The 4x4 National Park event? No drama here, mate

Damn, that 1997 Wrangler looks like a well set-up vehicle.

Organiser Peter Vahry reports that the weekend's 4x4 National Park safari was accomplished "without drama" – the dryness of the countryside meant that over the two days, not one of the 22 4WDs taking part needed  recovery. Can't have been much fun for the Centipede crowd, then.

Light rain on Friday evening dampened the dust for Saturday morning as the vehicles set off for a six-hour run over a Landcorp farm and adjacent Department of Conservation (DoC) land. "While not very challenging to the 4x4 capabilities of the vehicles, one DoC track of several kilometres, through established Manuka, was a tight fit for many of the bigger 4WDs and required vigilance," reported the organiser. 

Thanks to Peter Vahry for the photos.

Sunday saw the event on completely different terrain on another Landcorp farm. At first glance, it seemed quite flat land, but the pumice soil was actually cut-through by gullies eroded by watercourses, meaning a sequence of fords and bridges as the convoy wound its way to an overview of the Whakapapaiti River.

A presentation on Saturday evening saw Jack Talbot of the Auckland 4WD Club hand over to Blake McDavitt of the Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation (RARO) a cheque for $1225.

It's an, er, um … it's a, hang on I'll get it in a minute. It's a 1972 Steyr-Puch Haflinger; 603ccs of pulsing power!