“Charity begins at home”, we hear at times, but help should also go to good causes which help disadvantaged people in poor countries.

Tear Fund does not come across as large as some of the other well-known charities, but the $1,000 odd raised at our Saturday afternoon event at Pukerau Farm, south-east of Auckland, on May 16 will go towards providing loans to poor people to start up small businesses.

This means they don’t have to borrow from loan sharks charging horrendous interest that keeps them continually in poverty. Some 98 percent of the loans are repaid by the borrowers, and for them it is a start to break out of the poverty trap. Check them out at www.tearfund.org.nz.

My advice to Beth Harper of Tear Fund (and a couple of other charities that I have organised trips for) is to keep it simple, and let their own people have a relaxed day out to, with their tasks on the day simple and stress free.

My offer is that they come under my OSH plans etc and the business insurance for my company, Pukerau 4WD Ltd, and I set out a short sharp 4WD afternoon, and Tear Fund can organise any extras.  They finished the day with a simple BBQ and hot soup.

April had been a dry month but passing showers had kicked the autumn grass growth off, and the topsoil was starting to become pretty moist on a quite dry clay sub soil base.

A situation that is inconsistent, tricky and dangerous on the sides of the open pasture ridge tops which meant the majority of the forestry and native bush tracks were definitely out for the day.

We had about 15 – 17 vehicles on the day, including mine and three others on hand to supervise.

The view is easy to get to. Drive 4.5 km up a metal road and you are there; however that morning the top at 343 metres above sea level was in clouds, but later the clouds lifted and the views of the islands of the Hauraki Gulf weren’t too bad.

So the off-road drive time was to do small circuits that I use for vehicle launches, and some of this magazine’s vehicle comparison days - short sharp circuits that have a range of activities to test the drivers and their vehicles in a safe environment, and when a vehicle needs assistance, it can be simply and easily sorted.

Such as my friend, Kevin Frost (who is experienced). He needed to back up a bit to have another go at a muddy little bump, backed up and dropped a rear wheel into a small ditch. Oops!

Eight of those taking part had none to very little off-road experience or were on-road tyres, so the first circuit was a simple test and familiarisation time.

It was a simple zig-zag that cut up enough that a little too much acceleration or applying the brakes would have the vehicles drifting sideways even at very low speeds.

The vehicles with mud tyres had the option to drive a simple short circuit in the forestry, with one very tricky right hand bend turning up hill.

Four made it around, and the talk on the radios was of one getting close to a tree and needing assistance. There was no sign of any fresh marks on the trees, but at times others and I have had “touchy feely” experiences there.

An experienced driver remarked on the thrill he was getting seeing the look on the faces of the newbies.

“How quickly we forget”, he remarked. He has reported on many other off-road trips and competitions but he was rapt just experiencing that thrill again of sharing those first few off-road experiences with others.

My thanks go to Andrew Garratt, Rob Llewellyn, and Colin Figgins for their assistance; and to Kevin and Heather Frost for running around getting some photos for me on Heather’s new little PINK camera.

I have never seen Cathy, Ashley, John or Robert, the usual photographers for this magazine, running around with “little pink dinky” cameras!

As we made our way up the metal road we detoured off in a couple of places.

The first was a short sharp slippery drop-off (with a safe run-out), a good simple learning curve and the second was a little manoeuvre down through some trees.

A short break at the top for the views was a time to get out, stretch the legs, relax, socialise, look at the views and get some of the islands of the gulf sorted out.

Three ladies (the lone “chicks”) chose to stay there while the rest tagged along on a circuit around a rolling pasture paddock.

The idea was to try to get the convoy to pick the pace up a bit, to make driving decisions at a speed faster than the convoy’s normal dawdle, but as usual the pace slowed right down.

We finished driving through a tea tree section. While narrow and tricky it had more room than a town car park (surprise to a lot of newbies), and a lot fewer idiots. Well there may have been one idiot up there, but he tried to keep clear at the front!

The next circuit was marked and designed to push the vehicles and drivers around some tricky slippery bits; and to push them over the sides of the hill to make them conscious of the importance of driving smoothly and the necessity to have safe places to run out on.

The rain of the afternoon and the night before had made it very slippery that morning but with a bit of wind it was starting to dry off, and the course wasn’t as tricky as it may have been. But the tracks showed that some at least were getting some benefit.

We stopped and picked up the relaxing ladies, organised the convoy for the trip down to the last and more dangerous circuit. This was restricted to the vehicles with mud tyres.

In drier conditions all the vehicles could have driven this, but it had two slippery downhills, one slippery up hill and finished with the mud run.

On the two downhills I needed to use some acceleration to keep straight and under control and I required two goes to get up the short hill.

Others may have coped a bit better, but my MTs are getting a bit worn now and from now on any tricky stuff here I will be using my chains.

Rob Llewelyn and his Mitsubishi Pajero on Simexs made it the most comfortably through, followed by Joel Ogden in his 2007 Defender 90 with its traction control working full time.

A couple of others needed a recovery. Andrew Garratt in his modified Series 1 Land Rover got water in the electrics near the start and the Holden (yes, that’s right) motor died. We got him out with two goes.

At this point the drive time was coming to an end. If there had been a “wooden spoon award of the day” it could have gone to a three-way tie. But “what happens off-road, will stay off-road”. My lips are sealed, up to a reasonable price! 

Certainly the feedback that I got was very positive.

Although the individual I ripped into for ignoring my directions to stop and come back near the end of the day, may say otherwise.

I think he got the message that these types of trips do not give him or others permission to do their own thing, drive at will and endanger a good day for the rest.

If an accident happens and OSH and the Police come in, a great day can turn from a bad dream to a nightmare very quickly.

A simple “Can I, please”, may have meant we could have sorted something more for him and others, although we were down to the last few minutes before setting for home and the BBQ social finish that most stopped for and enjoyed.

I know 4WDers who have problems getting access, and others I know who have few problems.

A few keys shown can open some (but not all) gates:

A good attitude,

Respect,

Open to listen,

Gratitude,

And acceptance that ‘No’ can be a valid answer.

A good afternoon, for a good cause.