There were only two people who knew what was in store for us on Sunday.
While everyone else hand been enjoying the gymkhana course on Saturday, Chris Thompson and Richard Wormley had spent 5 hours setting out Sunday's course.As per Saturday, everyone convened at the park-n-drive in
Waimauku. Those who had not enjoyed Saturday's activities required scrutineering, and then teams of 10-20 trucks headed for the Woodhill Forest via the headquarters entrance.
We had a little hiccup at the first
gate due to another forest user group having set out a running/walking course directly down the road that we needed to use to access our first off road track. However, with careful driving and some co-ordination
we managed to get through without any hood ornaments.
The trails for the day consisted of a mix of metal roads, sandy tracks (including some long and steep hill climbs) and the odd bog hole thrown in for good
measure. For those who weren't keen on risking dents, all of the really difficult sections had an easy option.
Series 1 on a sandy track
The first little off-road trail Chris and Richard had set out had a short slippery clay decent to be negotiated. At the end of the decent, the track pushed the vehicles up against the right hand bank,
which if you tried to avoid, could have resulted in some panel damage. This obstacle caused a bit of a bottleneck, but was a good opportunity for some of the less experienced drivers to observe
how this sort of obstacle should be driven. Some coaching was given to the newer drivers, and everyone went through without incident.
I spoke to a couple latter in the day who were on their first off-road excertion, driving their new 110 Td5, and they were amazed at where their vehicle was going and how they were coping. By
the smiles on their faces they were well pleased with how the day was going.
The next obstacle to cause some difficulty was a series of deep bog holes. When we arrived on
the scene, a white Rangie from Rotorua? had popped a tyre off the rim while being recovered. An excellent demonstration was given on how to re-inflate and reseat a popped tyre, provided you
have a big enough air compressor. In this case, a converted air conditioning compressor did the trick.
Tyre inflation is easy if you have enough air. However, tubes would have been a good idea
Garry Cress's son made a valiant attempt on the bog holes while we watched, but even with the
34" Jungle Trekkers and the V8 under the hood, the bog showed who was boss.
A nice series truck with 3.5V8, twin lockers and 34' tyres
Vaughn had a go as well, but on smaller tyres only managed to perch himself in the middle of the first hole. He was pulled out backwards and joined the rest of us as we drove the easy option.
We parked up on an old log skid pad, and consumed lunch while soaking up the winter sun. Further down the track, others were doing the same. We were the tail end group and when we
got moving again, we ran into a large group parked at the "S" bogs, still consuming their lunch! As we were only half way through, and time was marching on, the group was informed that we either
needed to pick up the pace if we wanted to reach the end before 5:00pm, or we carried on at the same pace and found the closest exit when things got too late.
It appeared to me that this particular group of people were in no hurry. These were the sort of people who, given any opportunity, had the catch cry "time for a cup of tea!" And why not!
What better way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon? The Rotorua visitors had the call, and they were happy provided they could be out by 4:30 to give them time to travel home.
Onward, onward, onward we cried!!
Due to a small mechanical fault (no oil being pumped around the Holden under the hood), Blair's SWB Series had to be towed from the "S" bog to the nearest exit while the rest of the group carried on.
Due to our group being "tail end charlie", we were responsible for picking up all of the track markers (yellow danger tape). Somehow (due to a wrong turn by yours truly) our group missed
out one short loop track. As we are not allowed to leave any markers behind, I sent the group on while Graham Hilton and I (plus passengers) went back to complete the loop and collect the markers.
On the loop there was a very steep sandy hill climb. Graham made an attempt, but due to the weight of the 110 pick up (fully laden with contracting equipment), it bogged down in the sand.
No worry! Out came the cable from the megga size hydraulic winch. Any excuse for a play, ah Graham? It turned out to be a major exercise that took the good part of three-quarters of an
hour. The net result – heaps of hydraulic oil used, one steering arm bent and one hill concurred.
This put us well behind the rest of the group and we still had all the tapes to pick up. Nothing for it
but a "well organised, high speed tape collection rally"! Utilising our passengers and immense driving skills, we negotiated the trails at top speed, leap froging each other as we stopped to
collect the tapes. Before we knew it, we were at the exit gate (minus 2x CB aerials!). We had missed the last of the teams by about 5 minutes.
Another excellent day, full of great 4wheeling and great company. Thanks to Chris and Richard for taking the time on Saturday to set out the trail.
See you again next year!
