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GeyserLog 3.4.1

GeyserLog 3.4.1 is now available on the iOS AppStore. This is mostly a bugfix release, with no new functionality.

  • Fix issues with video tab and iOS 16.
  • Faster app startup (no more white screen).
  • Fix sorting issues in Recents and Timeline.
  • Fix issues with button background and text with similar colors.
  • Fix issue with observation time not being used when creating a new event or note.
  • Added unselecting observations.
  • Added watch settings to the app. Hard press menu in watch has been depreciated by Apple and will be gone in the next app release.
  • Watch app now respects the "Mountain Time Zone" setting of the app.
  • Editing and rearrangement of Favorites now working again.
  • Pending submissions should now work for multiple notes and not duplicate entries on server.
  • Editing Notes and Events will not clear when using the "More Features" view to select a new feature.
  • Submissions View now has a delete pending events option.
  • Fix issues with keyboard not disappearing after search.

If you'd like to use this app, contact me and I can provide a promo code for a free download.

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KiwiRail, South Island, New Zealand.

KiwiRail, South Island, New Zealand. 2023 February 17-21. Video by H.Koenig

In Hokitika, on the South Island's West Coast, one branch of the New Zealand national railroad ends at a major dairy. There was a daily train going there the three nights we stayed there, coming in while dark in the morning, leaving in the late afternoon.

At Arthur's Pass is a passenger station at the line's summit, where westbound trains go into the Otira Tunnel. The tunnel is 8.5km long with a 3% downgrade , so there are helpers added and removed here. One freight train is a unit train carrying coal from west coast mines to a power plant near Christchurch. Not sure what the other is carrying.

Rest area monument to the completion of the North Island Main Trunk Railway near Pokaka

Standard gauge on all New Zealand railroads is 3'6", which over a foot narrower than the North American standard of 4'8.5". This allows for tighter curves and shorter crossties. Much of the North Island line is electrified. By accident we stopped at a rest area where there was a monument to the "golden spike" location.

Model of Raurimu Spiral at overlook on State Highway 4.

Finally, the video ends with a quick view of the Raurimu Spiral on the North Island near National Park. It's where the main line crosses over itself above a tunnel, then continues on through reversing horseshoe curves. Not much is actually visible due to the geography and plant life, and the road to get to that location is a bit rough at the end. Never did see any rail traffic on the North Island lines, and the place we stayed at Raurimu, while near enough to the railroad at the bottom of the Spiral to hear it, didn't have a view.

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Kea at Arthur's Pass, South Island, New Zealand

Kea at Arthur's Pass, South Island, New Zealand. 2023 February 20-21.
Video by H.Koenig

Nothing thermal here. Just found the behaviors of this mob of at least 18 juvenile kea to be interesting and entertaining.

Behind the building, someone left scraps of what appeared to be potatoes, carrots or kumara, which may be what attracted them. For reasons of their own, they returned to this building the next morning.

Despite the wide open doors and windows, never saw any of them enter the building.

Their habit of prying at the nails in the roofs in this area is a problem, because most of these buildings are a century old, dating back to when the Otira Tunnel (8.5km long) was being built. (It opened in 1923.) Roofing materials, including nail heads, contained lead back then, and some kea have shown signs of lead poisoning.

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New Zealand 2023 Postings

Videos:

Observation reports:

Other, non-thermal videos: