to clear an activation site. The antenna wire basically had to be threaded through the gorse and Manuka as high as I could get it.
Starting on 40m, conditions weren’t great but I got a steady stream of ZL’s. A couple more ZL’s and a VK on 20m, then a surprise US chaser “W6POT” on 15m CW.

Soon it was time to start heading back. First another bash back down to the hidden bike and then the bonus of a brilliant, long downhill bike run, all the way back to the car park.

Summit: ZL1/WL-102

Height: 496m

Access: From the Totora Park car park on well formed logging access roads most of the way. Roads may be closed to the public from time to time for logging operations. Always be on the alert for other vehicles, Motor bikes, 4×4’s and very big trucks!
Follow Three sculls road to Goat hill road. The roads are sign posted. travel another 2km on Goat hill road then turn right onto an un-named side road. You really need a map or gps to stay on course here. At a point where you are getting close and the track is starting to become overgrown and veer away down from the summit you must bush bash from there.

Cell phone: One NZ worked ok, not a strong signal.

ZL1/WL-031 The Peak 22/01/2022

ZL1/WL-031 The Peak

Activating The Peak marked the completion of a personal challenge I had set for myself some time ago, to activate all the SOTA peaks, that can be activated, on the Remutaka range bordering the Orongorongo catchment.
There is one more, In the headwaters, and within the water catchment area that is closed to the public, It’s completely out of bounds unfortunately, and that status will likely never change. So, though it is a SOTA summit, and falls within my challenge area, it must be excluded in the mean time.

We spent the last week of Sarah’s school holiday break at the hut we use in the Orongorongo valley, this coincided with Wellington anniversary weekend and that meant we would also have our 4×4 with us over the weekend and I could drive down river to the start of my planned route to the summit. Having the ability to drive to my start point saved me a very long walk down river from the hut.

Back at one of our favourite places

There is no official track to The Peak, but thanks to an extensive trapping programme in the valley, a trap line usually runs along nearly every main ridge. I chose the slightly longer of two possible routes and made sure both options were loaded on my gps. A gps was to prove to be essential for this one.

Starting the climb from Peak stream, near its confluence with the main river, I was pleasantly surprised with the condition of the “track”, this was only so until around 600 meters asl, from which point things slowly deteriorated, becoming overgrown in parts and hard to follow the markers in general. I’ve learnt when following trap line markers in heavy bush you can’t look down for too long, they can be easy to miss.
Many times I had to stop, backtrack, and find a suitable route to move forward on, sometimes with the aid of the gps, eventually picking up another marker and making some headway. Once near the summit I began to realise the trap line I was following bypassed the actual summit, instead carrying on along the main Remutaka ridge in a northerly direction and perhaps 100 meters short of my goal. I wasn’t too surprised at this realisation and from there it became a true bush bash, aided by gps, to the summit. I did eventually come across some very old rectangular blazes at one point and found my way to the summit, just short of four hours after starting out.

Around 600m and the track was starting to get a little sketchy, made up for with the views. Looking across to the South Island.

Looking North, to Wellington harbour

On the summit

Looking South from the summit

Lake Ferry and the southern Wairarapa

Mt Matthews and the Remutaka range beyond to the Tararua’s. Quite a few SOTA peaks in this shot.

The difficulty of getting there was quickly forgotten as the views were awesome and made it all worth while.
I had SOTA business to get done before I could start the long trek back down and I was thinking I needed to make this activation a fairly quick one as I was pretty sure the down hill stage was going to have all the navigational challenges I had experienced going up.

I soon got setup and ready to put a spot up and call CQ.
I tuned to 7.090 in preparation and there was Warren, ZL2JML and Ada, ZL2ADA activating ZL1/WK-062 (Ngongotaha). So I grabbed a quick summit to summit with them and moved down 5, called CQ and settled into a steady stream of dedicated ZL chasers including a good strong simplex qso with ZL4CZ, Steven, from his QTH back in the Hutt Valley. Someone had spotted me and it was all on for a while, copy from everyone was good considering my link dipole was only about 1.5 meters above the ground due to the lack of suitable trees and only my walking pole and a low bush available to prop up the centre.
After the ssb callers ran out I switched to CW on 40m for a short time with no takers. Apologies to VK stations as I usually try and accomodate everyone by covering all the bands I can, both ssb and CW, but this time I felt I was pushing it time wise so had to cut the activation short.

After a quick lunch, while packing up, it was time to get going and retrace my saved gps track from the ascent.
You might think that would be easy, but all the same overgrown bits, vague windfall areas and obscured markers were there for the down hill phase and it was once again slow going until reaching the 600 meter height again. I finally reached the bottom and the parked 4×4 a little over 3 hours later.
All in all it was a very successful day, and very pleasing on a personal level, with a few challenges thrown in to keep it interesting.

Summit – ZL1/WL-031 The Peak

Height – 864m

Access – All on public, DOC land. From the Remutaka Forest Park car park, walk the Orongorongo track into the Orongorongo Valley: approximately 1.5 hrs. Then walk downstream to the confluence of Peak Stream: likely another 1-1.5 hrs. Follow the trap line to near the summit. From there if you can find a proper track to the summit you will be doing better than I did. I suggest downloading my GPS track from SOTA mapping and use that to get you there. I would recommend having more than one navigational aid, IE: map and compass or a second gps for backup. To do this summit in a day from the car park and return would be a very big day, much better to break it up by overnighting somewhere in the valley. There are several DOC huts to rent and countless camp sites.

Cell signal – Vodafone worked well, I would expect other providers to give similar performance.

ZL1/WL-025 Papatahi 17/11/2021

Papatahi was another Orongorongo summit I was keen to activate. The second highest peak in the Remutaka range, it sits roughly 3km North east of the highest peak – Mt Mathews. Papatahi is rather steep sided and in keeping with the geology of the range it is very slip prone.

My accomodation for two nights in the Orongorongo valley

An early morning start and a long walk to get to the start of the track. Papatahi in the distance.

To knock this one off in a day, starting from the Remutaka Forest Park carpark, would take around five hours slog each way. To break it up a bit I chose to stay in the bush hut we have the use of in the Orongorongo Valley. I walked into the hut the day before and got settled in and ready for a good walk next morning. I got away to an early start the next day. I had an hour and a half or so of riverbed walking to bring me to near the base of Papatahi at Boulder stream. Then twenty minutes of clambering up North Boulder stream got me to the start of the Papatahi crossing track. An insignificant orange DOC marker points into the bush at that point and that is where the grunt begins. It’s a steady, steep climb to the top through nice native lowland forest that eventually changes to the usual Goblin forest typically found around 900m in these parts.

Getting closer

North Boulder stream. No idea how it gets it’s name.

Yes, that’s a Goat, and he’s looking over at the orange marker and entrance point to the Papatahi crossing track.

Looking south down the Orongorongo valley on the way up

The track sidles around the top edge of an impressive slip.

Looking west.

Near the summit, some of that beautiful goblin forest.

I love my Garmin watch, now my go to navigation device, always there at a glance, no digging for a device in a pocket somewhere.

After about an hour and three quarters I arrived at the summit. I’d waited for a favourable weather opportunity for this one and the waiting paid off, It was warm and sunny in the little clearing on the summit and a windless day. I soon got my HF set up and started my activation. It didn’t take long to realise this was going to be a struggle, band conditions were difficult and I was having trouble getting spots to send with the poor cell signal I had. Nothing was to be heard on 60m so I moved to 40m and slowly over a forty minute period I managed five QSO’s with ZL stations with a mix of CW and SSB. One more CW contact with a VK station on 20m and then a failed attempt at a simplex contact back to Wellington with ZL2SLD and it was time for some lunch and then pack up the gear for my descent back down to the valley floor and the long trudge down the riverbed back to the hut.

The summit

The smallest summit marker I have seen in a while

Not much to see from the summit. Just a glimpse of Lake Wairarapa over the eastern side.

Walking pole antenna support

Back down in North Boulder stream. Sunny and warm for the rest of the walk back to the hut.

Summit – ZL1/WL-025 Papatahi

Height ASL – 902m

Access – From Remutaka Forest Park carpark walk the Orongorongo track to Orongorongo river 1- 1.5 hrs. Travel up river for 1.5 hrs to Boulder stream. Follow orange markers up North Boulder stream to start of Papatahi crossing track starting point 15-20 min. Climb track to summit approx 2hr.

DOC Warning

The DOC website states: The Papatahi Crossing track is overgrown and poorly marked in places. Papatahi Crossing is not an easy track. It’s a very full day from the Catchpool car park for fit parties. Most parties should stay overnight at or near Papatahi Hut on the Orongorongo River.

Cell/internet – Extremely limited service from Vodafone on summit. Some pockets of better service on the way up but should not be relied on.

ZL1/WL-039 Tapokopopo 22/01/2021

Tapokopopo at 843m ASL is one of several SOTA summits that lie along the main spine of the Rimutaka range, a range that stretches from the North Islands south coast at Turakarae head, northwards to Kaitoki. At that point is about where the Rimutaka’s end, and where roughly intersected by the Rimutaka hill road, the Tararua range begins, stretching far off to the north.

Though not a particularly high range, the highest point being Mt Matthews at just over 900m, it is none the less sometimes a challenge to get to the high points, the tops are more often than not shrouded in low cloud or rain. Most of the city of Wellington’s water supply comes from the surrounding water catchment area so rainfall numbers are high, large slips abound from all the rainfall and the geographic makeup of the range, most routes to the tops are usually steep, short and sharp. In relation to my QTH you could say It’s right in my backyard, I’m slowly ticking off it’s SOTA summits.

Just up the back of there, roughly.

The best way to approach Tapokopopo is from its western side starting in the Orongorongo valley, this involves an easy tramp of an hour and a half or so to get you to it’s base. I was aware there was no official track to the summit but recalling a friend in LandSAR had come down from there during an exercise a couple of years ago I got advice from her that there was a rough trap line going up Paua ridge to the summit, but she warned it would be easy to stray off the ridge and loose the way. With that advice I plotted a GPS course at home, following Paua ridge to the top. I was keen to trial my Christmas present, a Garmin Fenix GPS watch, so I added the course to the watch and I was good to go. It turned out my friends advice was right, soon after starting out from the bottom at Paua hut I became pretty reliant on following my plotted course, otherwise veering off track in the thick bush was going to be the order of the day. Once in the swing of following the course on the watch it was fairly easy to stay on the ridge even when no trap line markers were evident.

Track from Paua hut to summit.

A glimpse of Wellington harbour

Into the classic Goblin forest

More Goblin forest

After a couple of hours climbing I reached the summit. From the bottom I’d seen the misty cloud hanging around the tops and had hoped it might disappear by the time I summited, but that was not the case, it had gone from a pleasant, warm summers day below to howling wind and sideways drizzle at the top. As mentioned earlier the Orongorongo river catchment supplies most of Wellingtons water and it rains a lot in there, so one just has to learn to expect and live with conditions that are often far from perfect.  

The summit and the old crumpled fireplace I would shelter behind

The shack

Luckily I found the remains of an old Tin fireplace and chimney on the windy summit and by sheltering behind it I was able to make it just bearable enough out of the wind and drizzle to carry on activating. 

I set up quickly, scoffed down some lunch and got started on 40 meters, bagging seven of the regular ZL’s in the space of 15 minutes or so, then it was on to 20 meters and a steady stream of VK chasers moved the total to 17 with one more VK on 30 meters CW. By this time I was really starting to feel the cold taking its toll so I packed it up and was soon on my way down to warmer temperatures down in the valley.

Back down into the valley

Summit – ZL1/WL-039 Tapokopopo

Height – 843m ASL

Access – From Remutaka forest park carpark, Coast rd Wainuiomata, walk the Orongorongo track to the Orongorongo river (one hour with no stops) then walk downstream to Paua Hut (approximately 20 mins) from Paua hut follow the track I have downloaded to SOTA mapping and you can’t go wrong… You can upload my track on the “Tracks” page of the mapping section.

Cell/internet – No cell or internet in Remutaka forest park until almost at the summit and even then it can be very sketchy. Do not rely on cell networks anywhere within the park.

ZL3/MB-314 11/01/2021

This summit sits 436m above Portage bay in Kenepuru sound and one can get to it by walking or cycling a portion of the Queen Charlotte track from its entry point on Torea rd just up behind the Portage resort. 

For this one I took my electric mountain bike on the water taxi from our holiday location at Raetihi, it’s a 15 minute trip on the boat and from the drop off point at the Portage it’s all up hill from there, the first short road ride takes you up to the saddle, then heading east the track gently climbs through some beautiful sounds bush to around 380m, along the way from different points there are some wonderfull glimpses of Queen Charlotte sound framed through the trees. This section of track is generally wide, well built and maintained.

Queen Charlotte Sound from the track.

 NZ Topo-50 maps would have you believe a side track carries on to the summit from the intersection at the 380m mark but I can vouch that this is not the case, on reaching said intersection the side track went for about twenty meters then stopped at a wall of Manuka and Gorse, it was time for a re-think, the ‘track’ had long since overgrown and clearly I was bush bashing from here. I hid the bike in the bushes and carried on by foot through scratchy Gorse, Manuka and scrub, only occasionally coming across remains of what once was a firebreak type of track to the high point, twenty minutes later I arrived to find the trig and a small Comms array that I believe supplies Internet to part of Kenepuru. 

On arrival while setting up I was closely checked out by the local Weka population, these guys obviously don’t see too many folks on the summit so they were keen to see what goodies I had in my pack. 

Getting started, conditions were not great for ssb with only one ZL coming up on that mode on 40m, ZL3MR was to be my only ssb contact, thank goodness for CW otherwise this would have been an activation without the point for sure, being a weekday and perhaps the day most were starting back at work after holidays would not have helped. Moving to CW I managed another seven contacts on 20 and 40, a mix of ZL and VK stations.

With a water taxi to meet in a while and some more bush bashing to get back to the bike I didn’t stay too long on the summit, I had a nice ride back down and a late lunch back down on the beach at the Portage. 

Summit – ZL3/MB-314

Height – 436m

Access – From Torea Saddle take the Queen Charlotte track (eastern side of road) to the track intersection at 380m, from there bush bash to the summit, a GPS will help.

Cell / internet – Vodafone excellent, other providers should be similar.

SOTAmaps GPS Track link: https://www.sotamaps.org/tracks/summit/ZL3/MB-314

ZL3/MB-354 Kaiaho Point 06/01/2021

Continuing on our summer holiday after a week in the Tasman district it was time for us to move on to the Marlborough Sounds for the last week, we would spend this time at our friends place at Raetihi near the end of the Kenepuru road. The long scenic drive through the sounds takes us past the next summit I had on my to do list, just past the well known ‘Portage’ holiday resort is the very attractive, bush covered ZL3/MB-354 ‘Kaiaho’, it’s only just joined to the mainland by a tiny strip of beach and it is all private property.

I had no luck on past trips finding anyone to grant me access permission, this time I was prepared to door knock some more and walk the private track that follows the shoreline to the holiday homes on Kaiaho, but as luck would have it as I got to the start of the track I met a couple on foot coming the other way, it turned out that the woman’s grandfather was the landowner and on his behalf she said he would be happy for me to go to the summit, so I was on my way up the short but steepish track to the summit at 162m. This is a mere dot of a summit by other SOTA summit standards but the day was very hot and I found this track to be a bit of a slog, maybe it was just that I had been driving for three hours already and was trying too hard to rush this one through as there was at least another hour or more of driving to go on the very narrow twisting road that would take us to our final destination at Raetihi. 

A look up Kenepuru sound on the way up

On the summit, not much to see

On reaching the summit and still within the bush there were no views to distract me and I was quickly set up and on air. Starting on 40m CW I soon had the dependable ZL team of ZL1BYZ, ZL1WA and ZL1TM in the log, then moving to ssb on the same band I netted seven more keen ZL chasers before switching to 20m for another five chasers, three VK’s and two more ZL’s. More than pleased with that quick result I was able to pack up after less than 3/4 of an hour and head back down to get started on the final leg of our drive. 

Down at The Gap looking back toward the Portage

Kaiaho Peninsula has an interesting historical man made feature. Over 100 years ago a cutting was excavated at the narrow section where the peninsula joins the mainland, thus allowing mail boats to pass through and not have to go around what had then become an Island. Today you can still see the cutting but ‘The Gap” as its called by locals, has filled in and is now once again high and dry, only on very high spring tides is the beach between just covered with water. See the two photos below showing present day and way back then.

Summit – ZL3/MB-354 Kaiaho

Height – 162m

Access – Unfortunately the folk I met were in a hurry as was I and contact details were not exchanged so visiting the baches on the Island for permission would be advisable.

Cell / internet – Vodafone excellent, other providers should be similar.

ZL3/TM-116 Mt Campbell

New years day rollover activation

Sarah and I were back down south again for our 2020-21 summer holiday. We started our journey off in the Nelson lakes area but the long term weather for anywhere at altitude in the South Island was not promising, so chasing the sun, we moved down to the Tasman district and set up camp at beautiful Kina beach between Nelson and Motueka.

I had a couple of summits in mind on this trip and had been given key holder contact details for those summits before leaving home in the North Island. When we knew we would be in the Tasman district for New Years I contacted the appropriate person to gain vehicle access to Mt Campbell, situated on the edge of Kahurangi National Park in the hills to the back of Motueka.

At 1330m ASL Mt Campbell’s summit, when not shrouded in cloud, can be easily seen from Motueka township, with the largest privately owned Comms tower in NZ being easy to spot above the bush line atop its high point. 

On picking up the key we were given comprehensive written instructions on how to get to the first of two locked gates but somehow we still managed to get slightly lost at the start, ending up on friendly private property nearby and having to descend again and retrace our steps back to the main road for another stab at it. 

The road to the summit, once through the first gate, is in reasonable condition, but in many places it’s a very steep gradient with large and potentially vehicle swallowing culverts to the sides. Water run off is obviously quite a problem up there when it rains. 

A 4×4 with low range and good ground clearance is a must for this one, or of course, it could be walked from the first gate, but for us a little 4×4 adventure in the South Island was an added bonus. 

It was 22.00 UTC by the time we finished the long grind to the summit and my phone was already receiving a steady flow of spots from other activators, so with only a couple of hours to go to rollover there was no time to waste. There would be time later to take in the stunning views and checkout the impressive comms site. 

The weather on the summit was generally warm and sunny with broken cloud and very little wind. 

I used my usual SOTA setup for this activation, my Yaesu 817, MX-P 50a portable amp and Sotabeams link dipole antenna.

Up and running by 22:20 it was quickly apparent that 40 meters was the band for ZL’s, with most signals being relatively strong, summit to summits were had with all the regular ZL activators in Christchurch, Auckland and all places in between. 

VK’s proved harder to catch, only two summit to summits with VK were had before rollover. The pace of the spots coming in via Sotawatch was quite frantic at times and it was difficult to know who to chase next, spots were coming in from ZL, VK, Japan and the US, but from my location I could only work the ZL and some VK stations. 

After a short break for lunch and a look around I was back into it and working at getting as many summit to summits in the new day as possible, my final tally for the activation was 22 summit to summits, six of those were VK’s and they were all on CW, no VK’s were heard on SSB, such were the band conditions for me on the day. There were also a dozen or so qso’s with mostly ZL chasers.

Around 14.30 local time it was time for us to start thinking about packing up and heading back down, it would take us a fair while to drop back down to sea level and the key had to be dropped back to Stoke near Nelson. By the time that was delivered it was time to get back to the camp and relax with a cold one and watch the sun go down on another lovely day.

Summit – ZL1/TM-116 Mt Campbell

Height – 1330m

Access – Contact me for details.

Cell – internet – Vodafone OK others likely similar.

ZL1/WL-129 Makara Hill 09/06/20

Makara Hill or Makara Peak as it is otherwise known, had proven a difficult one for me to activate properly, two previous attempts mid week left me without the four contacts needed in order to claim the activation point. With that in mind I decided there would be no mucking around and CW would be my first choice of mode on the third attempt and ssb would follow when the CW responders dried up. The weather on the day was forecast to be sunny with a northerly dying out by mid day, just perfect conditions for placing yourself on top of any Wellington hill.

Half way up and down to the south is the impressive swing bridge built for mountain bikes.

The summit of Makara hill is encompassed by the busy 250 hectare Makara Peak Mountain bike park and with over 40km of single track there are plenty of ways to get to the top both on foot and by bike, this time, instead of walking, I would take my e-bike for something different. The ride up was uneventful and I was soon setting up a short distance to the east of the summit and just over the crest of a small knob along the ridge-line, this meant I would be away from the crowds of mountain bikers that congregate at the top even midweek and I was ensured a peaceful activation without having to answer too many questions.

The suburb of Karori and Wellington harbour beyond.

My fear of failing on this summit for the third time was unfounded as starting on 40 meters I soon had five of the regular chasers in the bag, a mix of VK’s and ZL’s and then onto 30 meters and one more VK. Moving then to 20 meters CW I had a couple more QSO’s before switching to SSB and scoring a summit to summit with Glenn, VK3YY on sugarloaf Peak, then a quick scan around the band revealed many US stations coming in loud and clear and it wasn’t long before I had three US chasers in the log, two from Seattle and the other an Arizona station, I’m still looking for that elusive S2S with the US. As well as the US callers a steady flow of ZL’s and VK’s gave me a total of nineteen contacts for my time up there, so all in all I was very happy with the results considering that midweek activations can often be very difficult here in ZL.

I’m loving the new upgraded SOTA Goat app with this feature advising at a glance wether you are in, near or outside the activation zone, a simple aid that takes away any guesswork.

As fast as the band opened to the US it closed on me and after some lunch and time spent taking in the views it was time to head back down.

Behind the wind farm the south island looks very close today.

Looking North from the summit, the top of Kapiti island can be seen in the distance.

A good outcome on the day.

Summit – Makara Hill – ZL1/WL-129

Height – 412m

Access – No permissions required, public land. Follow the main rd through Karori and follow the signs to the Makara Peak MTB Park. There is a service road that will take you directly to the summit on foot or bike, otherwise choose any of the multitude of tracks and you will eventually get there. Track routes to the summit are well signposted.

Cell – Internet – Good signal from Vodafone, others should be the same.

ZL3/MB-321 & ZL3/MB-320

January 11th 2020

The last week of our South island holiday was spent at a friends place in Kenepuru sound. Pete lives almost at the end of the road that winds its way down from Linkwater to Kenepuru head then winds its way up the other side of the sound to Raetihi, a total distance from Linkwater of about 72km on a narrow road that is only paved a little over half the way. Whatever your thoughts may be on the road situation by the time you arrive those thoughts are soon forgotten as this place is truely Idilic. From Pete’s house we can look back across to the other side of Kenepuru sound and both the summits this article covers are clearly visible along the ridge line opposite. I have eyeballed those two peaks many a time and on this trip I had plenty of time to make it happen, with the added bonus of our host being the local water taxi operator he was able to drop me and the trusty e-bike at The Portage where I would ride the section of the Queen Charlotte track the two summits sit on and then he would pick me up at Te-Mahia when my little adventure was over.

From the back of the house ZL3/MB-320 waits through the trees and across the sound, MB-321 is just obscured by the large Kanuka tree and our little teardrop camper is parked up on Pete’s rear deck, it doesn’t get much better.

We had been lucky with the weather so far and the day of the activation on 11th January was fine and sunny with a light breeze. I was dropped at The Portage with no drama and started my climb from there, a short steep section of paved road takes you up to Torea Saddle where the road intersects the Queen Charlotte track, from there I headed west up the track, its a steep, rough climb all the way up to around 300m then it levels off a little following the ridgeline along to ZL3/MB-321 at 407m.

I was surprised at the general poor condition of the track on this section, DOC and private landowners jointly manage the Queen Charlotte track and you must pay for a pass before you go, the cost is not great but considering the numbers that use the track this section didn’t look like much maintenance had been done for a while.

On our way to The Portage.

Looking back, The Portage comes into view as I get higher.

Kenepuru sound looking across to Raetihi.

On ZL3/MB-321

I set up quickly on ZL3/MB-321 as this one had to be a quick activation and then get moving to the next. Pete had paying customers to drop and pickup in various spots within Kenepuru sound while I was doing my thing along the track and I was doing my best to work around those times so as not to inconvenience him and his customers. It didn’t take me long to get my four contacts, have a bite to eat then pack up and get moving.

Cheeky Weka’s join me for lunch on ZL3/MB-321

From the summit Picton can be seen in the distance at the end of Queen Charlotte sound.

Moving on from my first summit the track descended to a saddle at 180m then slowly climbed back up toward the 416m ZL3/MB-320, a side track off the main track zigzagged steeply up the last 80m or so to the summit where I was able to set up and operate from a large picnic table beside the Trig. This summit was busy with many walkers coming and going and plenty of questions from the more curious ones. I was able to spend a little longer on this one and managed nine qso’s including a couple of VK’s on CW before packing up and making my way down from the summit and along the last section of track taking me to Te-Mahia and my water taxi ride back to Raetihi.

ZL3/MB-321 – my second activation, waits along the ridge.

Queen Charlotte sound.

Queen Charlotte sound from ZL3/MB-321

Kenepuru sound.

Waiting for my ride back.

Summits – ZL3/MB-320 and ZL3/MB-321

Heights – 407m and 416m

Access: Walking or cycling access from Torea saddle or Te-Mahia in Kenepuru sound, You can drive to those spots or catch a water taxi from Picton to Torea bay or Waterfall bay and start your walk/bike from there, a DOC permit is required and can be purchased on-line on the day @$12 per day and there are other options for multi day trips.

Cell – internet – Vodafone was good and it’s likely other providers service would be similar.

ZL3/MB-194 2020 New years day

Our summer holiday had finally kicked off with myself and Sarah camping around the top of the south island, we started out spending a week at Lake Argyle near the top of the Wairau valley. Arriving there on Boxing day I was aware we would likely still be there over new years eve and that I should have a summit lined up for the roll over. There were many alerts up for ZL and VK so plenty of summit to summit activity was on promise and the weather looked like it would hold out and make for a pleasant day in the hills.

At 1015m above sea level ZL3/MB-194 is just a few km’s away from the lake a little further up the Branch river valley. While searching for access I had found an old unused forestry road that might provide a way to the top for me but in the first 100m or so looked very overgrown and I wasn’t at all sure I would be able to bash my way through at the start of my climb on the day. The area is very sparsely populated and the ‘locals’ I could find informed me it should be ok once through the first bit.

I had my e-Mountain bike along on this holiday as I had a few different rides planned as we moved around the top of the south, so this would be my mode of transport on this activation but should the going become too tough I was ready to hide the bike in the bushes and carry on by foot. Happily, on the day, the weather was sunny and warm and after the initial bush bash the track soon improved as it entered pine forest and I settled in to the long steep climb to the top under the canopy of Pines then out into regenerating bush and scrub at about 800m. As I ascended I stopped several times to admire the views through the blue smoke haze of the Aussie bush fires.

Rather overgrown to start with.

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Thinning out a little.

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At the top.

After a short break at the top for morning tea and to take in the views I was soon set up and on the hunt for summit to summits. As can sometimes be the case I was having trouble spotting, my cell signal was fluctuating from zero to one bar on the phone and I wasn’t getting the other activators spots reliably as well, this meant lots of scouring the bands to hunt down the other activators. I know I missed a few but I did however still manage 15 summit to summits before the UTC roll over and a further 8 for the new day. There were also many chasers calling from around ZL as the day coincided with a ZL wide portable activity day, so it was a busy time being had by all. There was a lesser amount of VK’s heard, for me anyway, but conditions didn’t seem ideal for trans Tasman QSO’s from this location on the day.

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From the summit looking roughly
North out across the upper Wairau valley.

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The shack.

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The Leatham valley.

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Taking it all in looking south.

The calls were starting to drop off by about 00.45 UTC so after grabbing some lunch I decided to head back down, this bit is always the good bit on a bike, very little peddling required and as exciting as you want to make it. It didn’t take long and I was back down at the road and just a short distance from the campground at Lake Argyle.

Summit – ZL1/MB-194

Height – 1015m

Access – Off lake Argyle/Branch valley road, about 60 minutes drive from Blenheim.

Cell – Internet on summit – Poor with Vodafone, other providers unknown.