Why does the title say Ha_ast? cause this system appears to have a bug and the link wont work with aa

Date: 26/04/2008

Trip Leader: Bob Dickinson

Trip Report by: Graeme Nicholls

Lots of trips seem to have one: the person who has an average sort of truck, but thinks that they are the best and can go anywhere, but soon finds out that perhaps they or the truck are not so good after all. It’s all Uncle Bob Dickinson’s fault: he made me go where a more sensible person would have turned and run.

Saturday dawned nice weatherwise, so after a very leisurely breakfast we all assembled at the service station to have the usual do and do not sermon delivered by the trip leader, and we were off to have a look at Copper Creek. As we neared the turn off, Bob said to carry on and we would have a look at a bay called Ships Cove. This is a bay not far from Haast, and it is set up with a lookout tower and boardwalks so that you are able to take a walk along the sand dunes if you wanted to. The purpose of the area is to record that sometime near the beginning of the last century, a ship was wrecked off the coast of Australia without loss of life, but the wreck was washed right across the Tasman and came to rest at this bay. Parts of the wreck are on display in the township of Haast.

After having a good look around and being devoured by the ever-present sand flies, it was time to head back up the road to the turnoff to Copper Creek and the cattle track. Bob led us across a gently flowing river, and then into a clump of trees and then very cunningly suggested that perhaps Rowan might like to take the lead. As neither Rowan or I had been to this area, we foolishly ventured forth, much to the delight of Bob and his henchmen who had all disappeared down an escape route that we knew nothing about, and of course had not been told existed.

Rowan bravely set forth, and managed to get a fair way through before it became impossible to continue, and the winch had to be deployed to get out the other side. As I still hadn’t been informed that I didn’t actually have to do the impossible, I set off with predictable results: i.e. stuck to the axles and going absolutely nowhere!! Hence the trip report. Rowan then had the task of extracting me to a point where I was able to turn around and get the hell out of there. This set the scene for the rest of the trip, with Rowan coming to the rescue on a lot more occasions during the course of the day. I had told the Pajero to harden up for this trip as it was going to be a hard one, but it just had not seemed to listen.

We joined the rest of the convoy (who were all still nice and shiny) and carried on up the valley crossing the river several times as we went, and observing some of the highlights that the valley had to offer. These included where Warwick had rolled last year, and where Joe Plum had also rolled last year. Interesting to note that neither of them were driving this year; in fact Jayne had taken the truck to Wanaka to make sure that Joe didn’t have a repeat performance, and he was relegated to the passenger’s seat of Waide’s truck.

At the top of the valley we had to do a little road building to get down a steep bank; this consisted of sending Waide`s big Cruiser over first, and this dug out enough dirt so that we could all drive over without any problems. Just a short distance further to the hut, where we stopped for our lunch.

After lunch, a few of us decided to drive up the valley a wee way further to have a look at the cattle track that was used to drove cattle from the areas above Haast down the valley. This was before the road was put through the Haast Pass. It wasn’t long before yours truly had put himself in a further spot of bother; this time sliding into the water table, and being unable to drive out again. Some people just should not be allowed on trips! Jimmy came to the rescue this time, putting a winch rope onto a suitable tree and then winching me free. I never did like that little mirror on the offside front guard anyway. We carried on up the track, but it wasn’t long before it closed in on us, so we turned around and rejoined the rest of the group.

Bob still had a wicked sense of humour, and led us very sneakily into the mother of all bogs, but the cunning old bugger had made sure that he had positioned himself at the back of the pack, and when we were all hopelessly bogged he turned around and left us to it! Rowan was once again in the front, and was being closely pursued by me (not). Once he winched himself through, he then had to drag me through, but I didn’t feel too bad about this as I had shouted him a beer the night before, so I figured that he owed me big-time!! Anyway, the scene was being repeated with trucks behind us. Not too far into the track, a branch was protruding onto the track, and while this wasn’t a problem, the good-sized wasp nest that was attached to it was!! A solution was found when our hero from Reefton, Trev, bravely went and hooked Rowans winch rope to the branch, and it was ripped from the tree. The wasps didn’t seem to appreciate this too much, and were last seen heading straight for the tree that Jackson was bravely trying to hide behind. After this they were not too much of a problem.

With much winching, towing, pushing and shoving, we were able to conquer the remaining bog without incident, although Lex had a tyre go down at one stage, which resulted in Chris and him having to change it in the middle of the bog. Some people just seem to have all the fun. The afternoon was starting to run out about now, and I think that most of us had seen enough bog for one day, so it was an easy run back down the valley. As the Pajero was decidedly grubby by this stage, I went well off the track to give it a bit of a wash in the river. Obviously I hadn’t gone far enough off the track, and the temptation was just too much for Jimmy. Needless to say what happened next; I just wished that I had taken my shampoo with me!! Revenge is best served cold, so never turn your back on me around water Jimmy!!!

A good trip out, with some really nice scenery, and I gave Rowan lots of opportunities to make him feel good about himself by pretending to be stuck so that he could show off the prowess of the Wrangler to the rest of the club.

Thanks Bob for a great weekend in a fantastic part of the country that I had not been in before.