Once all had been checked, we were given a safety briefing and an indication of what to expect during the day ahead. We were also told of a few changes to the plan due to lack of access into some forestry blocks, brought about by the fine weather and high fire risk, and that we had a longer than normal road section to start, before we commenced 4WDing in the Ngaruroro River.

Our destination was a track leaving on the true right giving access to Big Hill Station and the top of Big Hill. Leaving the river we commenced to climb, with a brief stop on a terrace overlooking the river.

As we continued to climb the views over the ‘Bay just improved the higher we went until we stopped alongside the track with the trig in sight for lunch.

Lunch over it was down the hill as we headed to Smedly Station and our evening stop at River Park Event Centre alongside the Waipawa River.

Sunday dawned with damp grass underfoot but clear skies and a small tipple (port) to start the day, courtesy the local Hunt club.

The morning seemed to fly by as we hit a gravel road for a short distance before entering HillSeekers 4WD and commencing the last leg of the trip to Kairakau Beach where we completed the Coast to Coast journey which we had started at Foxton Beach on the west coast 12 months before.

To read the full story in the June 2015 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (on sale May 18) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.