Monday 22nd
January 2001
Stage
Outline
Practicing recovery techniques in the forest
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The eighth day of our trip sees us having either a long awaited rest day after seven continuous days at the wheel, or a play day in the Pureora Forest – I would imagine that the majority of participants will want to come to the forest.
We will ignore our teams for the day and split into three easy and one hard yakka groups for the day. We will depart Taupo separately, but may very well meet up on the trails in the forest or for lunch.
Pureora Forest is an 80,000ha “conversion forest” to the west of Taupo. Conversion forest means that following the logging of the native timber, the residual scrub is felled and burned, then exotic species are planted, mainly Douglas fir and Radiata pine.
When you gotta go, you gotta go - Long day at Pureora
Trip Report – Monday 22 January 2001
DAY 8 – EASY TRIP – TEAM C
Second day in Taupo had some heading for a Hard Yakka day while most headed for Pureora Forest for a day amongst tracks there.
Narrow tracks – some very greasy – had winches and strops in use several times. On one track we came across a tree across the track with Dave Jones attacking it with a chainsaw from the other direction. Slashers and axes out to help cut a space through. Headed for carpark at the geographical centre of the North Island but on arrival found a very subdued number of people who explained that an 8 year old boy named Rastaman was missing and asked us to not disturb them so we headed for the Department Of Conservation (DOC) Headquarters for lunch. Whilst we were there a helicopter came in carrying the youngster after having been found on one of the roads we had been on.
On the way back we were able to observe that this forest was a mixture of Douglas Fir and Radiata pine along with pockets of mature indigenous forest of Matai, Tawa, Totara and Rimu and some big mature trees at that. Some logging but one wondered at the economics of doing this at such a remote site. We stopped by an old bulldozer left after milling the original forest cover many years ago. Some went back to see the plinth at the geographical centre missed in the morning and others visited the serene marina at Kinloch for an icecream on the way home.
A great day thanks to John Walls and we appreciated the relaxed way the day proceeded.
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DAY 8 TAUPO – PUREORA FOREST – HARD YAKKA – TEAM I
14 cars in convoy took part in the fun on this hard yakka trip in the muddy depths of Pureora Forest. Roger Seymour was our intrepid leader. The track provided some great terrain through fantastic bush. It was pretty overgrown and gave huge opportunities for big scratches down shiny paint work.
As the track wound deeper into the bush, we were led through one bog; another bog; a deep stream bed and a couple more bogs. Most obstacles were cleared easily with a bit of co-ordinated stropping, but one humungous and long bog brought our exploration to a halt. Roger winched himself through , then the next ten or so vehicles were stropped through. Having got a bit of a pattern going with the stropping, Roger took a few cars further up the track to see what they could find. They found more bogs! Surprise! The last to attempt the bog run was the 101 and Tim nearly got through with his gigantic tyres. He reversed and tried again, but that mud wasn’t going to let him through. By the time he’d reversed out a second time the ruts in the mud were really deep and it was going to be another drama getting back since we had to go out the same way we’d come in.
As we started the return journey, a red Toyota Landcruiser was being pulled out with a strop, but as it hit the huge ruts it somehow got pulled over and it rolled on to it’s side. Everyone rushed over to try and right it but it couldn’t be budged. It took almost an hour to winch it carefully back onto its wheels and dig a pathway through the mud so the rest of the vehicles could get through without rolling. George helped out with removing the injectors, but he had his head under the bonnet when the engine was turned over to get rid of the oil that had flooded the heads, and so when he pulled his head out he looked like Al Jolson with dalmation spotted arms. Not a good look! Bet it didn’t feel, smell or taste too good either. Anyway, it did the trick for the engine and the vehicle was ready to drive back to camp. With only a few dented panels and window? door ? it really got away with little damage, and the shaken up driver, Allan Hawkins hopefully managed to soak away the stress of the event at De Bretts later that evening.
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SPECIAL MESSAGE
This was handed in by H Team today, and is their notes on the adventures of the last few days as seen by them:
H Team Day 5 Friday
Leave camp at 9:00 am and head to Pahiatua. Well another good day. Last nights dinner was awesome – thanks Akitio. Lunchtime was the most fun for our group. H4 got stuck – you had to drive down a 2 metre drop into a 4 feet hole. After a bit of digging by H1 to find H4’s two hooks he managed to break the strop and headlight as well as an aerial. After being winched free from the mud backwards we also noticed the bull bars were bent and had broken one bolt. Back on the road again – well kind of. On the way out H4 liked the look of the bank so he hit it followed by H1 nearly hitting him.
At camp that night and watching H4 trying to light his gaslight and then noticed he had no gas bottle. .
Day 6 Saturday
Left camp at 9:15 am. Farm track and more gravel roads but we did have a playground. All of H Team made it to the top. A bit of trouble for the Nissans – H1 got it right on the 3rd go and H3 on the 4th go. H4 and H1 showed everyone how fast they could run when Grant (M6) tried to run them down. That didn’t work so he hit a tree which nearly hit H1. What a way to say thanks when the night before H1 fixed his starter motor. “Thanks for the beers Grant” from H1. Left the hill climb and back on the track to a little dip and it was at the little dip that H2 managed to get all four wheels off the ground BUT his bumpers were still on the ground. Thanks H1 for a tow. Off to the river, we go 20 km down a river bed – water from 1ft to 3ft deep. H2 got stuck twice – thanks H4 and H1 for a tow. H2 then noticed his clutch wasn’t working. H1 missed the turn off again because he was talking on the cellphone to his mum. After leaving the river we headed to the motorcamp at Havelock North.
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Day 7 Sunday
We headed off to Taupo Motor Camp. The day was an alright day. H1 could not make it up one of the play areas. H2 and H4 had a couple of goes. H3 made it in one and to make sure it was not a fluke he did it again with his wife in the wagon. H4 was doing wheelstands up a hill. H2 had to be towed down a hill by H1 Nissan when he got stuck. H Team also helped a man whose car had broken down. They towed him to the mud hole turn off.
That’s all for now,
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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