|
Wesport - Queens Birthday Weekend |
|
DAY 1
Date: 31/05 - 01/06/2008
Trip Leader: Lurch
Trip Report: Jim McMahon
I received a phone call from Harald asking me if I’d like to go with him to Westport as his co-pilot. I thought about it as it would be a good chance to have a ride in one of these Jeeps I’ve heard so much about.
I arrived at Harald’s place about 2 o’clock, waited for the Benseman family to arrive in their Jeep. So by 3 o’clock the two Jeeps were rearing to go but just a small hick-up: Harald’s Jeep would not start (flat battery). It was jump started with the other Jeep. All’s well so off we go, Westport here we come.
Things were going really well until half way up the Clark Valley this strange noise appeared: sounded like it was coming from fan blades touching something. So we stopped and checked but there was nothing obvious so we carried on on our merry way. We must have stopped about 4 times but could not find where the noise was coming from so we decided we would carry on to Murchison and seek some professional advice. We found a mechanic who assumed it could be something wrong with the front diff, but sorry, I can’t help you guys. Harald decided then he would drive back home to Wakefield and maybe get it fixed the next morning and come back to Westport on Saturday. But no such luck, no parts available in Nelson. IT MUST BE A JEEP THING!
I carried on to Westport with the Benseman family in another Jeep, arrived about 7 o’clock in Westport, safe and sound.
I woke Saturday morning to a beautiful fine day. We all met at 9.30 by Rugby Park, five vehicles turned up, and after the briefing by our trip leader Lurch we headed off to attack the Moa Bones near Seddonville.
We all arrived at the start of the track and let the tires down. There were 2 Jeeps, 2 Toyotas and 1 Nissan. At that stage I was still travelling with the Bensemans. Then I noticed that Rowan was on his own so I thought I’d try my luck in a Jeep Wrangler this time. So I jumped ship, it must have been good as I stayed with the Wrangler for the weekend (thanks Rowan).
At this stage Lurch was leading the way, only to travel 200 metres and the first 3 vehicles were stuck. Lurch was dying to try out his "new" second hand winch he had bought on Trade Me. All five vehicles had to be winched through the bog holes and it took us about 2 hours to go 300 metres. We arrived at the junction where Lurch and Darin had parked while waiting for us to arrive. Three guys on four wheeler bikes turned up. The first guy just pushed his way past Darin’s Jeep and put a good size dent and scratches on the driver side. He didn’t even stop to see what damage he had done. Lurch jumped in his vehicle and gave chase. The bike shot up the first steep hill but Lurch didn’t quite make it. He had to back down and had another attempt only to blow a tyre off the rim and that put payed to that and the bike got away.
So we all decided to have our lunch and watch Lurch change and repair his tyre. After lunch we all headed off to complete the Moa Bones. There was still a lot of deep holes and ruts to go through. We spend most of our time winching. Richard had some bad luck and we had to winch him out of a deep mud hole only to find a nasty dent in the driver’s side door (bugger).
He must have travelled another 200 metres and we noticed that Richard had a second dent down the left side. After checking the other vehicles we found that they all had a dent in the same place. So maybe Richard didn’t feel bad after all?
We finally got back to Seddonville about 5 o’clock, cleaned the vehicles and then headed back to Westport. We all met at a local cafe for tea, then settled down to watch the rugby. Good old Crusaders, they played well.
Thanks Lurch for a great weekend.
Day 2
Trip Report: Nigel Barker
John and I started the day with a hearty breakfast at the café. It was a noisy night’s sleep so I’ve made a mental note not to stay at the same pub as the Stock Car crowd in the future!
The weather was the traditional Westport drizzle and Lurch with co-driver Darin, Leo & son, Rowan & Jimmy and Big John & I. So a nice wee group of 4 capable trucks.
We headed in the reverse direction to the normal way we do tailings. First up was quite a steep downhill and as I’m not the greatest passenger at the best of times I elected to hop out and "guide" John down. We were then into a couple of long up hill winches with not a lot of driving being done, although I was impressed how Rowans Wrangler seemed to drive more than the rest of us (I can’t believe I’m saying that).
The rain held off over the hardest parts of the track which was a relief. We struggled driving some of the rougher sections though.
Once up the top we spent quite a bit of time winching out of a creek while the rain bucketed down.
We decided not to turn around and winch back the way we had come up due to the rain. So we stopped for a bit of lunch before taking about another hour to get out to the end of the track. We were all out on the main road by about 3pm. Some of us headed home and others went back for another night in Westport.
Thanks Lurch
|
Past club trips 