The final NZ4WD Readers Trip for 2006 was a return to Woodhill Forest just north west of Auckland. And final it was in more than one way. CHH have sold the rights to Woodhill and the new owners have yet to make a decision regarding recreational access for the future. By the time you are reading this we may know otherwise.
As usual it was a weekend event with both days being the same but in reality they werent. First the people and vehicles were different and its the people, the readers of NZ4WD that come along that make the day for everyone including the NZ4WD team of helpers. Secondly it was a contrast of two days; Saturday was wet, very wet in the morning while those who chose Sunday got the better weather.
Saturdays rain started as everyone registered in and continued until early afternoon and turned the relatively easy tracks of Friday into real challenges with small streams running down the ruts. Also two of the helpers vehicles had suffered damage from the recce the previous day and because of this the number of groups was reduced from 3 to 2 making the groups larger than normal. This tested peoples patience as just about everyone had to be towed through the clay sections at least once, including the VW Touareg of Chris Field which showed just how good a modern luxury vehicle is off-road even on low profile road rubber. Imagine where it will go when Chris gets some mud terrain tyres for it!
Despite the rain everyone cheered up especially as they filled themselves with the Gourmet Shuttle roast meal at lunch time.
Sunday on the other hand was clear and fine when another 65 people in 20 plus vehicles gathered for the briefing. In the forest the tracks were still slippery and muddy from the previous days rain but it also meant the water holes were full of water but with each passing vehicle the level was gradually reduced. Just about everyone went home with a slightly different coloured vehicle to what they started the day with.
There was even an international participation with Alan coming all the way from England to spend a day in the forest. Well actuall
y he had been visiting Clive Partington and came along with Clive and Rick in the Mitsubishi Ute for the day. Needless to say the boys had an enjoyable time and had several stories to tell once back home.
Hayden Johnston and Cindy Barnes certainly enjoyed themselves in the old SWB Pajero, although Hayden learnt very quickly that making big splashes in the water holes has a price to pay when you have a petrol engine, but a can of CRC soon had them going again. It was only at the end of the day that they admitted they had recently purchased the vehicle for a miserly $500.
Woodhill has proved to be an excellent venue with it being one of the most popular destinations for Readers Trips. It offers so much to so many because of its sandy base and all weather tracks yet there is now uncertainty as to the future access. In addition a large portion of the best tracks are under threat due to logging. NZ4WD will continue to talk to the new forestry representatives to keep recreational access open to four-wheel drives..:
