O’n Down under in New Zealand
(*Go Directly to the bottom of this page and see 3d "as the crow flies" Mt. Victoria video Wellington's Permanent Course)
or just click here
In New Zealand, Orienteering is quite popular and the terrain is somewhat different than some parts we are used to in the bay area.
Brief Demographics
New Zealand’s population is about 4 million. There are approximately 3 million on the North Island and 1 million on the South island.
Seventy five percent of New Zealand's surface consists of mountains and hills. New Zealand is situated on two techtonic plates, the Australian Indian plate and the Pacific Plate. In the North Island one plate is slipping under the other, this causes one major mountain range that stretches from the East Cape and extends south to Wellington. Lake Taupo is 600 square kilometers (232 square miles) and is really the crater of a volcano and Mt Ruapehu is New Zealands highest volcano reaching 2797m ( 9,196 Feet) on the North island.
Hiking, exploring is my main objective; I prefer the backpack style of travel. The Kiwis are great people and are willing to share their precious land. Hiking opportunities are immense, Lakes as large as Tahoe and Mountains as high as most of our Sierra Mountains. Many people just purchase a car and sell it when they leave. As rental cars are a bit expensive. Hotels and hostels area available as well of course. If you are really on a tight budget. You can travel way of “Woofing”. This is a sort of work on a local Organic farm or winery for room and board. A great way to save money as well as meet the local people.
Available Permanent Courses
There are 14 permanent courses between the North and South Islands.(9) on the North and (5) on the South Island. Maps are available through the local clubs as well as online pdf and ocad files. (Please see the map below)
For all events available you can visit: http://www.maptalk.co.nz/events/ and see the listed events. It seems there is something going on just about every other day. Night O’s, Summer Series events, Sprints, and Rogaines.
You can sort your events by Clubs, Regions, type or results on this page. They list these events with the local clubs as well. This site serves as a hub for all of the events. |
Clicking on the individual events brings you to the specific event page of which list the details of the local club, type of event. Whether it is using “Sportident” or not, etc. It is pretty much show up and participate registration. http://www.nzorienteering.com/orienteering_in_nz/permanent_courses.htm
For those of you that may be interested in Orienteering in NZ or my travels? I will be posting a travel blog complete with video and picture of my adventures. I will also be posting some great tips for your Orienteering adventure as well Hiking, Sailing, Surfing, camping, Hotel accommodations and other valuable information. You may just email me @ scott.novotny@baoc.org to get on my mailing list. Stay tuned for more information on “O’n down Under NZ”.
REGIONS & CLUBS
http://orienteeringtaranaki.blogspot.com/
http://www.hborienteering.com/club/home/main.php
http://wn.orienteering.rg.nz
http://www.cmoc.co.nz
http://www.auckoc.org.nz
http://orienteeringtaranaki.blogspot.com/
http://www.hborienteering.com/club/home/main.php
http://wn.orienteering.rg.nz
http://www.cmoc.co.nz
http://www.auckoc.org.nz
Mt. Victoria Wellington, NZ (Permanent Course)
I really like the way the course is described in the Instructions below. You have many route choices with different levels. Great training course. The town of Wellington is great. Many Museums, art, History as well as many other things to do.
Click here for the Course map: Map
Click here for the Course Instructions:Instructions
Follow this link to view the map from an aerial view:
This link is a great way to run one of the courses. You will need a Google Earth's Plugin with your browser.
http://wn.orienteering.org.nz/
