Archive • albert.nz • Buttondown

Driving a high-quality LED strip with ESPHome and ESP32-C3

It’s been over a year since I’ve taken on a new LED strip project. This is probably because of the rock-solid reliability demonstrated by the strips I...

Camping at Lake Minchin

I have been overdue for a solo trip for a while now, and what’s better than finding a remote lake to camp beside? Without too much additional thought, I...

This recently-built hut has been on the to-do list for a few months now, ever since a friend recommended it while we were walking up Taipo Valley. Mataketake...

Pfeifer Biv and Otehake Hot Pools

Easter weekend of 2022 presented a great opportunity to head into the hills near Christchurch. A traverse of Arthur’s Pass, from Aickens to Hawdon Valley via...

August 17, 2021

Pinchgut Track is a 5km walk near Rangiora leading to Pinchgut Hut. It’s a short, easy track which is popular with families. After tramping this one I...

Mt Oxford and Ryde Falls Tracks

This counterclockwise loop made for a great trail run about a half-marathon in length. The uphills and downhills are fairly steep but worth it for about a...

The walk to Waiopehu Hut is a straightforward but steady climb up a ridgeline. Lovely dense forest surrounds the track to the hut, which sits near the...

Kaituna Valley to Mt Herbert / Te Ahu Patiki

Mt Herbert / Te Ahu Patiki is commonly accessed from the north, from either Charteris Bay or Diamond Harbour. We decided to approach from the south, leaving...

Edwards Hut Track

This fairly straightforward track follows Edwards River to the hut. Start at Greyneys Shelter, use the railway underpass to access Bealey River then look for...

St James Walkway to Boyle Flat Hut

Heavy flooding in mid Canterbury had closed Wharfedale Track (our plan A), so we had to quickly plan an overnighter. We headed a couple of hours north to...

Holdsworth-Jumbo Circuit

Holdsworth-Jumbo Circuit is one of the more approachable Tararua tramps. It can be split into three sections: a climb up to Mt Holdsworth Summit, traversing...

Mueller Hut Route

Mueller Hut Route is one of the most beautiful walks I have done. As the hut was booked out, we camped at White Horse Hill Campsite (which is at the base of...

Hooker Valley Track

Possibly the most popular walk in the area, Hooker Valley Track provided us with an easy afternoon walk after heavy rain confined us to the campsite shelter...

Baring Head is one of my favourite places in Wellington. I have been out there a couple of times in gale force southerlies and can highly recommend the...

Running the WUU2K marathon route for Wellington Anniversary Day

Everything was lined up: I had less than a week until my move to Christchurch The weather was perfect I was fit enough to run a marathon, maybe It was...

Lakes Kohangapiripiri and Kohangatera

Mention the Pencarrow lakes to most Wellingtonians and they’ll have no idea what you’re talking about—just like so many of the coolest outdoors attractions...

The Great Kauri Run - Classic

This 30km run starts and finshes in Coromandel Town. It travels along Harray Track the up Flays Road through private property, linking up with the ridgeline...

Mt Matthews Track

There are some astonishing bushwalks in the Wellington region, and Mt Matthews track is a prime example. For the highest peak in the Remutaka Range, the...

Running the Routeburn Track

To celebrate Chris’ birthday a group of 17 took on Routeburn. The 32km trail is the shortest of New Zealand’s Great Walks and one of the best-known. A large...

Cass-Lagoon Saddle Track

We dropped a car at the western carpark then drove to the eastern one, tackling the walk clockwise. With the popularity of State Highway 73, hitchhiking is a...

A popular hill walk near St Arnaud is the Mt Robert loop which takes walkers up Pourangahau / Mt Robert a few kilometres southeast of the town. The 9km loop...

Mt Somers track

This track around Mt Somers / Te Kiekie is a popular tramp. Huts were booked out so I decided to tackle this one as a meaty 25km run with almost 2km of...

During a sibling trip to Great Barrier Island, we took on the Aotea Track. The track is a loop around the centre of the island with many options for entering...

Adventures in headphones

November 17, 2020

I’ve tried quite a few headphones in my time. For no particular reason, I have been wanting to document my thoughts on the models I have tried. Is this a...

Migrating from ESPHome to WLED, the easy over-the-air way

October 18, 2020

Over a year ago, I migrated my LED strips from Lightt to ESPHome. I have recently moved on to the popular LED strip project WLED. This means my trusty...

Upgrading branded IoT devices with tuya-convert and ESPHome

GitHub A couple of weeks ago I was given a Kogan smart plug. This controls a wall outlet over WiFi and measures power draw. It’s a feature set similar to the...

Using three-stage Dockerfile for accessing build output

GitHub Multi-stage Dockerfiles are a tried and true method for minimising the bloat of published docker images. The workflow is pretty typical: Build an...

Remote controlling a computer with home automation

Github As part of my home automation system, I like to be able to shutdown my computer remotely. This way I can safely shutdown the computer before powering...

New post from albert.nz: Remote controlling a computer with home automation

Github As part of my home automation system, I like to be able to shutdown my computer remotely. This way I can safely shutdown the computer before powering...