[COMPLETE]Pioneer work in the Alps of New Zealand - annise

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
gailtv
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Post by gailtv »

Pioneer work in the Alps of New Zealand; a record of the first exploration of the chief glaciers and ranges of the Southern Alps by Arthur Paul Harper (1865 - 1955).
This project is now complete! All audio files can now be found on the catalog page for this project: https://librivox.org/pioneer-work-alps-new-zealand-by-arthur-paul-harper/
“Situated as we were at Camp 2, in fine rata bush, with a luxuriant undergrowth of tree-ferns and other plants - which in England would be called semi-tropical vegetation, - it was difficult to believe that we were a mile and a half up and 300 ft. above a glacier. Through an opening in the trees in front of our batwing, lofty snow-capped peaks could be seen a mile away across the valley, rising in precipices from steep slopes, clothed with dark green bush ; while below, a pure white glacier flowed at our feet, presenting as fine an instance of crevassed and broken ice as could be wished.” (Arthur Paul Harper, Excerpt from Chapter 4 describing a view of the Franz Josef glacier.)

In Pioneer Work in the Alps of New Zealand Arthur Paul Harper describes his travels, observations and adventures during 1893, 1894 and 1895 when he was employed by the New Zealand Government to explore, survey and map the Westland valleys, peaks and glaciers in the grand and beautiful central portion of New Zealand’s Southern Alps. In the first two years he worked alongside the legendary surveyor and West Coast explorer Charlie Douglas, but had other companions for his travels and also worked much of the time on his own. The work was hard. The travel, food and camping were rough and there were plenty of adventures. They carried, on their backs, all their supplies and equipment for extensive periods of work in remote temperate rain-forest and mountainous country. There were few tracks (trails) to aid their travels through thick forest and scrub, and no maps. Indeed, it was their job to provide the information to form the basis of maps and possibly of road links between the east and west sides of the South Island.

At the end, Harper writes “If the foregoing pages induce any persons to make an attempt to visit the Southern Alps for pleasure, or in pursuit of science or adventure, and if they cause the authorities to value properly one of the finest assets in the wealth of the colony, I shall feel that my work has produced some tangible result.” The history and present extent of tourism on the New Zealand West Coast shows that Harper's work has indeed produced tangible results, for better or for worse.

Arthur Paul Harper was New Zealand born and received his education in New Zealand and Britain. He was a lawyer, mountaineer (member of the Alpine Club of London and an instigator of the Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand) and photographer. His father, Leonard Harper, also was an early European explorer in New Zealand and gave his name to Harper Pass, a link between the east and west coasts. In the South Island of New Zealand, at least 17 places (peaks, passes, glaciers, rivers, rocks, huts) are named after Leonard and Arthur Harper. (summary by Gail Timmerman-Vaughan)
  • Text source (only read from this text!): https://archive.org/details/pioneerworkinalp00harp
  • Type of proof-listening required (Note: please read the PL FAQ): standard



    IMPORTANT - soloist, please note: in order to limit the amount of languishing projects (and hence the amount of files on our hard-pressed server), we ask that you post an update at least once a month in your project thread, even if you haven't managed to record anything. If we don't hear from you for three months, your project may be opened up to a group project if a Book Coordinator is found. Files you have completed will be used in this project. If you haven't recorded anything yet, your project will be removed from the forum (contact any admin to see if it can be re-instated).
    Please don't download or listen to files belonging to projects in process (unless you are the BC or PL). Our servers are not set up to handle the greater volume of traffic. Please wait until the project has been completed. Thanks!


    Magic Window:



    BC Admin

    Genres for the project:

    Keywords that describe the book:

    ============================================
  • The reader will record the following at the beginning and end of each file:
    No more than 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning of the recording!
    START of recording (Intro):
    • "Chapter [number] of Pioneer work in the Alps of New Zealand; a record of the first exploration of the chief glaciers and ranges of the Southern Alps. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit: librivox DOT org"
    • If you wish, say:
      "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
    • Say:
      "Pioneer work in the Alps of New Zealand; a record of the first exploration of the chief glaciers and ranges of the Southern Alps, by Arthur Paul Harper. [Chapter]"


    For the second and all subsequent sections, you may optionally use the shortened form of this intro disclaimer:
    • "Chapter [number] of Pioneer work in the Alps of New Zealand by Arthur Paul Harper. This LibriVox recording is in the Public Domain."
    • If you wish, say:
      "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
    • Only if applicable, say:
      "[Chapter title]"
    END of recording:
    • At the end of the section, say:
      "End of [Chapter]"
    • If you wish, say:
      "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
    • At the end of the book, say (in addition):
      "End of Pioneer work in the Alps of New Zealand; a record of the first exploration of the chief glaciers and ranges of the Southern Alps, by Arthur Paul Harper. "

    There should be ~5 seconds silence at the end of the recording.
  • Example filename pioneerworkalps_##_harper_128kb.mp3 (all lower-case) where ## is the section number (e.g. pioneerworkalps_01_harper_128kb.mp3)
  • Example ID3 V2 tags
    Artist: Arthur Paul Harper
    Title: ## - [Section title]
    Album: Pioneer work in the Alps of New Zealand


    Transfer of files (completed recordings)
    Please always post in this forum thread when you've sent a file. Also, post the length of the recording (file duration: mm:ss) together with the link.
    • Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader Image
      (If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin)
    • You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: annise
    • When your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread.
    • If this doesn't work, or you have questions, please check our How To Send Your Recording wiki page.

    Any questions?
    Please post below
Last edited by gailtv on October 18th, 2018, 5:33 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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craigdav1
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Post by craigdav1 »

Leaving a cookie crumb.
annise
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Post by annise »

delicious cookie :D MW set up.

Anne
gailtv
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Post by gailtv »

Hi Anne and David -

Thanks to both of you, MC and DPL, respectively.

Looking forward to starting.

Gail
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gailtv
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Joined: August 19th, 2010, 5:46 pm
Location: New Zealand

Post by gailtv »

Hi There -

Now we are back in New Zealand, and I can pronounce the words!!! I'll be very surprised if there is any extensive Latin to trip me up.

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/pioneerworkalps_01_harper_128kb.mp3
20:46.8, 88.5

I am going to do my best to pronounce the Maori words correctly (rather than with the South Island European pronunciation, where Waimakariri is "Waimak" etc.) but am going to follow the spelling that APH has used rather than what is on the maps now. For example Wataroa (APH) is currently Whataroa on the maps, pronounced Fa ta roa. I'm saying Wa ta roa, following APH's spelling. Apparently there are some fine details in the pronunciation of South Island Maori dialects regarding the W/Wh and ng/k (Aorangi vs Aoraki). Truer to the text to stick with APH's spellings. Hope you both agree. I will probably put something about the pronunciation in the Intro.

I'm really looking forward to reading this one. You will hear a couple of references to Mr C E Douglas - Charlie Douglas - a surveyor for the NZ government during the 19th century. A real legend. I'd love to read his reports for the NZ government, but haven't figured out how to get to them - I don't think they are digitised yet...

Enough enthusiasm from me. I hope it is enjoyable to listen to. You may need a map. Let me know if there are any stuff-ups, please.

Gail
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craigdav1
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Post by craigdav1 »

1 PL OK!
gailtv
Posts: 1196
Joined: August 19th, 2010, 5:46 pm
Location: New Zealand

Post by gailtv »

Hi --

Here is Chapter II of Pioneer Work.

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/pioneerworkalps_02_harper_128kb.mp3
31:44.0, 88.9 dB

There was some pretty competitive behaviour going on at the time he is writing about in the NZ climbing community, and overseas people who also came in to knock off first ascents, and the flavour certainly comes out! In this chapter we meet the first (of a number) that is named after him -- Harper Saddle.

My topomap app is handy!

Cheers

Gail
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craigdav1
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Post by craigdav1 »

2 PL OK!
gailtv
Posts: 1196
Joined: August 19th, 2010, 5:46 pm
Location: New Zealand

Post by gailtv »

Hi --

Chapter 3 is ready for listening, please.

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/pioneerworkalps_03_harper_128kb.mp3
26 min, 52.4 sec, 89.4 dB.

I think my favourite bit is the weka / world cup football player description.

Thanks

Gail
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craigdav1
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Post by craigdav1 »

3 PL OK.

I like the part about what people do or don't do when they get lost.
gailtv
Posts: 1196
Joined: August 19th, 2010, 5:46 pm
Location: New Zealand

Post by gailtv »

Hi -

Chapter 4 is uploaded now.

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/pioneerworkalps_04_harper_128kb.mp3
35 min, 32.5 sec, 89.6 dB.

I was on the Coast a week ago -- the Franz Josef glacier is nowhere near Sentinel Rock now. It and the Fox Glacier would have been wonderful to see before they had retreated as much as they have now.

Thanks

Gail
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craigdav1
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Post by craigdav1 »

4 PL OK.

I watched a video on the web showing the retreat of the Fox glacier....pretty amazing/awful.
gailtv
Posts: 1196
Joined: August 19th, 2010, 5:46 pm
Location: New Zealand

Post by gailtv »

Hi --

Chapter 5 is ready.

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/pioneerworkalps_05_harper_128kb.mp3
27:08.5, 88.0 dB

My winter hoarse voice is kicking in, without having had a cold yet. Bummer.

Cheers, and thanks for listening.

Gail
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craigdav1
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Post by craigdav1 »

5 PL OK.

Your voice souds fine.
gailtv
Posts: 1196
Joined: August 19th, 2010, 5:46 pm
Location: New Zealand

Post by gailtv »

Hi David and Anne --

David -- here is Chapter 6.

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/pioneerworkalps_06_harper_128kb.mp3
30 min 34.3 sec, 88.1 dB

A couple of comments. One thing to bear in mind is that Charlie Douglas couldn't swim. Perhaps more relevant to an earlier chapter, but in other books about his trips there is speculation that not being able to swim got him to stay put at times when false confidence would have seen him drowned. The other is that the name of La Perouse has been adopted for... whatever it was .. so the peaks are now the 5 explorers.

Anne --

I have realised that I have messed up the meta-data for Chapters 4 and 5 - not using the Roman numerals. Would you like for me to fix the metadata and reload -- easily enough done.

Thanks both.

Gail
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