Story and photo by Ashley Lucas

Early December 2018 and it was time, again, for the combined annual 4WD “Operation Stirling” and the side by sides and quads “Waiouru Safari” events held simultaneously on the 63,000 hectare Military Training grounds at Waiouru. All up there were 63 four-wheel-drives including a large number from the NZ Jeep Club and 45 side x sides and quads.

Participants have the option of staying in the barracks on the military base for the weekend and dining in the mess or organising their own accommodation and meals.  Most take the full package and breakfast in the mess at 6.30am can be a very busy time.

Concerns over the weather and heavy rain on the Friday had the trip leaders revising their routes after dinner Friday night, but not just because of the weather though.  A film company was filming a remake of the Disney Movie, Mulan in the desert area on the western side of SH1 and was several days behind schedule.  They were supposed to be packed up and gone the days leading up to the weekend but were still filming over the weekend.

Despite that…

This also meant that all the four wheeling and driving was done on the eastern areas which was probably a good thing in the end. With careful management of potential conflicts amongst the various groups and the tracks actually being in better condition that anticipated due to the rain, we got to cover a large part of the 63,000 hectares. I managed to do over 200kms over the two days but some of the fast side by sides did 150kms just on Saturday alone.

As always these events start off with a welcome and the obligatory briefing around safety and the do’s and don’ts of being on a military defence base. The bottom line is we have to obey military laws but most of all have a good safe time.

In the 4WDs there were four groups; shiny for those that rarely go off road, dull shiny for those who want to take their vehicle off-road but not get dented, but do want to get muddy, Adventure for the more serious 4x4 driver who has full-on mud tyres and doesn’t mind a few dents, and Club trucks, or the hard out 4x4 driver with a modified vehicle and who wants lots of getting stuck and winching.

Lined up in our groups behind group leaders we head out of camp.  I was in one of the two dull shiny sub-groups, as dull shiny had the most entrants. To start with we headed south out of camp past the ammunitions stores and while passing these we had to turn our radios off and not transmit.

From the top we had good views north over Waiouru but low cloud hid the mountain from sight.  We traversed along dirt tracks on top of the ridge line before dropping in for a close look at the Urban Combat Village.  The UCV was built for training soldiers before deployment to Iraq and is built out of shipping containers.

From there it was out south east to the southern boundary and the top of the bluffs which border onto Ohinewairua Station which is on the Taihape-Napier Road.  Lunch was planned for Westlawn, a historic shepherd’s hut now protected under the Historic Places Trust where the BBQ was operating with sausages etc for everyone.   But over the radio, reports came back that some of the tracks discounted as possibly too slippery were in fact dry and in good condition due to a good breeze.  A vote was taken within the group to do the road trip to Westlawn or forego the sausages for more dirt tracks.  The sausages lost and the four wheeling commenced.

Complete contrast

At one point we were driving tussock tracks close to the Desert Road and we dropped steeply into a gorge to cross the Mangaio Stream and climb out the other side. The greenery was a complete contrast to the brown tussock above.

Further on we had to cross the stream again and then up a clay track with a large water table on the right. The first few vehicles got through each dragging water further up the track making it more slippery until Eric Pidduck failed the climb in his Toyota 100 Series and ended up slipping close to the deep water table.  Two vehicles struggled to get the Toyota up but got him straight enough to eventually back down out of trouble.

From here it was a quick visit to Lake Moawhango then back top base with Saturday night enjoying videos and photos of the day on the large screen and a few presentations from the day’s events.

Sunday, muddy Sunday!

To Sunday and while most of the groups stayed close to camp doing the tracks we did on Saturday, our group headed deep into the North Eastern areas with the goal of reaching Koroneffs Hut.  The hut is now used by the army but was originally the shepherds hut when Koroneff owned the land before the Defence Force took it over in the 1920s. I had only recently managed to get to the hut (sometimes referred to as White Hut even though it is now yellow) for the first time with previous attempts resulting in me completely bogged in the swamps.

During the course of the day we reached heights of 1300-1400 metres in altitude and I am happy to report that we did all make it to Koroneff’s Hut for lunch without anyone falling victim to the swamp.  Walking through carefully and then following the planned route through but not all staying in the same wheel marks proved successful and we soon were having lunch in the sunshine at the hut.

When it was time to move on a heavy rain shower came through cancelling plans for an alternative route out and we retreated back through the swamp before we got caught in there.

As soon as we cleared the area the rain was gone and we were back onto dusty roads and dirt tracks as we wound up yet another successful weekend on four wheeling in a privileged area.

Once again thank you to Offlimits and the volunteers for a fantastic weekend and we all look forward to the next one.

To read the full story in the February 2019 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (January 21) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.