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August 2009
Kia ora tatou & greetings from down under
Welcome to our spring newsletter
Why are YOU receiving this e-mail?
You
have probably been on one of our hiking trips, subscribed to our
newsletter, or subscribed at a slide show. You may also know us by our
former operating name; Hiking New Zealand North Island or New Zealand Nature Safaris. Alternatively one of your friends may have bounced this on to you.
We have just upgraded our newsletter system to something a tad smarter. Amongst other things, you can now update all your details yourself
- including the option to subscribe to a monthly specials list (great
if you are planning another trip). If you received two copies of this
newsletter we must have two different e-mails for you - simply
unsubscribe one of them. Also, because we now look less spammy, it's
just possible some of you will be getting this for the first time ever.
If this is the case, then wow, it's so nice to see you again.
Happy reading
The active earthlings
in this edition
active earth bits and bobs
Our
website menu is stretching under the weight of new trips. We now have
more South Island trips AND our EXPEDITIONS / SPECIAL TRIPS to
consider. The hardest thing will be working out which trip to do, or
finding the time to do multiple. Check out our new trip comparison page with an easy-to-follow map to help you waltz through the planning process.
Tongariro photographic expedition (NEW)
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Ever gazed upon a landscape of breathtaking beauty, taken the killer shot, then decided to keep the day job after all?
Professional
landscape photographer Rob Brown has teamed up with Active Earth to run
wilderness based photographic tuition trips in the World Heritage Area
Tongariro National Park. Novice right through to experienced
photographers will blossom under Rob's tuition and enthusiasm. Read more about the five day itinerary. See Rob's inspiring photos on Photo New Zealand.
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have you got a big mouth - blurt for us!
Word
of mouth is the most important form of tourism marketing. If you
enjoyed a trip with Active Earth New Zealand, and feel others would
like to know about us, then why not blurt it out to the world! After
all, there is a good chance someone else's blurting got you to our
doorstep in the first place! If you want to help others find their way
try some of the links below. Nowadays there are many forums on the web.
You may have your favourites, but here are some we know about - often
you need to register to add to forums.
http://www.travellerspoint.com
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ForumHome
http://www.rankers.co.nz/experiences/5-Active_Earth_New_Zealand
You can also now find and connect with us on Facebook.
It's a great way to track down people you may have travelled with on an
Active Earth trip. Relive some memories; catch up. If you are about to
do a trip perhaps you can link up with people before hand for a coffee
or a beer in Auckland or other departure locations?
what's happening in new zealand?
Did you feel the earth move last night?
Plenty
of goings on in the mainland the evening of 15 July. South Islanders
sat atop the largest earthquake recorded on planet earth so far this
year. In Southlands typically underwhelmed style, rather than thousands
of casualties, this 7.8-magnitude caused very little damage and no
injuries. Of course what may be tragic for the Australians is the quake
twisted the South Island out of shape, moving its southwest tip 12
inches (30 centimetres) closer to Australia. We didn't think they would
notice...
The
latest earthquake triggered an alert from the Pacific Tsunami Warning
Centre in Hawaii prompting a tsunami warning for Australia and New
Zealand. However, only very small waves were recorded as a result of
the quake. Strong aftershocks continued to shake the area in the days
following the quake. The earthquake was the same magnitude as the 1931
Napier earthquake which is still New Zealand's largest natural disaster
and resulted in the deaths of around 250 people. New Zealand gets
14,000 earthquakes annually, but only about 20 are stronger than 5 on
the Richter scale.
A quote by US historian Will Durant seems appropriate here:
Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.
outdoor tips - look smarter than you really are
Today's tip: cowboy coffee (thanks Bruno!)
If
you don't have a fancy Italian stove top coffee pot in your backpack or
kayak to make your latte, try it "cowboy style". Simply put your fresh
coffee grounds in the bottom of the billy (pot with wire handle) and
pour the required amount of just boiled water over the top. Tap the
side of the billy a few times with a spoon (not sure what this does,
but etiquette seems to require it) then you go outside, make sure there
is nothing above you, low flying aircraft etc, then start swinging the
billy round and round a complete 360 degree circle (vertically). I go
in both directions about 10 times each. Be careful when you bring it to
a stop, you might spill some! This is not as hazardous as it sounds,
but take care all the same. After the spin the grounds will have
settled to the bottom of the billy, so you can scoop out your fresh
espresso. A quick boil (5 seconds) will sink any rogue floaters you may
have. (Boiling also works if you can't swing it). Any pharmaceutical
centrifuge you may find in the outdoors will also make quite good
coffee for the same reason).
In our quest to obtain the combined knowledge of all the trampers (hikers) on the planet, we accumulate useful outdoor tips on our website. Submit your own tips and return regularly to our website to see what handy outdoor hints others have sent us.
interesting oddities - why humans are more inspiring than Precambrian Stromatolites
Stromatolites
are considered by many to be the Romans of cyanobacteria. They advanced
the world for us eukaryotic organisms by shovelling out oxygen, but,
are there any inspirational YouTube vids out there of Stromatolites?
Videos yes, inspiring; most definitely not.
Watch these clips below of OUR species, and feel inspired!
Unassisted free diving
world record by kiwi William Trubridge. This is Ali's pick; she is a
manic scuba diver. This is a committing sport as most of the way down
is negative buoyancy (you sink unassisted), the work is coming back up.
Oh, by the way, it doesn't count if you can't stay conscious once you
surface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF4PN8-2YSk
Chinese performance artist
and photographer self-portraits. "I don't consider danger very often
when doing art." Li Wei astounds; his relationship with gravity is not
exactly predictable.
http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/galleries/falling_to_earth/09fte.php
Inspired bicycles
filmed in Edinburgh this video features probably the best collection of
street trials riding ever seen. This is Malcolm's pick as he can't do
anything remotely like this on his bike, even with the help of a
Chinese performance artist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)
An
oldie but a warm fuzzy, just in case you haven't seen it yet take a
look. This one is Kath's pick as she likes the way some one who dances
so strangely can still seem so popular.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY
Kiwiana retro-pop
that makes us proud. Extremely 80s, extremely kiwi, extremely ... well
... yesterday..! In 1983 record companies turned down the production of
Poi-E by the Patea Maori Club: They said you've got to be joking, no
one would listen to this. So Dalvanius produced this himself and the
Patea Maori Club singing Poi-E became a huge hit. It was 22 weeks on
the NZ hit charts in 1984; it was also a big hit overseas (amazingly).
The
Poi-E musical tells the story of Patea, a small west coast village
between Wanganui and New Plymouth in the North Island. When in 1982 the
freezing works (abattoir) closed (yes only in NZ could you have a
musical about the freezing works closing) there was huge social
disruption, and young Maori people had to leave their close-knit marae
and head for the cities to find work. Some could not cope with the loss
of communal support and were destroyed by prostitution and drugs. This
is the story of poi e.
This pick is for our famous retro-gear bags in our trailers (full of 1980s outdoor clothing) - fashion faux pas for all!
What did ever happen to break dancing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQLUygS0IAQ
we hope you liked our newsletter
We'd love to see you on another trip some time, keep us in mind.
The active earthlings (at the earth's end).
www.ActiveEarthNewZealand.com
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