AHNZL Newsletter
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Hi everyone, well what have we been up to over the last wee while….quite a lot actually I know most of you will be wanting to know how the Roar went this year and I will get to that shortly, but first just a quick recap on other goings on.
AHNZL had its annual CAA Audit at the beginning of 2010, we received the audit report a short time later and are pleased to report AHNZL are rated in the top 14% of rotor wing operations in NZ, this is a great achievement for a small operation and shows our staffs dedication to safety and client service…..that’s my way of saying its your shout JD!!
On the SAR front for April there was a bit of action with 2 missing hunters Wainuiomata/ Greater Wellington Regional Council water catchment area, followed a couple of days later by an over due mountain runner shortly after that we searched for a missing 9 year old boy out on a day tramp with his family at Donnelly Flat, and at the end of April we searched for 2 missing tourists at the Pinnacles Ngawi and a missing woman on the Wairarapa Coast, lastly we flew out a couple of injured school party children from Tutuwai Hut Tararua Forest Park, one with a broken arm the other with burns to his hand from contact with a very hot flue. All searches ended well, again we acknowledge the great efforts of our NZ SAR teams, these people are volunteers and drop everything to give there time to help out others, each one of the above searches could easily of ended differently if it were not for there expertise and dedication.
DOC land, most will know the Atiwhakatu Hut is finished and has been opened including a new section of track and board walk well worth a look, a lovely day walk for the family. New track metal has been flown for the Miki Miki track, also to come a new bridge which should be completed in May, the Arcus Loop and the track to Waitiwaewae Hut has been up graded, a new section of track has been completed up to Tutuwai Hut. Two new huts have been built in the Orongo Orongo’s (Shamrock & Haurangi) all in all a productive start to 2010.
Now to the Roar, AHNZL flew several parties into the Tararua Forest Park and if you have a look on our gallery pg you will see a cross section of heads that came out this year. All parties reported hearing plenty of animals, however and especially early on, had trouble getting the stags to come in. Nearly all parties were successful in bagging something (even if a spiker for the freezer) many parties reported the majority of stags sighted were 8 and 10 pointers, it sounds like some good potential coming through.
Just to keep you in the loop there is a photo on the gallery page of two stags one in the velvet and the other in hard antler both these stags (as far as we know) were not bagged this year and have been since sighted.
It has been great to see that nearly all our hunting parties are NZ boys getting out amongst it and several Dad and sons teams.
So on the whole the Tararuas turned on a good roar with many parties rebooking for next year… so if the Tararua Forest Park is somewhere you would like to try your luck ring in and secure your spot.
New photos on our web site : the Roar 2010, a couple of scenery and an update of the Andersons hut with new roof and board walk
Well that’s it for now folks
Regards
AHNZL
Is that you Mossy??? How did you burgle a spot on the roar pg??
Well here we are 2010 already with 2009 just a blur it zoomed past so fast, Merry Christmas and Happy New year all be it a bit late folks, AHNZL had a very busy end to 2009 but have enjoyed a pleasant break over Christmas and new year.
We have expanded our fleet again with the addition of another 500E ZK-INO this is a brand new machine and arrived at our base with a total time of 140 hrs. This machine will be staying on line over the fire season. (ooooo-shiney!)
New on the web site: some photos on the hunting page of a few animals snapped out in the open on JD’s travels. We have flown a steady group of spring hunters, the windy weather has been very frustrating and we have had more than one group stranded at base twiddling there thumbs and eyeing up the venison in our deer paddock waiting for a chance to fly, one group posted some footage of a couple of deer feeding on the flats outside their hut…you can’t get much hander than that! A couple of new shots of a track upgrade/metal job and rook operations undertaken at Castlepoint and various other locations in the commercial gallery
Below is a photo of the new machine ZK-INO with Rick & Herb on board, Rick and Herb help out every year with the rook operations and from time to time when we get busy they step up and give a hand out, a couple of good keen kiwi blokes we appreciate there help, thanks guys.
June / July FARMERS Spring is in the air already, a few lambs are making an appearance, AHNZL Ag division have been busy sowing urea and thistle spraying ….. a reminder - have you assessed your thistles……………DON’T leave it to late as AHNZL will not spray thistles sprays in the confines of the Wairarapa Valley after end of August, if you are not sure about your responsibilities re the GWRC clean air plan give us a call and we will advise you on a spray plan for your property. Spring Hunters are starting to call in booking there spring trips, still a lot of snow around AHNZL have completed new track metal for Otaki Forks to Field Hut track. AHNZL were called in to search for two missing trampers (CEO Te Papa and his friend) A ground party found the gentlemen and JD & Jarod found the lady not long after, both of the missing parties were recovered and along with SAR teams were flown out by AHNZL, not a good out come this time and our condolences go out to the families involved. A note of appreciation to the SAR teams that stand along side AHNZL when ever we are out in those very trying conditions. JD & Jarod are to compete in the last of the Central Series Enduro events for 2009 this weekend, Jarod is currently coming 3rd in his grade and has a really good shot at climbing up the ranks even further, he just might surprise himself this time!. JD has brought a new bike YZ 450 Yamaha and will be sponsored by Sargent Motorcycles of Carterton for the 2010 season, the purchase puts JD in a different grade for competition, it is unlikely that he will place in the Central Series this year due to the grade change and he has also missed a couple of rides due to work commitments, but look out next year as he is determined to make his presence felt. Two photos below of JD on a trail bike ride at Martinborough, this was the last time out for the KTM……update…. weekend is over Jarrod came second in INT E3 overall for the Central Series! nice one Jar, JD managed to get forth place in the Central Series INT E3 class overall, and for his first time out on the new bike and in a new grade INT E4 managed to take second place, looking forward to seeing how you do in the next series JD
FARMERS Spring is in the air already, a few lambs are making an appearance, AHNZL Ag division have been busy sowing urea and thistle spraying ….. a reminder - have you assessed your thistles……………DON’T leave it to late as AHNZL will not spray thistles sprays in the confines of the Wairarapa Valley after end of August, if you are not sure about your responsibilities re the GWRC clean air plan give us a call and we will advise you on a spray plan for your property. Spring Hunters are starting to call in booking there spring trips, still a lot of snow around AHNZL have completed new track metal for Otaki Forks to Field Hut track. AHNZL were called in to search for two missing trampers (CEO Te Papa and his friend) A ground party found the gentlemen and JD & Jarod found the lady not long after, both of the missing parties were recovered and along with SAR teams were flown out by AHNZL, not a good out come this time and our condolences go out to the families involved. A note of appreciation to the SAR teams that stand along side AHNZL when ever we are out in those very trying conditions. JD & Jarod are to compete in the last of the Central Series Enduro events for 2009 this weekend, Jarod is currently coming 3rd in his grade and has a really good shot at climbing up the ranks even further, he just might surprise himself this time!. JD has brought a new bike YZ 450 Yamaha and will be sponsored by Sargent Motorcycles of Carterton for the 2010 season, the purchase puts JD in a different grade for competition, it is unlikely that he will place in the Central Series this year due to the grade change and he has also missed a couple of rides due to work commitments, but look out next year as he is determined to make his presence felt. Two photos below of JD on a trail bike ride at Martinborough, this was the last time out for the KTM……update…. weekend is over Jarrod came second in INT E3 overall for the Central Series! nice one Jar, JD managed to get forth place in the Central Series INT E3 class overall, and for his first time out on the new bike and in a new grade INT E4 managed to take second place, looking forward to seeing how you do in the next series JD
Spring Hunters are starting to call in booking there spring trips, still a lot of snow around AHNZL have completed new track metal for Otaki Forks to Field Hut track. AHNZL were called in to search for two missing trampers (CEO Te Papa and his friend) A ground party found the gentlemen and JD & Jarod found the lady not long after, both of the missing parties were recovered and along with SAR teams were flown out by AHNZL, not a good out come this time and our condolences go out to the families involved. A note of appreciation to the SAR teams that stand along side AHNZL when ever we are out in those very trying conditions.
AHNZL were called in to search for two missing trampers (CEO Te Papa and his friend) A ground party found the gentlemen and JD & Jarod found the lady not long after, both of the missing parties were recovered and along with SAR teams were flown out by AHNZL, not a good out come this time and our condolences go out to the families involved. A note of appreciation to the SAR teams that stand along side AHNZL when ever we are out in those very trying conditions.
JD & Jarod are to compete in the last of the Central Series Enduro events for 2009 this weekend, Jarod is currently coming 3rd in his grade and has a really good shot at climbing up the ranks even further, he just might surprise himself this time!. JD has brought a new bike YZ 450 Yamaha and will be sponsored by Sargent Motorcycles of Carterton for the 2010 season, the purchase puts JD in a different grade for competition, it is unlikely that he will place in the Central Series this year due to the grade change and he has also missed a couple of rides due to work commitments, but look out next year as he is determined to make his presence felt. Two photos below of JD on a trail bike ride at Martinborough, this was the last time out for the KTM……update…. weekend is over Jarrod came second in INT E3 overall for the Central Series! nice one Jar, JD managed to get forth place in the Central Series INT E3 class overall, and for his first time out on the new bike and in a new grade INT E4 managed to take second place, looking forward to seeing how you do in the next series JD
April/May
Apologies for the lateness of the news letter, we have decided due to our office lady only having two hands that one news letter combining news over 2 months was better for her disposition (and easier on the china)
x
The roar kicked away with Vince Ducket shooting a 15 pts stag in the Atiwhakatu Stream, an escapee which was fighting through his deer fence…. sorry to let the cat out of the bag on that one Vince, it certainly created quite a stir amongst the hunting community; we could tell by the excited speculation and whispers that roar fever was alive and healthy!
Vince’s stag was followed by a true blue head shot by Rick Abbott 15 points, even Jarod got in amongst it producing a respectable 12 pointer.
AHNZL flew a good number of roar hunters with varying success, nearly all got something to top up the freezer. Photos are up on web site
We have a new staff member Damien Bloger, Damien is visiting NZ form and will be working with AHNZL as an on call loader driver. Damien is also a commercial pilot, welcome Daimen we hope you will enjoy your time with us.
JD and Jarod have been out to a few trail bike rides one at Mauriceville and another at Whareama which they enjoyed, nice to get out and do something a bit different, blow out the cobwebs.
Appearing on the web site soon a few snaps of a Fallow deer, a great head shot by
Steve Playle and also his partner Sharon ’s first deer, well done guys.
A new hut has been built over May to replace the old Atiwhakatu Hut, its pretty well completed however due to the wet weather it will be a while until the painting can be finished. This Hut was a marathon effort by the builders - Wellington Residential, Evan Mardell and team put in a sterling effort to get this hut to its current point.
Below: photos of the flying and Atiwhakatu Hut construction site.
