Custom Windows7 Logon screen

I recently upgraded to a new laptop running Windows 7. After the accumulating headaches of Windows Vista the new machine is bliss! One of the cool things that can be done on with Windows 7 is to easily update the background image on the Windows logon screen. The process is described nicely on Tech Republic.

My only additional comment to the Tech Republic post is about the image. If it exceeds 256kb then the new image will not be displayed. From inside the Microsoft Windows Picture Manager compress the selected picture to 'Document' quality, then crop so that the dimensions are the right ratio for your screen.

I don't know whether this will be by permanent logon screen, but here is a picture of what it looks like with an image from the Great Naseby Water Race:

Latham's Track

At Te Tiringa trig, Whale Island behind

Latham's Track is a short loop of about 6km near the small Eastern Bay of Plenty settlement of Awakeri. The southern end of the trail starts/finishes in the carpark of Awakeri Hot Springs Holiday Park. The Holiday Park shop is a great place to buy an iceblock on a hot day, and the Park's hot pools are also open to the public.

We started from the Holiday Park and ran north along the road to the far entrance to the track. This direction provides a relatively gentle gradient uphill and a steep downhill at the end: the anticlockwise direction provides a very steep uphill to start, with a long relatively gradual downhill.

Follow the markers across the paddock, then begin the climb up through bush, another paddock, and then more bush. After a series of climbs the track eventually breaks out of the bush at Te Tiringa trig. From here there are views across the planes below and out to Whale Island and beyond.

The ridge undulates for about 750m, and along this section Mt Edgecumbe is visible in the distance. The track then heads steeply downhill, losing 145m of vertical height in just 400m of horizontal distance. Across a meadow, then the track drops again, although not nearly as steeply. The track ends with a 200m flat stretch finishing in the Holiday Park carpark.

Mt Edgecumbe in the distance as we begin the
descent from the trig.

Nearly down, running back across the final meadow.

Te Waihou Springs

A very picturesque trail across farmland beside the Waihou River. The trail is just over 10km long and has a couple of short climbs. The water is crystal clear and happens to be a significant source of bottled water. The water is also extremely cold, and provides an excellent way to cool off after a run on a hot day!

Links:

• DOC track information

Ngauruhoe Circumnavigation

The plan was simple: a loop around Ngauruhoe, constructed as follows:

• up the Mangatepopo Valley and up to South Crater by the standard track (no adventure here, although we could have done the old Devil's Staircase;
• across South Crater and drop down over the side into the Oturere Valley;
• cross-country to Oturere Hut;
• follow the Northern Circuit track south through the Rangipo Desert and turn west at an appropriate point;
• follow the gentle slope up between Ngauruhoe and the Tama Lakes - exact route not important because it's such a wide gentle lava flow;
• head over the saddle between Ngauruhoe and Hogsback / Pukekaikiore; and
• follow the unmarked but well-trod trail back to the Mangetepopo Valley track and back to the car.

Into Oturere

It was initially a little steep heading
down from South Crater, but it is by
ANY route.
Photo: Mike Tennent

Heading up to and across South Crater went like clockwork, and we made good time. Heather and Mike had a few misgivings on reaching the far rim of South Crater, but we were soon on our way down and the going was a lot easier than it first appeared. Some might even say it was fun!

After following the stream bed down for a while we branched across the sandy desert to meet up with the poled track to Oturere Hut. There was a bit of a hunt for the track, but the GPS waypoints turned out to be pretty much spot on.

View down the valley into Oturere

Mike and Heather running cross-country along
the stream valley

Running with Heather through the desert.
Photo: Mike Tennent

Oturere Hut

After a stop at the hut to refuel we continued on, following the Northern Circuit track as planned. The track is undulating, but for the most part is runnable. We were still right on our planned time at this point, so all was good.

Posing for a photo at the hut.

Heather and Mike run off into the desert

Through the Desert

An "undulation" in the desert...

Natural bonsai

Just up that valley...

Time for a late lunch

Saddle #1

The plan was to cross the saddle between Ngauruhoe and Pukekaikiore. What I didn't realise was that there were three saddles! The first saddle is shown in the photos below. This didn't quite feel right, and after a bit of a diversion down the side of the valley we came back up and continued on to the next saddle.

It looks like a saddle... as a natural low point it even
has water lying on the ground. In fact it IS a saddle...
just not the one we were looking for.

View down the valley from this saddle

Saddle #2 - The Crucial (Wrong) Turn

Having recovered from the previous wrong turn we continued gradually upwards. Cresting a slope to (another) saddle we were very pleased to find a marker pole. There were no orange marker triangles, but the existence of the pole meant we were heading in the right direction!

I stopped to take a couple of photos, and then we left turned and headed down... in the wrong direction. The photo below shows where we should have gone - across the lava field to the third and final saddle. Instead we headed around the slopes of Pukekaikiore. The only way out in that direction is an unpleasant and very slow stretch of bush-bashing, which is exactly what we had to do.

The Pole: this pole is crucial - at this point head
across the lava field, maintaining height. Do not be
tempted to head down.

The goal from the pole: head for the left hand side
of THIS saddle.

Having traversed around the side of Pukekaikiore until we could go no further, it was time to head down through the bush. Even though the day was hot, Heather and I stopped to put our overtrousers on to stop our legs being scratched to pieces. We pushed and shoved and slipped and slid through the thick scrub and bush. With a stroke of luck Mike happened on a narrow but deep stream bed, and that provided a clear path down.

Out of the bush and into a more open stream at the base of Pukekaikiore, we followed that UP for a short distance to a clearer section of vegetation that allowed us to gain the low hill between us and Mangatepopo Valley. At the top of the hill was an unmarked track. Following this west led us back to the poled Northern Circuit track (the section from The Chateau to Mangatepopo), and we were out!

A short diversion back to Mangatepopo Hut to sign out of the log book and then back to the cars. 10h47, but most likely would have been the planned 8h if we had taken the right route.

Map

Links:

• Mike Tennent's blog post

Team Nuu Muu

At Mt Kaukau Trig

Not really... it was actually a run on the Wellington Skyline track with Heather and Vivian Cheng. But the girls were both wearing Nuu Muu running dresses and I took lots of photos!

Richard dropped us off at the base of Mt Kaukau and we walked to the top. After stopping to admire the views and visiting the trig (not often done, as it is about 500m away from the lookout), we ran south along the Skyline track. Presented with several options for heading down to Otari-Wilton and Karori, we chose a new option that took us down into the Karori Cemetery. A great fun couple of hours on a spectacular summer day!

Sometimes trail running takes concentration...	... and sometimes it is just fun!
The track goes just over there...	Views over Wellington Harbour

View across to the South Island

Baring Head

View from the old World War II bunkers

After a solid day of work it was off to explore Wellington's newest regional park at Baring Head. The park is the home to old World War II observation bunkers, and also to the Baring Head lighthouse which was first operated on 18 June 1935. Some nice trails on open farmland, with great views out into Cook Strait and the western Pacific Ocean.

The Old Pumphouse	Our trail guides for the day
The trail	At Para Trig
Baring Head lighthouse	Baring Head, rocks popular with local climbers

Jumbo-Holdsworth

At Holdsworth Trig

My first trail for 2012, and also my first time doing the loop in this direction. The first leg up the Atiwhakatu River track to Atiwhakatu Hut was quite pleasant, runnable in most places, and at 7.3km a wee bit longer than DOC's posted 5.5km.

View of the Atiwhakatu River through the trees

Atiwhakatu Hut

From Atiwhakatu it was up the rain guage spur track to Jumbo Hut. This seemed to be even worse going up than going down. After an age of slowly making our way up the steep rooty climb we emerged from the bush into the clouds just a little short of Jumbo Hut.

A short stop for food and to change into dry tops then it was off to Jumbo Summit. Most of this was in the clouds, although visibility was still reasonable and they added dramatic effect to some scenes.

At Jumbo, the ridge to Holdsworth behind

Just short of Jumbo Summit we broke through the clouds, and from the summit were treated to spectacular views along to Angle Knob, down into Mid Waiohine, and along the ridge to Mt Holdsworth. The Jumbo-Holdsworth ridge was particularly spectacular, with cloud on the eastern side of the ridge and clear skies on the western side.

After photos we set off along the ridge. As always the climbs and apparently narrow sections looked a lot worse than they actually were. I must be getting old or out of practice though, as very little of this actually seemed to be runnable.

Holdsworth Trig from the sign

Once at Holdsworth it was time to stop at the trig for more photos. I have passed the trig on many occasions, but never made the very short detour! Cloud would come and go, sometimes obscuring the view and sometimes allowing us a clear view of the ridge we had just travelled.

Powell Hut emerges from the cloud

All climbing done, it was time to head down to Powell Hut. Most of this section of track was very pleasant and easy, and before long the hut suddenly emerged from the cloud. A quick stop to fill in the log book and replenish water, then it was downhill again. Heading down from Powell there are some big drops, much easier to climb up than scramble down, and then there is the steep section of track that heads down to Mountain House. From there it is all straightforward - across Pig Flat and down the Gentle Annie to the carpark.

We had started relatively late in the day, so it was now time to find some food. Mid-way takeaways in Carterton did not disappoint - not only were they open on a public holiday, but their Hawaiian Burgers were excellent!