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Just some pics below from our recent trip with the Canterbury Recreational WD Club. Liz and I drove up to the small township of Collingwood located near the top tip of the South Island last Friday, not a bad drive in about 6 and a quarter hours. The Rugby Club rooms provided a base of operations and we checked out the famous Mussel Inn that night for dinner which was a great character restaurant that brews its own beer etc.
Saturday saw 13 trucks take off over to the Westcoast side and into some drizzle and cloud. This hung around and added to the atmosphere of my first beach drive. Some parts of the sand were very firm and like driving on a highway whereas others caused a noticeable load on the transmission. We got to Big River which was to be the most challenging crossing and it certainly looked deep. The trip leader, Simon’s, truck was hitched up with three recovery ropes joined together and he headed out to check the depth. From the pics you’ll see it was pretty deep and given the weather everyone decided to head back to base rather than camp there for the night until the next low tide exposed enough sand to traverse. That afternoon we had a quick fish in the river mouth (just caught a couple of mullet and saw one Kahawai landed). Then we took off up a old gold fields track which had some great ruts and steps in it as well as one really great steep climb. Luckily the weather was fine back on the east coast and the tracks were dry if not a little dusty in places. This track also proved the first time that I needed the rear locker after becoming crossed up in a deep rut with a step at the end on one side. A flick of the switch to turn the compressor on then on with the rear locker and we easily crawled forward. It was great to be able to demonstrate the locker to Liz who had probably been a little sceptical of their usefulness (and cost).
Sunday saw us retrace out steps back towards the west coast with Des a local 4wd enthusiast. Tracks through two farms had been organised and the first one saw us wend around some green paddocks and hills to cross an exposed sand section and stop at the top of a valley. The wreckage of a WW2 bomber remained on the hill following a crash probably attributed to the low cloud similar that we had been driving through. After about another half hour of driving we arrived at the top of another giant sand dune overlooking the coast. The “track” was in two parts with a drop down and short sand drive to stop at the top of the main decent. This section was a sheer face falling about 100m on a 60 degree angle. Out of all of my 4wding to date this looked the most daunting. Others had already driven it and survived so it was off over the edge. The actual face was a lot easier to drive than first appeared with the slightly soft sand providing good natural braking and just requiring some accelerator to stop too much ploughing action in 2nd low. Everyone who completed this section was left on an adrenalin high for several minutes afterwards. From the base of the sand dune we had a fairly tricky climb and twisty section through the local scrub/trees to regain the farm track. From there we were on the adjoining farm which saw us climb and climb past a giant hanging rock that just seemed supported on some rather dodgy looking dirt with stones in it. Pushing our way through the cloud it was all lights on just to keep the truck ahead in view. This cloud obscured what we were told was some great if not slightly daunting views off each side of the ridgelines we were traversing. A stop at the top of a cliff below the cloud provided a photo opportunity and then it was back down and a return to base.
All in all this would have to be the most diverse and exciting 4wd weekend that we have been on and I highly recommend this region to anyone who has the opportunity to 4wd there.
Some more pics:
http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Nov%202010/
Saturday saw 13 trucks take off over to the Westcoast side and into some drizzle and cloud. This hung around and added to the atmosphere of my first beach drive. Some parts of the sand were very firm and like driving on a highway whereas others caused a noticeable load on the transmission. We got to Big River which was to be the most challenging crossing and it certainly looked deep. The trip leader, Simon’s, truck was hitched up with three recovery ropes joined together and he headed out to check the depth. From the pics you’ll see it was pretty deep and given the weather everyone decided to head back to base rather than camp there for the night until the next low tide exposed enough sand to traverse. That afternoon we had a quick fish in the river mouth (just caught a couple of mullet and saw one Kahawai landed). Then we took off up a old gold fields track which had some great ruts and steps in it as well as one really great steep climb. Luckily the weather was fine back on the east coast and the tracks were dry if not a little dusty in places. This track also proved the first time that I needed the rear locker after becoming crossed up in a deep rut with a step at the end on one side. A flick of the switch to turn the compressor on then on with the rear locker and we easily crawled forward. It was great to be able to demonstrate the locker to Liz who had probably been a little sceptical of their usefulness (and cost).
Sunday saw us retrace out steps back towards the west coast with Des a local 4wd enthusiast. Tracks through two farms had been organised and the first one saw us wend around some green paddocks and hills to cross an exposed sand section and stop at the top of a valley. The wreckage of a WW2 bomber remained on the hill following a crash probably attributed to the low cloud similar that we had been driving through. After about another half hour of driving we arrived at the top of another giant sand dune overlooking the coast. The “track” was in two parts with a drop down and short sand drive to stop at the top of the main decent. This section was a sheer face falling about 100m on a 60 degree angle. Out of all of my 4wding to date this looked the most daunting. Others had already driven it and survived so it was off over the edge. The actual face was a lot easier to drive than first appeared with the slightly soft sand providing good natural braking and just requiring some accelerator to stop too much ploughing action in 2nd low. Everyone who completed this section was left on an adrenalin high for several minutes afterwards. From the base of the sand dune we had a fairly tricky climb and twisty section through the local scrub/trees to regain the farm track. From there we were on the adjoining farm which saw us climb and climb past a giant hanging rock that just seemed supported on some rather dodgy looking dirt with stones in it. Pushing our way through the cloud it was all lights on just to keep the truck ahead in view. This cloud obscured what we were told was some great if not slightly daunting views off each side of the ridgelines we were traversing. A stop at the top of a cliff below the cloud provided a photo opportunity and then it was back down and a return to base.
All in all this would have to be the most diverse and exciting 4wd weekend that we have been on and I highly recommend this region to anyone who has the opportunity to 4wd there.
Some more pics:
http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Nov%202010/
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