A trip report by Cheryll Holmes (OLROC)
 
Pete & Chrissie Irvine         SWB Nissan
Gareth & Michelle                 SWB Land Cruiser
Bob and Cheryll                     Prado
Geoff & Jan Omnet                 VX Land Cruiser
Ken Copeland                         VX Land Cruiser
Mike Simmons                         VX Land Cruiser
Neil Cockburn & Les Miller      Surf
Dianne & Kevin Page               SWB Land Cruiser
Bob Dickinson                            SWB Land Cruiser
Dave Malone                               Land Rover 90
Richard & Janet Barker              Hilux Double Cab
Peter Watson / Don Garland
 
Reefton for Easter, well it’s a bit further to go than Haast for a weekend of Four Wheel Driving on the coast. We left Dunedin at 10:00 Thursday, had a quick stop for lunch, turned off the main highway to Hanmer Springs stopping at a Vineyard to pick up Geoff & Jan’s Cruiser. We carried on over the Lewis arriving in Reefton at 17:30 on a warm evening. Ken & Mike had meet up in Ashburton and had come over the Arthur’s, Gareth & Michelle arrived in after having toured round since Tuesday and would continue their holiday after Easter down to Mavora for Ken’s trip. Geoff & Jan arrived in from the Whaungamata Beach Hop in their hot rod. Pete & Chrissie were also in camp. Neil & Les would catch up with us at the pub later.

Friday – When is a Grade 2 Trip NOT a Grade 2 Trip
Friday morning saw our group up, organised and leaving the accommodation well on time. Some got fuel, others tried the local coffee shops and the rest headed to the middle of town to meet up with the Nelson Club.
By 09:30 everyone was present and ready to go. Bob Dickinson introduced the Nelson group and gave us a brief outline for the day‘s trip. We would be heading up to the Waipuna Caves, then thru to Napoleon’s Hill; Richard would lead the afternoon trip and give us an update at lunch time.
At 10:00 the convoy headed out of Reefton and travelled 15 minutes on the tarseal before turning off the main road and heading down to a river, by 10;30 we were heading up Copper Creek, absolutely amazing scenery as we drove thru the copper coloured water. Looking skywards the hills closed in around us as we drove up the narrow creek bed.

We arrived at the first cave at 11:00 to find a group of the Suzuki contingent having a coffee break; we passed thru the group and entered into the cave. The caves are pretty cool if you haven’t driven thru them before, something had changed since the last time we had come thru - metal spikes above the ground. You have to line the truck up as you enter the cave to ensure the wheels run between the columns of spikes or your tyres will be running flat by the time you get out of the cave. Apparently the spikes have only surfaced in the last few years as the floor of the cave has slowly eroded over time.
As we continued our trek we came across the tell tale signs of idiots at work, graffiti spray painted on the rock walls. When people have open ended access to such a great expanse of area for Four Wheel Driving you have to wonder why they would want to be so destructive.
At 11:30 we were heading down Napoleon’s Hill ( a well known 4WD track ), 15 minutes later we had the call over the radio to find a spot to pull off the track, a large convoy of Suzuki’s were coming the opposite way; when they were past we made our way to the bottom of the hill. Once off Napoleon’s Hill, ( having come full circle ) we were back at the first cave for lunch. Photos were taken, lunch unpacked and we sat in the sun sharing our piece of paradise with the bitey bugs.

Time was called and Richard took over as our "Tour Guide", he assured us this afternoon’s
trip would entail some good off roading - excellent. The convoy headed back down Copper Creek, left the creek exit point, came back up onto the tarseal deviating onto a Gravel road and then left into an open paddock. A river crossing lay in front of us to conquer, Diane and Kevin left us at this point and said they would meet up with us on "the other side".
This is where our "Grade 2" trip finished and the "Grade 2 plus" trip started. We made our way over the rocks thru a decent water crossing that brought us to the base of a narrow and steep valley. The convoy made its way up a track that showed the scars of torrents of water having come down off the hills leaving a trail of boulders and dead trees in its path. The going was slow, the underneath of vehicles getting hammered by the solid mass of rock, back offs were common as drivers adjusted their line to get over or around the obstacles. We were now on what I will refer to as the "Carnage Trail " .
At 13:30 we stopped in a clearing on the track, Richard under full steam and full noise made his way up a steep and gnarly hill climb finally stopping on a flat piece of ground. Pete was next in line, the Nissan couldn’t make the climb successfully, Richard hooked on a rope and tried towing him but the Hilux was way too light and only got pulled back by the sheer weight of the Nissan.
A rethink of the situation, Bob signalled Gareth in Big Red to come to the front of the queue. With diff locks in, some guidance and rock clearing he made it up the hill. A winch rope was then run out with an extension and Pete was winched of and on up to the top of the hill. Pete was turned round facing downhill and his rope run out to the bottom of the last hill climb. Gareth made his way down to the first piece of flat ground, tucked in on the edge of the ridge and ran out his winch rope with an extension.

Coolies were placed strategically at various points on the hill and one by one vehicle’s drove as far as they could up the first climb. The Coolies worked the ropes while Gareth stood at the top with a person in the front seat holding down the brake pedal while he worked the winch while relaying instructions via his hand held back to those on the track. Shovels and lifting were also called for to clear a corner to make the track a bit more negotiable.
Once up the first hill climb, drivers backed into a flat spot and drove as far as they could up the next hill climb, the process was repeated with Coolies working the ropes and Pete now winching to get the vehicles to the top of the ridge.
At 14:50 everyone was up the hill, it should be smooth driving now we thought. We drove along a ridge coming to what appeared to us to be a dead end – crap we went thru all that for nothing. NO it wasn’t a dead end, Richard assured us we were going out this way and not turning back.
We were now in what Richard referred to as the "Chasm", a steep downhill goat track laden with more boulders and dead trees. Going down was a two stage process. By now the "flowery plastic bits" on the truck were starting to look very sad, the driver’s door was also showing signs of the sudden impact with a boulder earlier on.
One by one the vehicles followed behind Richard and dropped over the edge onto a steep piece of ground thru a narrow gut. Damn it more trees and even bigger boulders, Grade 2 trip – yeah right Richard. We regrouped on the next flat spot then walked forward to view the next drop off. She was steep with no run off at the bottom and we still wouldn’t be at the Valley floor. Those at the beginning of the convoy had no time to think about the moment, those at the back would have been better to not look or listen, just do it.
Ken came off the top of the hill and literally bounced over to his right, this had guys yelling and signalling left as he tried to hold the VX on the ground, luckily he corrected his line and came to a stop at the bottom. Some very descriptive words escaped Ken’s mouth as he took a breath and recounted his drive over the top.

It was definitely an adrenalin flowing moment for the drivers, none more so than Neill who was the last one to come down after watching and listening to everyone else as they hit the bottom. Again we regrouped and continued the trek down the chasm to the Grey River with boulders and trees still hindering our way. A quick stop was made to assist the Land Rover to get it clear of a log that Don had got caught up on.
"What is that noise" I asked. We pulled over and found the running board on the drivers side had been pushed up against the rear tyre, "anyone got a sledge hammer" Bob asked. Pete enthusiastically arrived with his man sized sledge hammer and assisted Bob with a bit of on track panel beating to allow us to continue on with our tyre still intact.
In the meantime Ken came over the radio, " anyone got a chainsaw". Down we went to the front of the convoy to find Ken had a log firmly pushed into the rim on the passenger’s side – ugly. Remedial work was carried out but the panels tell the story, luckily the rim and tyre were ok and we carried on.
Finally, the Grey River was in sight, fantastic. We just had to negotiate a snotty bank in the trees and make our way to the waters edge. Thump, thump, bang "Bob you had better stop" came the comment over the radio.
Rear plastic bits on the passenger’s side were now coming apart. More fix up work, out with the 100 mile an hour tape, the truck is now starting to look like a band aid advertisement, guess it’s just a case of " suck it up buttercup ".
Meanwhile Richard is trying to make his way alongside the river and has got bellied in a bog, over we go on foot to see how we can help. A Weka is also curious and is running up and down in Richards ruts before scooting back into the native bush.
Gareth opts to get his professional Water Depth Tester to jump in the water and test the bottom to see if we can drive across to the beach before tackling the Grey River. Yep Michelle confirms we are good to go, it is relatively hard underneath so we take an alternative to Richards bog to save some time. Bob crosses over to the beach and goes round to the front of Richard, gives him a quick tug and he is back out with us. In the meantime Ken’s VX is slowly coming apart in the plastic department and will need a temporary fix up before Saturday’s trip. Neill had a Senior Moment and inadvertently knocked the gear lever and stalled in the river crossing, out with the rope.
We now head up the Grey River, climb the bank and drive out into a clearing stopping at some farm sheds where Diane and Kevin are waiting for us, it is now 16:45. Here Richard tells us about the huge flood that came thru a few years previously, the height of the flood waters is marked on the wall of the Shed at near ceiling level, and the whole valley was literally turned into a lake for a 24 hour period before dispersing.
While we enjoyed the sunshine, compared panel damage and discussed the day’s trip Diane was stung on the lip, as she is allergic to stings she was bundled into the back of her truck and driven back to Reefton by one of the Nelson guys to get medical attention. The rest of us made our way back to camp at a more sedate pace over the Snowy River Road, arriving back at camp at 18:15.
We had travelled 117 kms round trip, enjoyed some unexpected and very challenging four wheel driving, took in some fantastic scenery, gave our trucks a good shake up and had an absolute cracker of a day.
Friday night back at camp involved the usual socialising, partaking of bevies, more 4WD orientated discussions and hilarity before lights out.

Saturday – Big River
Saturday morning was looking like another rain free day, not what you would expect on the West Coast. Our group dispersed from the accommodation to make their way to our meeting point outside the DOC office.
Ken dropped off his tyre that had eventually gone flat after its encounter with the log into the local garage for repair. The rest of us grabbed a coffee and had a walk around while we waited for the Nelson guys.

At 09:30 we were heading out of Reefton to Big River, once off the tarseal we were driving on a well maintained track thru native bush. At 10:00 the convoy stopped and we were able to get out of the trucks and go for a walk up to the Golden Lead Mine, unfortunately we got topographically challenged when we could no longer see the guide pegs and decided to make our way back down thru the bush to our vehicles. More stops were made to look at mine entrances with Gareth and Bob keen to put their head lights to good use. At 10:35 we meet a Suzuki owner on the track who was making his way out and erred on the side of caution and pulled over for our convoy.
We passed the site of the old Meerjigs hotel and took in the flora and fauna that surrounded
us. At this point Michelle asked what the particular breed of bird was that was flying around us. Ken was keen to share his expansive knowledge of bird life with Michelle insisting it was the giant West Coast Condor; ☺ Janet informed Michelle it was in fact a Robin.

At 11:15 we drove into Big River township, it felt like we had driven for miles, in fact we were only 25 kms out of Reefton. It was hard to imagine that 800 odd people had lived up in this area, it would have been pretty desolate and isolated in the winter time. We had a walk round, looked at the remains of the Ten Head Stamping Machine that was used for crushing the quartz, the four large tanks that once contained cyanide that was used to extract the gold, and various other points of interest in the area.
We left the township and headed further up the hill to look at some real machinery, a massive winch and boiler had been restored and rehoused by DOC for public viewing. This was an amazing piece of engineering; DOC had done a great job with the setup of this massive display. Gareth being a boy wasn’t content to just read the info on the walls he also had to jump the fence and get an up close look at the machinery.

We headed back outside into the sunshine, some of us decided to make the 15 minute trek further up the hill to the Poppet. Gareth along with a couple of other mad people opted to go straight up the shingle face, the rest of us followed Camp Mother Ken and took the marked DOC track that was a much more leisurely climb to the top.
Once at the top the view was amazing, well worth the trek up; that conquered, we made our way back down again leaving Les to give Neill mouth to mouth once he had made it up the shingle face from the bottom.
Down at the trucks it was time for lunch and a catch up. Chrissie pulled out a huge cake for dessert and shared it round the group, scrummy.
When lunch was out of the way, we travelled back out on the track we had come in on, we stopped at some more mine entrance’s and the boys with their head lamps firmly in place were off like rockets exploring the inside chambers. Back in the trucks again and off we went.
Once back at the start of the track into Big River, we diverted left and headed up the hill on another track. This area was familiar to Pete, Bob and Gareth, they had been here previously in the Reefton Challenge Event.
Nope, we were not going to try out the Reefton hazards we were now on a different track, but which was still snotty and challenging. Instead of heading down to Green Hut we decided we would pull off at the start of the track and wait for everyone to come back up, it was pretty narrow and we wanted to keep what plastic bits were still intact on the vehicle.

Interestingly we hadn’t noticed that Bob D had quietly snuck into an alcove and opted not to go down either, nor did a number of others who thought it wise to not go any further and save their panels. It wasn’t long before the words over the radio indicated it was narrow, Pete being the first casualty?
Before long we were heading back out onto the main track with the second group bringing up the rear as they caught up with us. We pulled over in the sun and looked at one of the hill climbs used in the Reefton Challenge as Richard roared off up the hazard. We then walked over and climbed a mound and viewed the Oceana Mine that was in work mode. From here it was back down the track, out onto the main road and back to camp in time for drinks at 17:00.

oday we had travelled 60 kms, it felt a hell of a lot more, especially when you had no idea or perception of where you were and in what direction you were actually heading. Saturday night saw both clubs back at the Nurses Home accommodation for some serious socialising and sing a long time, Bob D lead the singing with his enthusiastic guitar playing. (hmmm - not sure: singalong is one word, but maybe it took really a long time - ed.)
Our group finally dispersed late in the evening and headed to bed, Sunday was to be our last trip day in Reefton before heading home.

Sunday - Shiny Trip Round Reefton

Sunday morning would see Geoff & Jan departing Reefton and heading home to Oamaru in separate vehicles, their road trip finally coming to end after nearly two weeks travelling. Pete and Chrissy also departed, heading down to Hanmer Springs to stay with family before heading home on Monday.
The rest of us packed up for our last trip of the weekend and drove to the meeting point outside the Reefton DOC office. Our Trip Leaders and Reefton locals Del and Marie Morgan had the pleasure of our company today and would show us around some of the more interesting spots in the Reefton area. Before we set out Del and Marie handed out an information sheet outlining where we would be going and what we would see on today’s travels.

We travelled 187 kms, stopped at numerous points of interest and gained a lot of knowledge about the Reefton area. Del & Marie were a mine of information on Reefton’s history as well as current events in the forestry and mining industry. They took us over kms of forestry tracks and paper roads, keeping the tarseal driving to a minimum.

We saw Birchfield’s Dredge, the largest working dredge in the Southern Hemisphere which is currently located on the Grey River. We stopped and pondered over what some old machinery could have been possibly used for in a bygone age. We enjoyed lunch down on the banks of Big River in the rain.
We visited and walked around old mines, had an ale at the Blackball Hotel - the birth place of the Union Movement of the Labour party, travelled to Notown Cemetry which is surrounded by numerous hidden mine shafts.
We found ourselves down a forestry road blocked by fallen trees, backed up the convoy, turned around and headed back the way we had come.

Our trip finished high up on a ridge overlooking Reefton and the surrounding area, at 17:30 we said goodbye to Del & Marie and thanked them for giving up their Sunday to show us round.
Sunday night saw a much quieter Dunedin crew gathered at a local bar for tea and drinks with the Nelson guys. When tea was over we wandered back to our accommodation for a couple of quiet night time bevies and a chat.

Well that was our Easter weekend, full on, extremely social and a long way from home. Huge thanks has to go to the Nelson Club members for giving our club the opportunity to go Four Wheel Driving with them in such a great area.
Some of us are looking at going back and taking our "other trucks" to have another crack at the chasm. Richard is talking going up rather than coming down as we did at Easter – now there’s a serious challenge for drivers and their trucks !!!