Newsletter 10th November

Churton Park Community Walkers

Newsletter 10th November 2024

Last week’s walks.

It has been a big week for the walking group. On Monday 8 trampers set out early to tackle the 900m ascent from Holdsworth Lodge up to Powell Hut in the Tararuas. After lunch at the hut it was a further 250m climb to the summit of Mt Holdsworth. Although this part of the tramp was without packs, the wind presented a good challenge being strong enough to blow one of the group over twice. After a night at the hut the trampers descended the following day and met up with the main walking group in Masterton for the annual 'Away Walk'. The full group enjoyed walks at Castlepoint on Wednesday in uncharacteristically calm weather. On Thursday the walks were in the Tararuas and on the way home on Friday many of the group stopped off at Kaitoke for a final walk. If you were not on the trip I'm sure that you will hear a lot more details from those that were. Next year the 'Away Walk' is in Methven. We will be staying for four nights, 5 to 8 November. Details of how to register for the trip will be in the newsletter soon.

Meanwhile, in Wellington, the Wednesday walk was cancelled due to rain. I understand there was some confusion with email addresses. I strongly suspect that my meddling with CPCW records was the cause. If you were inconvenienced by the mix-up let me know and I'll shout coffee after the next walk. The Thursday walk did, however, go ahead with 5 walkers completing 5.4km off-road from Granada to Horokiwi.

David Pegram
Deputy Convenor

Places at our 2024 Christmas Function on

Wednesday November 27th are filling up very fast!!

This will be held at The Pines once again with a similar menu for the festive season lunch as we enjoyed last year.

The cost of the function is $42 per person.

Over this past year we have built up a good reserve of funds and accordingly we can now fully subsidise the return bus trip on this one occasion. Please note that this subsidy will only apply for this occasion - unless we are again in a position to do so in the future. Early bookings for the function are welcomed as this assists our planning and schedule for the event.

Please make your payment to CPCW account:

02-0524-0233091-00

noting your name(s) and in the reference field please write ‘Xmas’ or ‘Xmas& Bus’ if you wish to travel by the bus.

Pick-up and return times will be advised shortly (but will be similar to last year). We need to know how many will be taking the bus to ensure we book the correct size transport (and also so that we know we have everyone ‘on board’ before departure).

An update from Brian Alderson who is co-ordinating the bus transport:

Christmas Lunch free bus transport to The Pines and return.

Bus departs CP shopping centre 11.25am, boarding from 11.15am. Arrives at The Pines midday.

Departs The Pines 3.40pm, boarding from 3.30pm. Arrives CP 4.15pm.

The bus holds 51 passengers and it is first in first served. When making your Christmas meal booking put 'Xmas & Bus' in the reference field if you wish to travel by bus. If you have already paid and omitted to indicate that you wish to take the bus, please email me: briannz567@gmail.com

Avoid the hassle of driving to and from The Pines and take advantage of the free bus.

Our Sponsors:

We have several sponsors which we list on our Home Page and in our Newsletter. In recognition of the generosity of our sponsors, the committee wish to highlight a sponsor each week in our newsletter.

This week we have chosen Super Liquor Johnsonville as our featured sponsor:

Super Liquor Johnsonville are a locally owned store providing a full range of beer, wine and spirits. They are part of a large, nationwide chain . They have given support to CPCW for some time and we appreciate their continuing sponsorship.

Super Liquor Johnsonville, 8 Broderick Road, Johnsonville

Phone: 04 478 6976

Walk Details for Wednesday 13th November 2024

This Week's Walks: The away trip is behind us and it is back to normality with this coming week’s walks to be held closer to home - that is Bothamley Park and parts of Aotea for the SSs and FFs and Aotea for the PPs. However the location of the three walks means that there needs to be three individual parking areas, one for each of the three groups. This can create problems for those with their partner or companion walking in a different group, but hopefully can be overcome with a bit of goodwill from others. So please note the parking arrangements for your group carefully. All walks to start at 9:20am from the designated parking area.

PPs: A 3.79km loop that takes a loop around John Burke Drive in Aotea. (The street is named after a long-term mayor of Porirua.) There are a lot of new builds to be viewed on this walk. There are some minor climbs involved. You can see the walk here

SSs: A 6.15km loop using some of the tracks of Bothamley Park and the streets of Aotea. This walk has been mapped and checked out by Peter Bushnell of the SS group. You can see the walk here

FFs: A 7.72km loop walk taking in streets of Aotea and the tracks of Bothamley Park. A lot of the street walking is to avoid the parts of Bothamley Park that are closed to the public. You can see the walk on Mapometer here and on Plotaroute here

Parking:

The PP’s parking is in Okowai Road on the street in the vicinity of Adrenalin Forest.

The SS’s parking is in Fiordland Place and Abel Glen.

The FF’s parking is in Aotea Drive alongside Jasmine Underhill Reserve.

Coffee: Columbus Coffee, Mitre 10 Mega, Porirua is the selected café. We will inform them that a number of us will be arriving for coffee and perhaps a snack.

Russell Paterson

Reminder

Please ensure that you inform your group’s leader if you leave a walk partway through.

Website

When you open the website to view your walk have a quick look at the “Home Page”. This usually has a new picture each week generally showing a view from one of our walks.

Cancellation

If the walks are cancelled an email will be sent out as early as possible but definitely before 8:00am.

Walk Schedules

You can look at the walk schedule for November 2024 here

Photos

Walkers - please try and take a photo of each group on walking days and email them to this link. Preferably small size (around 450kb).

CPCW Photos

		Wednesday's walks were cancelled again, but the Thursday walkers headed out on the hills above Grenada. Photos courtesy of Gillian Mills and Jennie Thompson.

		There were many wonderful photos from the Masterton Trip; too many to include in the newsletter, but here is a selection. The "Masterton Away Group" photographed in "formal pose" at pre-dinner drinks at the Copthorne Masterton by Brian Alderson:
		Castlepoint: courtesy of Pauline Moore: as photographed by John Howard, Clint Davis, Barbara Prosser and Keith Thomas:
		The Anzac Memorial at Tinui captured by Clint Davis and signpost by Janet Tyson:
		Walks into the base of the Tararuas from Holdsworth Lodge: The "Masterton Away Trip Group" were corralled by Rowena Rowe: and further photos from Janet Tyson: and Clint Davis and Keith Thomas:
		Friday's journey home from the Wairarapa saw many of the group stop off at Kaitoke and disperse for a variety of walks. These photos have been taken by Pauline Moore, Helena Lowe and Janet Tyson: