The Wellington Family 4x4 Club is a small club with a big dream. Last year when I went with them on their first Child Cancer Foundation Tag-Along fundraiser (a highly successful event with about 35 entrants) they told me this would be an annual event getting bigger and better. Sure enough, the club was back this year with another Child Cancer Tag-Along fundraiser. This time it was a relatively easy and very scenic 70 km circuit through the Akatarawa Forest between Upper Hutt and Paraparaumu. Because this is a working forest with a complex network of many hundreds of km of roads and tough tracks, and little cell phone coverage, 4WD access is limited to trips run by registered clubs with authorised trip leaders. As such it is an area few people get a chance to visit by 4WD, and registrations came in thick and fast. The event was originally promoted for Sunday March 16, but with registrations pouring in the decision was soon made to have a second trip later in the month. With 70 participants on the first trip and as many expected for the second, this event was certainly bigger than last time, and although a very different type of scenery from before, every bit as good. I took part in the first run, which was held in near perfect weather. Arriving at the Upper Hutt starting point I was impressed with the well organised registration system, with plenty of room to park and a smooth flow for processing registrations and selling this year’s T-shirt. The line “T-shirts are $17.50 but this is for a charity and $20 makes it easier on change” seemed to work wonders for getting the extra $2.50 donation. Having registered, it was then on to the Mad Butcher’s BBQ for a free sausage for breakfast while reading the plentiful material supplied with the registration. This was also a chance to meet and greet friends and look at the range of vehicles while waiting for the briefing. As usual vehicles ranged from club trucks with serious rubber to very new and shiny 4WDs with sport rubber. There were also a few “soft-roaders” with no low range. As well as the usual safety advice Ash’s briefing included walking people through the route map in the registration material. After the number of tag-alongs I have been on where we are just blindly following the person in front, people really seemed to appreciate knowing roughly where they were going. The first part of the run was a fairly long one from Upper Hutt over to the new Orange Hut. As it had been dry for the last few weeks the tracks were very firm and dusty. While a little rough in places, and with a few quite steep sections, there was nothing to challenge any of the vehicles, although those without low range may have had to work the brakes on the steeper descents. Morning tea at the Orange Hut gave the participants the chance to hear a bit of the history of the area and see some of the old logging machinery. I was highly impressed with how well the organisers had packed everyone into the parking area – although there were more vehicles parked on the track for the opening of the Orange Hut, this must have been a record for the number of vehicles actually in the car park. After morning tea it was a shorter run out to the Maungakotukutuku gate for lunch. I went on ahead to get some photos and met a group of cyclists hoping to make it to where they were leaving the main route before the convoy reached them. They didn’t, and I saw them sitting on the side of the road while a total of about 90 vehicles came past stirring up the dust. Lunch was in a generously provided paddock just outside the Maungakotukutuku gate. While enjoying lunch I chatted to a number of the participants and many comments on how much fun they were having. A few people also commented on the pleasure of being able to relive memories of walking/cycling through the area when younger. After fuelling up the participants, it was time for the traditional lottery for donated prizes and fund-raising auction. Despite the number of people on the trip everyone got something useful from the lottery. The $400 tyre voucher from Naenae Tyre Centre was auctioned off for $350 – a fantastic effort all round. Another clever piece of fund-raising was having a couple of photos taken of each vehicle going through stream crossings, then marketing the photos on one of the club member’s web sites, with profits going to the Child Cancer Foundation. I will be putting all the extra photos I took on the web site as well. After lunch there was a long run all the way back through the Akatarawas, climbing up to the top power pylon at about 550 metres for some fantastic views of the whole area, before a steep descent into the Wainui stream and climb back up to the main track. Afternoon tea was in another paddock just outside the Akatarawa Forest, before a final run through the Rallywoods property back to where we started, where we all had to formally check out. Given the size of the area covered, it was good to make double-sure no-one had gone the wrong way and been left behind. This was a very professionally run event that seemed to go down really well with the participants. With one more day to go, total numbers look like being three or four times last year’s trip, with many thousands of dollars being raised for a very special cause. If you missed it this year, I urge you to look out for this one next year, it is a very worthwhile event to support.