We were back in the Bay of Plenty visiting family and I took the chance to activate another of the local summits. The weather was fine with rising winds and rain predicted for the afternoon so made an early start for the 1 hour drive from Whakatane to Te Puke. The start of the track is easy to find - just a few minutes drive from Te Puke up a very well maintained shingle road - Quarry Road. in fact it was absolutely pristine, I followed the grader up the hill!
There's a nice car parking area up off the road and ample DOC signage.
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| At the top of Quarry Road - turn hard left here to find the car-park |
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| Car-park is well off the road and roomy. |
The summit is reached via an easement across farmland and then into lowland native forest with a gentle 500m climb to the summit but spread over 5km so very easy (8%). The track is well marked but has some confusing forking options (not shown on topo map), I found taking the left fork each time worked out OK (up and down)
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| View of Te Puke from near the summit (yellow cloth on tree). Mt Edgecumbe ZL1/BP-132 in the distance |
Arriving at the summit there's a trig on it's side, wearing a sock! The area is bush-clad so I set my pole up bungeed to the trig and ran the wire back into a sheltered operating spot.
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| You can just see the sock on top of the trig, keeping it warm! |
I fired up the KX2 and soon found Roly ZL1BQD at his lakeside activation on 40m with a good signal for my first S2L. Being a weekday, contacts were a little tougher than usual but I managed 8 before the forecast rain and wind arrived and I had to pack up and hurry down. Thanks to the Chasers for being there.
This is a really nice summit and should be on your to-do list when visiting BOP.
Getting there:
Google Maps - search for "Otawa Trig Carpark" or
Take Quarry Road from Te Puke towards the foothills. It will change to shingle as you climb. About 2 km along the shingle road you'll come to the crest with DOC signage and a nice car-park.
Repeaters: all BOP repeaters accessible
Permission: None required - easement onto DOC Otawa Scenic Reserve
Time: 1 hour 20 minutes to the summit, 5.3 km climbing 500m
Cell coverage: 4G Spark/Skinny
