TRIP REPORT: HARD YAKKA
Date: 08/07/2007
Organizers: Marlborough Four Wheel Drive Club
Trip Report by: Alistair (Lurch) Giddens

Kooze again was rushing around trying to decide if it was possible to fix the Jeep in time to make it, this weekend. No he wasn’t able to fluke it this time, this time it’s serious. So he threw the quad in the back of the work truck and met us all there. Mike had a fairly brisk frost covering
his paddocks to greet us as we pulled up to the gate.

So we didn’t break tradition the group was split into two by drawing numbers from a hat, well it was an ice cream container and they were bottle caps from the session the night before. Our mob was directed to line up behind Mike’s big red Nissan. About now we noted that the cut down VX was at the rear of the group, might be he learned a lesson after trying to lead the group last year and spending most of the day in Sav’s passenger’s seat due to a rare breakage on the Cruiser. After a quick look around we established that Ron, Chaz and I were the only Nelson club members in this group.

We started of by winding around the trees near the silage pit and hopping in and out of the extremely chilly creek. Somewhere at home there are the charred remains of a photo of me being towed out here last year. The dirty old Surf mustn’t have wanted to be sitting in the water too long as there was not a bit of hesitation around this section. From here we made our way up a track to the top of a very greasy rutted downhill run. Now we all know the rules: you should never get stuck going downhill, but after watching the old red cruiser getting towed we drove down and got into a good spot to watch Ron in the newer red cruiser getting towed, a moment that Toymota owners just shouldn’t talk of. Our next trick was to drop into the small gully that claimed the group leader last time, this year we did have the advantage of being able to line up properly as the approach to this last time was slipperier than the underside of your average eel.

After dropping down one of many steep banks there was a mud trap, and just as luck would have it, two other Nelson members showed up in the form of Kyle and Abe in their big whales. For those who don’t know these fellas, they like a few revs and a bit of a run up and also seem to have a bit of a competitive streak. On his third attempt Abe had about as much horsepower as the big wagon could muster and fed it all through the high range and launched out the end with a great spray of mud. Not to be outdone Kyle had a go but had to concede to the waiting tow rope.

From here we wandered over to a little creek on the other side of the valley and into some short testing wee bits, some leaned us right over and others launched us straight up but there was one thing that was fairly predominant in here, trees and usually right where you didn’t want them. Chaz had a funny little clicking noise coming from the Vitara but this didn’t deter him from taking the ‘A-Grade’ tracks , well that was until the clicking stopped along with his four wheel drive. Suzuki’s may be good but they were not going to cut the mustard today in two wheel drive so Chaz had to watch for the rest of the day. After running around in the mud and water there was a log bridge to cross. There was a marshal posted here but he must have blinked or sneezed just as Kyle was crossing, luckily his front two wheels were over so it only dropped the back wheels off the logs. Time for a few wee ups and downs and another splash then lunch with the others all gathered in a big muddy paddock.

Once Jordan had finished all of Don’s sandwiches the two groups split up again and headed into different directions. We took off towards the long steep climb which encouraged quite a bit of towing practice last year. This year had a twist; we went the other way resulting in us trying to climb a very steep slope with a mud hole at the bottom. In our group was a thing made up of land cruiser bits all jammed under a Suzuki body shell and a V8 shoehorned in the front.
As it turned out these guys were quite eco-friendly as they showed by getting onto this slope and trying to fill in the mud hole with their simex super shovel tyres. Even with the help no-one drove this hill. Heading up the track to the top end of Mike’s farm, Nigel and I chatted about
how the weather turned out great for the day, but it might have been a touch more encouraging if there wasn’t still frost beside us at two in the afternoon!

In the trees there is a good track that looks harmless enough but after watching some of the group go through it was pretty obvious there were two logs or rocks or Suzuki’s hidden under the surface and this could be quite bad news for the left hand side panels. The two Nissan pilots were advised to try something other than their usual approach, which they both did for the first attempts then back into top gear and still they got towed out.
There were a couple of damages after here so we cut the day short and made our way back down to the farm sheds to put some wind back into the tyres and tell a few yarns with the other group. After a hot sausage from the Barbie there was a brief prize giving kindly sponsored by Eddie at Delta and a sheriff session kindly sponsored by the green jeep brigade. We decided on a meeting place for a debrief on the way home, and with a cheery wave from one of the Marlborough club (over our side of the hill we wave with our whole hand, Errol, not just one finger), we made our way home.
Many thanks to everybody who played their part in making this day such a big hit. See you next year.

Photos here