#3: [02-Mar-13]

#2: [28-Sep-07]

09-Jul-2000 -- Well after a nearly abortive attempt on S38 E176 and with a new untested GPS in my own possession I felt the need for a quiet test of the basic GPS principles without the benefit of help from meaningful experts. Sunday 9th of July dawned a beautiful winters day so I thought I would sneak out and visit S38 E175 - all on my own. I had the map, the NZ map grid installed on my GPS, and the time - also there was no heavy bush on this one -- I should be fine.

I set the point in as a waypoint and do a GotoWayPoint and from home it shows up 36km away. I know the drive will be longer as it is on the other side of a range of hills. A neat day and just a few km out of town I see the central mountains glistening in the distance (150km away in fact). A good sign -- good weather. The drive to the closest road point is in fact 72km in total, the last 12km of which is winding dirt road, but in very good condition. I pull up at the farmhouse that appears to be that of the property owner practising as I walk up the drive my little speech that will let me onto his property in the middle of lambing season. But it is all for naught as he must be out on the farm working. So I drive to the nearest point on the road and take a bearing -- 321?, 0.56km. Not too far -- down into this valley, up the other side and I should not be too far away. Well it takes 40 minutes some of which is spent skirting round a flock of skittish ewes heavy with lamb -- let's not get anyone upset now. This is so different from the last confluence hunt. No trees! I get 10 or more satellites all the way in. The actual site is a little hard to pin down as it is on a steep face (maybe 50?) which obscures quite a few satellites when I need them most, but I finally decide on the point and build a little cairn out of the soft mudstone that I can find here and there. I carve the Lat, Long, Date and my initials on one flat one and get a photo which maybe flukes the full set of zero's on the GPS. I also take some pictures of me and of the valley below the point - a lovely New Zealand pastoral scene with sheep to prove it is NZ. As I leave I hear my first lamb bleat of the season although I cannot locate it. A perfect way to mark my locating of this confluence.

A word of caution here. Before visiting this site one should get permission from the landowner and I suspect that permission may not be given in the lambing season. New Zealand also has some obscure laws regarding Occupational Safety which may also defeat those asking for permission at other times too. Whatever you do, take care and respect the land and the rights of the owner.