Day 1

Date: 02/08/2008

Trip Leader: Ian Hanford

Trip Report: B’day girl Carol Hunter (visitor) & Annie Garland

The optimistic trip to the snow and beyond – to God knows where!!!

Saturday’s weather was showing to be favourable as we, the 4x4 group gathered at Millers Acre for a briefing by Ian on how the trip was to pan or not pan out for the weekend. Optimism pushed through as the meeting came to a close. At 8.10 and all wrapped in woollies and hats we set off. It was a fine crisp morning with a watery sun coming over the Atawhai Hill. On leaving Nelson the sea was like a glass – reminiscing of a lake. Five minutes on the road we were met with ‘road works’ at Gentle Annie – desecrated trees from the winds, men’s hands in pockets and around the corner the Hira sign was ‘blown out’. Good cruis’n up the Whangamoas with tail-end charlie coming up the rear and others close on our heels; ‘plant the boot Donnie, show them what a V8 can do’!! they mite ‘disco-ver’ us way down the road! Rai Valley was met with diminished vision– foggy, but Blenheim welcomed us with a warm sunny ‘smile’, and snow capped mountains towering the skyline. Our first stop was for Phil Madill forgot his morning pill so had to fill-up at Renwick – ‘anybody would be a fool not to have a full tank knowing where we are going, to ?@? go back again’. Brownies motto = Be Prepared. A pit stop at Taylors Dam Reserve for a.m. T where our fearless leader stated a comfort stop – only to find a submerged toilet, so it was primordial instinctiveness came to the fore for us ladies – squat! – alright for some, eh?


Kaikoura Ranges majestically veiled with snow, the roads littered with debris from the floods. After a lunch break at Kai- koura, we were to venture off to Mt. Lyford road but the road workers told us it was closed due to a large slip. It wasn’t long before we came upon the closed road on the main highway due to excessive soil over the main trunk railway line and half the road – stopping for round 10 minutes and on we went. Was it luck or was it our vehicles helping us move quickly as other motorists had waited for up to an hour before moving on. Over the Hunter Lees and turned at Hawkesward junction down into a sleepy basin town called Waiau. A ponderment preceded a decision, and with a collective agreement by TWO men we hung a right onto Mt. Lyford Road driving towards a fresh deluge of snow only to find it was the WRONG WAY – we all did a syncronised U’ee. Optimism comes in many forms – this time going up Leslie Hill road with a sign stating: ‘road closed’ – a bit of verbiage from the sheriff of the day resounded a …‘trust me I know what I’m doing, we’ll make it we have 4x4’s – nothing to us, eh boys,!??. only to be stopped by a washout bridge approach. No one really knows where they are going – we are all like sheep ….following the leader of the pack. Back we go the long way (10minutes more!) so what whoopdee do. Murray had a GPS – what a dipstick – he could’ve told us we were only 7.5kms to the highway before we flopped flipped fluttered about the country cross roads. Hanmer Springs was seen round 4.15pm where each person was left to their own devices – I bet the devices went toward the pools!! The night was spent at the local with a good meal and rugby entertainment – score 39 – 10 – Donnie lost a bet with Jimmie and lost a green one. A good day and good nite had by all.

SNOW TRIP DAY 2

Date: 03/08/2008

Trip Leader: Ian Hanford

Trip Report & Photos: Murray Ching

At the briefing in the main street of Hanmer Ian Hanford announced that I had volunteered to write the trip report the previous evening. We had watched the rugby the night before and had celebrated the AB’s win over OZ, I also had a very sore arm the next morning which I am sure would have been a result of Hanford twisting it up my back in order to get me to "volunteer", similar practices were used by the Inquisitors during the Middle Ages. We left the main street behind our leader and should have taken the 1st left but instead took the 2nd left and when questioned were told we were on a tour of the residential area, next he failed to turn right onto Jack’s Pass Road and when questioned about this his reply was that he had to see a guy further up the road which he had done and was returning to the turnoff. At this point Scotty took over the lead and Hanford was relegated to about 8th in the convoy where he couldn’t cause any more confusion. You can see now why.

I was dubious about my supposed volunteering, the man obviously couldn’t be trusted. Up and over the Pass we went to be greeted by a winter wonderland, more snow than you could throw a stick at. When we reached the farmhouse two things happened: No more tyre tracks to follow and an announcement from one amongst us that his steering was not right. On closer inspection it was discovered that a Panhard Rod mount had broken and the vehicle had to limp back to Hanmer, haven’t heard what happened from there. Won’t say who the owner is to save him from embarrassment, however the vehicle make starts with a J and ends with a P. At around this point chains were fitted and with Scotty and Kooze in the lead a trail was blazed towards Island Pass. Thank God Hanford wasn’t leading or who knows where we would have ended up. I don’t know how Scotty worked out where to go at times and I am only aware of one occassion when he had to back up out of the water table. About halfway to Island Pass there were a call on the radio that there is a vehicle "bleeding" and sure enough there were regular drops of red auto trans fluid which were finally tracked down to the 3rd vehicle in the convoy, no names no pack drill but suffice to say that the vehicle make started with a (you guessed it) J and ended with a P. We stopped to check and replenish the fluid and then with advice to run the vehicle in low range to avoid the auto getting too hot we were under way again with our entrepid leader still leading us from behind. When we reached the bottom of Island Pass the convoy stopped for lunch while our two trailblazers started to punch their way up the hill. After about 300mts their progress came to a halt so a number of us walked up and started shovelling and treading the snow down. An hour or so of this and only 50 mts gained it was decided to admit defeat, return to Hanmer and go home by the main road. Our leader, who was probably feeling guilty about his not leading, decided to walk to the top of the pass and try and make contact with the Day Trippers from Nelson. He fought his way through thigh deep snow for an hour to get there and about the time he reached the top Scotty made contact with them from the bottom. All that effort for nothing, couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke. Most of the convoy had started their return to Hanmer about the time Ian started his climb, but a small group remained until our Moses came back down the mountain in case the old fella got into difficulty. He finally arrived back but must have been exhausted as he delegated the drive back to his passenger, Mr. James McMahon Esq., who did a marvelous job of it, even though Hanford spent the whole time accusing him of slipping off the track and trying to get me to confirm it as I was following them. Fine him Mr. Sheriff!

From Hanmer it was through to Murchison and a stop at the Hampden for a Sunday Roast (highly recommended), then onto Nelson. As I was coming past Belgrove I spotted Scotty with the bonnet up outside the Country Club with the "bleeding" J--P providing headlights.I stopped to see if I could be of assistance but the job was just about done, replacement of a broken alternator belt; Murphy’s Law it was the inside one of three. A great weekend even though we couldn’t get through the Maungatapu or Molesworth and didn’t make it over Island Pass, though apparently the Canterbury Club didn’t get any further than Lake Tennyson the previous weekend.


Thanks to Ian for putting the weekend together and don’t worry mate, one day you will get to lead for the whole trip.

Yours in 4WDing

Murray Ching

Photos here

Summary

SNOW TRIP 2008

The Plan:- Leave Nelson and travel over the Maungatapu.
NOPE. Hurricane force winds brought too many trees down in the Maitai Valley to get through.

The Plan:- To stop at Taylors Dan for smoko.
NOPE. Torrential rain on the East Coast saw the dam closed. The water level would have been over our heads.

The Plan:- To travel through the Molesworth Station.
NOPE. Too much snow in the high country meant even the station owners couldn’t use the roading system.

The Plan:- To head for Hanmer via the Inland Kaikoura Rd.
NOPE. Road closed due to a very large slip thanks to those heavy rains. In fact the main road was only just open.

The Plan:- To head for home via the Rainbow Valley.
NOPE. Too much dam snow. I know this is a snow trip but .....

The Plan:- To meet up with those on the day trip.
NOPE. Too much snow for them to get over Island Pass as well.

The Plan:- To enjoy the trip, the rugby and everyone’s company.
ABSOBLOODYLUTELY !

Thanks every one for your company and patience. Maybe we’ll do it all over again next year??