Friday 26th
January 2001
Stage
Outline
Andrew Gee stuck in a drain, Ashley Lucas pushing
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The twelfth day sees us having a hard and an easy trip, both trips starting and finishing and Parakai Springs Aquatic Park. At the conclusion of the day, we will have our final dinner together and prize giving. All participants, both drivers and passengers, will also receive a completion certificate.
The easier of the two trips is located in Woodhill Forest; a Carter Holt Harvey managed forest of some 12,500ha in area. Although billed as easy, there are still some challenging tracks that will prove interesting. And if there is a lot of rain prior to our arrival then a lot of previously checked tracks could very well change from easy to unpassable due to the sandy nature of the area. The harder trip will cover some paper roads (these are roads and/or tracks shown on maps but never actually constructed into formed roads) in the Kaukapakapa area then move into another of Carter Holt Harvey’s forests. Riverhead. This forest is renown for its mud and clay – just what some participants absolutely love.
Day 12, 26 January 2001
The final day turned out to be quite a challenge for some - the last stragglers only just made it to the dinner venue in time, albeit still covered in mud!
With the celebrating over and everyone making the long trek home again over the weekend and cleaning their trucks, posting the final day's trip report into the web site was a low priority. Here it is now though, for all to see.
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TRIP REPORT 1 – K TEAM
Last day of the North Island Challenge and after last night’s drive through the Woodhill Forest we decided to go on the easy option for today.
We started at the second gate and had 3 pages for directions with waypoints to get us through the forest.
The first challenge was a mud-slide (not very muddy) very bumpy and steep, but we got through and enjoyed that.
Our car was the first today and we had to face the next challenge not far away from the first – a “nice” BOG. Well, we thought we were going to make it, but we got stuck! Fortunately help from our team mates was not far off and they recovered our truck and we all went on.
There were lots of sandy tracks and a play area where Graham went through the bog and got stuck too, and had to be recovered. Further on was a difficult sandy uphill and after Jim’s attempt failed to make it we all decided to take the alternative route.
The next hurdle was an off-track through trees to a special loop which was a difficult sand track going steeply down and shortly after that our truck decided to sit down on a tree stump and we had to be stropped back to get over it for another attempt. We had lunch break beside the dune lake and John had to repair his front tyre which had some tree stumps in the bead.
From there on the track continued until we reached the beach. After several attempts and lowering the tyre pressure we all made it over the hill down to the beach. We all enjoyed the beach ride and when we came off we helped to recover a private vehicle that was stuck in the sand.
Finally we headed towards the finish not without going through some more loops in the forest – we skipped the last loop – psst! – and turned straight back to the camp.
As the final day of the Challenge ends we would like to say on behalf of all the teams that we really enjoyed it and say “Thank-you” to the organisers.
Report by K Team written by Hannelore Kraus, Dulcie and Bob Dunstone on behalf of: Kai, Graham, Sue, Malcolm, Jim and Ben.
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TRIP REPORT 2 – H TEAM
Last day’s outing, we all did the hard trip – which was not that hard it was just bluddy muddy and lots of it. Everyone that went on the trip got towed at some stage of the day and some just got towed all day!
At the end of the day diff lockers and large tyres were not as much of an advantage as they should be: it was shown that the smallest engine and smallest tyres can do the best – being the first to get the furtherest in the downhill mud slide and third from the back of thirteen machines.
The hill was about 150m long and 35 degree angle and you spent more time driving on the side of your truck than on all four wheels.
Well done H1 but bad luck for the next mud hole where he was able to put it onto its nose with both rear wheels off the ground.
H3 finally had to be towed today, not once but three times.
H2 and H4 spent a lot of time hooked to a tow rope but s**t happens and you have a bad day.
A great day had by all, however.
To the people who planned and ran these trips – very well done – we had a ball!! See you all next time…..
Signed: Gadget
The map below shows the route followed the Challenge vehicles today.
Map portions used with permission of Wises
The North Island Four Wheel Drive Challenge has been put together by a small dedicated group of 4WD enthusiasts (all experienced club members) on a non-profit cost-recovery basis.
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