Story and photo by Ashley Lucas
After an absence of three years on the 4WD events calendar, the Te Awamutu Rotary Club was back this year with another 4WD Safari based in the Kawhia area.
To be fair it has only been two years as the 2017 event which was postponed due to bad weather and track conditions, only for the revised date also to be affected by another weather “bomb” and eventually cancelled.
However the 2019 Safari didn’t have problems weather-wise, with conditions being a typical summer’s day, hot dry and dusty over the Feb 16-17 weekend.
The history of the Te Awamutu Rotary Safari (or 4WD as it was originally known) goes back to 1998 when the Club was looking for alternative projects to raise funds for the local community. After a couple of false starts the first event was held in March 2001 with 53 vehicles participating.
Full house
For 2019 there were 97 vehicles with total occupants of 203, including Rotary and the volunteers from the King Country 4WD Club whose members assist with the off road sections and safety aspects of the safari.
Kawhia is a small seaside settlement on the west coast and is one of three large natural harbour inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region, the others being Raglan and Aotea Harbours. It is also the arrival place of the Maori Waka Tainui in Maori lore. The Aotea Waka arrived later and gave its name to the Aotea Harbour. The township of Kawhia is located on the northern coast of the inlet and was an important port in early colonial NZ history.
Off the beaten track
The township is almost 1950s-like, being a backwater locality off the beaten track, but it is an ideal place to spend a few days relaxing. Most go to the area for the fishing however one of Kawhia's claims to fame is the hot water spring on Ocean Beach. At low tide, geothermally heated water bubbles up through the black sand – you can dig your own bath and relax watching the sun go down.
Scrutineering and final registrations were done on the Friday afternoon with the usual welcome and safety briefings Saturday morning and David Samuel from Te Awamutu Rotary reminded participants to ‘mind your own business” with regards to publication of photos etc from the weekend.
Once on the road the convoy of vehicles left the township for the small settlement area of Oparau where the off road section began. It didn’t take long before the King Country 4WD club members were marshalling and recovering the odd vehicle from about the only muddy section on the event; a short deep hollow kept wet from ground seepage which also had a cross axle component with some having to be towed through.
Into the hills
After crossing the stream the track climbed up the hills until we entered a tight bush track which had some alternate diversions around some rather deep rutted sections. This slowed things up a bit as the larger vehicles had to take a ‘shunt’ or two to get through the trees.
Coming out of the bush the convoy regrouped for an early lunch before heading across the road and climbing even higher through farm land in the Moerangi area. The initial climb was steep but there were no problems traction wise with the ground baked hard from the long hot summer we have experienced. At the top there were views of Aotea Harbour before entering another closed in bush track.
Patience is a virtue
With so many vehicles on a narrow track with no passing opportunities there will inevitably be a hold-up somewhere and there was. With large tree across the track the property owners had diverted around through the trees, simple for one or two vehicles but with tree roots to content with and long wheel base vehicles it took a while to guide each vehicle through.
Exiting out of the bush onto farmland we were again treated to wide sweeping views of the Aotea Harbour and the surrounding area. It was down the hills to the main Raglan-Kawhia road where we went 200 metres and onto the last property for the day which wound us up the hills on the edge of the Aotea Harbour with even more spectacular views before coming out at Okapu and the Aotea Road.
Back to base at Kawhia we were treated to a wonderful dinner while we discussed the day’s occurrences with the usual banter regarding the various makes of vehicles.
Limestone country
Sunday and the safari would take us out to the Hauturu area south of Kawhia harbour. Getting to the properties involved some travelling via dusty metal roads which lead to the safari vehicles spreading out over a long distance. We were now in limestone territory and the entrance to the first property had a natural gate way of huge limestone rock before winding around rocky outcrops and large rock faces with the occasional bush section.
This property is also the location of a large natural tunnel that goes through the limestone hillside. We were given the opportunity to walk through the 200 metres or so to the other end and back. There were some impressive stalagmites and stalactites and if everyone was quiet and turned off all lights you could see the masses of glow-worms in the roof.
Onwards and upwards out of the valley and a couple of more bush-covered areas and hills with even more views if you could take your eyes off the narrow tracks for a moment.
This event will be remembered for the good four wheeling, the harbour views and of the amount dust that just gets into everything.
For a good cause
The funds raised by this year’s Safari will be used within the Kawhia and Hauturu communities and Te Awamutu Rotary would like to thank the sponsors and land owners for their support. Sponsors were 4WD Fibreglass, NZ4WD Magazine, Speedy Lube Waikato, Tough Dog Waikato and Tuff Gear Waikato.
To read the full story in the April 2019 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (March 15) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store
