Date: 12/10/2008
Trip Leader: Vanessa & Darin Benseman
Trip Report: Lex Bloomfield
"We’ll stop here and get dressed up," said Harriett Josephine Ahlfeld. "Like hell you will! Just around the corner from the meeting point will be good enough for me to get into this gear. What if one of my mates comes past?"
Harald had named me Alexandra Thomasina for the day. Getting girls gear on is not my cup of tea but those are the rules when our women drivers bow out and leave us on our own. I can tell you that with my leg in a moon boot and feeling decidedly awkward there was no way I was going to be hit on by any of the husbands.
We gathered at Kawatiri junction, the last of our five trucks to arrive being Sam & Audrey Watt in their new cruiser. Now this is some mean wagon. 6" lift, fat wheels, 4.2 litre turbo and all the bells and whistles we all dream of. This thing should have more grunt than a mob of wild pigs. Very impressive indeed. Nice one Sam, well done.
We headed off to the lake end of the Porika track where after Darrin’s briefing the ladies took off with no hesitation. The first part was a little rough, but still it was shiney trip country, and then we swung up the pylon track and morning tea.
On the way down Darin gave the girls the option of the easy way down or over the side onto the rutted route. With no hesitation they all peeled over the edge and into the tough stuff. I have pictures forever imprinted in my mind of Vanessa expertly taking her family down this with the ease of a shopping trip, Anita Voss charging through a bog hole with Rene grinning from ear to ear, Audrey man-handling (oops, woman-handling) their new beast over ruts & mud with no care for the comfort of poor Sam and of course their was Jill Dickinson giving Bob another lesson of how to drive HER truck. Nice to see you in it this time, Jill.
At this point Sam & Darin took over to have a few minutes play before we moved on. With them secured back in the co-pilots seats we headed of out of the Porika and into the Maud Valley.
Lunch was had at the sawmill where evidence of the heavy snow falls showed on the fallen pines. Whole trees uprooted from sheer weight of snow. From there we ventured up to the head of the valley visiting two huts and getting a very informative commentary from Darin, who had done some research into the area. We returned to the sawmill and then turned off up into the forest with a quick stop at a stack of sawn timber, an old truck set up for logging and a dead cow resting to the side.
We worked our way down through snow damaged forest and out onto the Howard Valley road. After a quick talk, we headed off to the Belgrove pub for a debriefing.
It was a shiney trip with harder options in places and it was a little disappointing that there were not more trucks.
The ladies drove very well, but I must warn people, if you see a white high lifted cruiser growling it’s way through your supermarket car park it may be best to keep clear. It could be Audrey Watt, and that thing will climb over anything. Have you managed to get her out of it yet, Sam?
Thanks Darin & Vanessa for a really good day.
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Past club trips 
