I had never been to Mt Richmond in Otahuhu before, but I think it is perhaps an underrated mount in Auckland. It has some really beautiful and interesting trees, almost like a grove. And there are plenty of walking tracks on this small mount to get your steps in. The mount is quiet and peaceful (well, it was when I was there) and there is a trig at the high point.
On this day, myself, ZL1SKL Soren, ZL1ACK Rob, ZL1KB Scott, and the inventor of VOTA himself - ZL1PSH Philip, were all in the mood for a little bit of volcano action. I had my eye on Mt Richmond, while Soren headed to Orakei Basin (AKV-29), Rob and Philip met up at Mt Victoria (AKV-14), and Scott headed up Mangere Mountain (AKV-10).
It turned into a spectacular chasing day for me, as the other guys each went to a number of sites on the same day. I had Geocaching plans (hiding one on Mt Richmond), so I stayed put and collected the points!
My contacts were as follows:
ZL1KB Scott V2V Mangere Mountain
ZL1PSH Philip V2V Mt Victoria
ZL1ACK Rob V2V Mt Victoria
ZL1NZ Neil in Onehunga
ZL1SKL Soren V2V Orakei Basin
ZL1TJL Ken in Mt Wellington
ZL1JRW in Wiri
Then some of the guys moved around and we continued:
ZL1KB Scott V2V at Gloucester Park
ZL1ACK V2V at North Head
ZL1PSH V2V at Mt Cambria
ZL1BLZ in Te Atatu Peninsula
ZL1SKL V2V at Little Rangitoto
ZL1SKL V2V at Little Rangitoto - but this time we switched from 2m FM to 70cm DMR
Scott then moved locations again so I got him V2V at Mt Smart - his third location for the day.
ZL1TGS Jimmy made himself known, and my final contact for the day was ZL1ACK Rob who also moved to his third location - Mt Cambria.
All in all, it was a very fun day with a mammoth effort put in by the other activators by switching around locations. Luckily Auckland has a lot of volcanoes so you don't have to travel very far - but the effort was certainly appreciated by me. Certificates from the day's exploits to follow.
Mt Richmond is definitely worth a visit, whether you're doing VOTA or not!
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