Some members of the club took time to help Sustainable Coastlines clean up the coastline of Rangitoto island on Tues 6th December.  If you want to help out next year keep an eye on this web page www.sustainablecoastlines.org.nz  for clean ups in various locations. Below is some information about the event. Next clean-up is the North Shore one 22-24th March. See the web page or contact by phone on 09 948 8454 or email Event Director Sam Judd on sam@sustainablecoastlines.org

On Tuesday 6 December, 1,200 fabulous volunteers joined us to clean-up the beautiful and unique coastlines of Auckland’s Rangitoto Island. Working as teams we removed 2.66 tonnes of rubbish from the shores of this iconic but heavily littered spot: an amazing effort and unfortunately an even heavier load than we collected with the same number of volunteers just one year ago. 
What we found after sorting through the rubbish is more than a little troubling. With nearly 140,000 pieces of rubbish removed from the same stretch of coast where over 200,000 pieces were picked-up only one year ago, it is clear that a constant stream of rubbish floats across from the city to litter these uninhabited shores. Huge counts of single-use plastic packaging were removed for the second year running, with plastic bags, food wrappers, bottle caps and lids, polystyrene packaging and drinking straws found in large numbers. On a positive note, feedback from schools has been excellent and 1,200 people have learned about the issue hands-on. 

Rangitoto Island is a special place for North Shore Tramping Club. Our first tramp ever was held there. Each year we go back there for a  trip 

In 1993 we donated this seat which you can see on the Summit track to commemorate our links with the island and for the enjoyment of the public. 

If you enjoyed the club’s Waiheke walk and want to do more over there read on………
Nine days of free guided walks (40 to choose from).  From a two hour to a two day outing, something for everyone. The brochure is now online at waihekewalkingfestival.org

The  Banff Mountain film festival is coming back to Auckland – hosted by the New Zealand Alpine Club.  This year they are doing two different shows because the movies are so good!

So you can choose which one you prefer.  One show is 24 May and the other is 1 June- both at Sky City. One show: $20 ($15 NZAC members), two shows $35 ($30 NZAC members).

You can get tickets from www.aucklandclimber.org.nz  (and you can read the programme for both shows here), or tickets will be available in Bivouac stores round Auckland.

Club policy is to tramp together as a party – always be in sight of the persons in front and behind you. Do not go off on your own – there must be four people in a group. It is possible however to invoke the Sybil Goose clause and have just three. (If you don’t know about this ask any long -term member of the tramping “gaggle” who will enlighten you!).

Always stop at all track junctions, windfalls and stream crossings – do not continue until the party has reassembled.

Carry your own first aid.

Clean your boots between trips.  To help keep the bus clean, trampers must: not wear muddy clothing or footwear Have a bag to put your boots in after the tramp.

FMC are running a photo competition again this year. Ian G. Morris had success in the 2010 competition where he was runner-up in the Below Bushline category with his photo of Gemma in the mud. 

Jane Mackay is collating the photos and will arrange for a judge to choose our entries - we are only allowed to submit 2 photos in each category. So trawl through your tramping photos and send them to Jane in the required digital format.  Entries to be received by 30 April.

The categories are:

• ABOVE BUSHLINE
  
• BELOW BUSHLINE
  
• HISTORIC
  
• HUT OR CAMP LIFE
  
• NATIVE FLORA OR FAUNA **
  
• OUTDOOR LANDSCAPES **

** = no people in these photos !

All entries (except in Historic category) must:

• Be submitted electronically with a file size between 500kB and 5MB preferably as .jpg files. The only digital manipulation permitted is cropping, sharpening and tonal or exposure adjustments.
  
• Be taken since 1 January 2008 by a member of the club and may not have won awards in any other photographic competition other than the members own Club Photo Competition.
  
• Entries in the Historic category can be submitted as original prints or colour slides (these will be returned) or scanned and submitted electronically. If scanned they should be at least 600 pixels on each dimension.
  

IMPORTANT All electronic files must be named strictly according to the format below:

CATEGORY-Club-Photographer-Caption.jpg (assuming it’s a jpg file)

eg ABOVE BUSHLINE-ParawaiTC-Joe Bloggs-Mt Smith.jpg

Files which do not comply with this naming format will NOT be accepted.

Results will be announced at the AGM / Conference on 11/12 June 2011.

The FMC reserves the right to use any photo submitted in publicity material published by the FMC but the copyright will remain with the original photographer
Thanks to Jane for collating entries this year.

FMC are also running a Video Competition this year.  Details are available on the FMC Video Competition Page.

A recent article in the Herald “Boosting Brain Health a Walk in the Park”, said the following:

Healthy people who walk at least 10km a week have bigger brains, better memories and improved mental function compared with couch potatoes.

Walking wards off heart disease and maintains mental fitness

You need to walk at least 10 km a week to sustain your brain volume and reduce the risk of mental decline

See the trips list …..and see you on the tracks!!!