New Zealand : 1996 Manawatu Coast to Coast.

Kevin Isemonger

Neil and myself travelled down to Ashley's mothers place (Mrs Lucas or Mum as we all know her). Ashley was already there as it had taken nearly a week to get his vehicle clean enough to show off to a motoring journalist who was coming along for the ride. Alistair Davidson was the scribe and he managed to convince his brother in law, Warren Coulter, that driving a brand new Land-Rover Defender turbo diesel through some back-country areas might be good fun. Trouble was, the Defender was booked out, so much to his horror he was offered a red Land-Rover Discovery 3.9L auto, yes with air, yes with electric central locking etc. Brent Mealing turned up that night, and we had all had a huge breakfast by the time Alistair and Warren arrived.

At a quick look over the Disco I endeavoured to encourage Alistair to remove the front bumper and leave it at home, as an alternative to it being removed by force later. He declined on the ground that BMW (British Motor Works) would prefer it to be on for the purposes of the obligatory photo shoot.

We travelled in convoy down to Foxton, the only break in the monotony being when Neil and I shot through a few minutes before Alistair and Ashley, only to hide around the corner in some Toetoe to watch them fly past, pedal to the metal trying to catch us up. We finally caught up to them in Ohakune........ not amused!

Next morning we were at Foxton beach at 08:00 Saturday the 3rd February 1996 and due to fate we were first away after receiving all our instructions. The instructions were the usual tulips [?] plus a blank piece of paper with an outline showing the east and west coasts of the island and with a dot marking Foxton beach. This was not to any kind of standard scale and we were to plot our progress as closely as possible.

After adorning the vehicle with sponsor's stickers for Kumho tyres we were flagged away. The first 20-odd kms were straight up Foxton beach, hard going in the sand with an incoming tide. The poor 1995cc Series One was in low ratio just trying to keep on top of the soft sand. Later, the competitors had to wade their way around huge amounts of drift wood and sand dunes to reach the turn-in point by a surf club.

Upon reaching a point at Tangimoana we came inland and traversed some farm paddocks where we had our first problem with the Discovery and that huge air dam at the front. We had to cross a soft peat-bog and straight off it broke the plastic mounts and we had fun for the rest of the trip keeping it close to the vehicle for those great photos. From there, we traversed back-country roads which bought us into Bulls from the south, over the bridge hard left and a short tour along the river bank. As we came back onto the road we were geographically embarrassed which resulted in us having some video recorded in Fielding when we should have been in Martin. A hasty retreat was made and no one was going to tell the organizers, but we did pass a couple of vehicles heading toward Fielding who later got the prize of being most lost...... my lips are sealed!

Back on the right track at Martin, a top-up of the fuel tanks for the petrol vehicles and we headed north out of Martin and into the white powdery hills following the Turakina river, then on up past Otairi, on up to Rongoiti junction, and then it was back south down to Tiriraukawa. This is where we followed a paper road which was barely a clay track, thankfully this was dry, as if it was wet, it may have been a bit tricky for the Disco to negotiate. We had only just got to the other side when the heavens opened up and Brent had a near miss when a car ran off the road trying to avoid all of the 4X4 vehicles appearing out of a clump of bush. He was a local thinking that there was no one else on the road (which, looking around, was not hard to believe.) From there it was short trip straight down into Mangaweka which was our camp over night.

After starting off in first position at Foxton we were sixth into camp, which was quite good considering our slight excursion during the day as well as stops for photos.

Time in at the end of the day determined the start time the next day so that everyone had the same time in camp. The camping area was superb with a back-drop of the vertical, high, white cliffs seen in the Tiahape - Mangaweka region.

Next morning dawned too quickly and the team was fed, cleaned up, loaded up and lined up for the start of day two. Out of camp, crossed the river and headed in an easterly direction towards the Ruahine ranges, with the door tops off the short wheel base and the cold wind in the face. Most of day two consisted of unsealed back-country roads and we headed south towards Pemberton then in a north westerly direction again to Hinau, with a nice little off-road section where a Range Rover tried to do a balancing act on its tow ball and fell off the road. We stayed a bit too long watching all of the experts telling all of the other experts how they should best recover the vehicle with minimum damage. Onto Marshall road, along Maungamoko road, Waipiro, then proceeded down to Island road and into the river for the next several kilometers.

This was where we sent a sucker, I mean Alistair, in front of the vehicles to test the depth, succeeding in getting his shorts wet. Note the photo that Rover New Zealand was not shown, can't think why, as there was no special preparation done and it did not miss a beat. At Pakihikura we crawled out of the river to rejoin the road and made our way along Peep-O-Day road which is used as part of the day breaker car rally. We then turned off and headed north again toward Apiti and then back towards the Ruahine ranges. Just short of the forest park there was a short off-road section and then it was back on-road to Umutoi to proceed south to camp for day two at a place called Rangi Woods where we pitched our tents beside the Pohangina river at a place called Mt. Richards. Again we retained out 6th position for the day.

Rangi Woods is a YMCA / School camp with a large meeting hall and the organizers put on a live country and western band for entertainment that night. Some of the more party-going types raged on into the early hours while the rest of us tramped back to a tent in preparation for an early start the next day.

Once again it was the usual routine of packing up the vehicle to prepare for our start time. Today the route took us straight through to Ashurst where we had the necessary fill-ups again and all met up by the river bank where some Jet boat rides were put on at the start of the Manawatu gorge. Out of Ashurst and across the bridge, we headed towards Aokautere where we started the Pahiatua track and the Tararua ranges. At the top of the track we turned left across the range and followed the ridge passing Hawks Bay and Manawatu NZ Civil Aviation for Hawks Bay and Manawatu area and an enclosed radar dome.

Hooned along the ranges and through a few neat little soft spots, including the spot where Ansett [airline] parked their DASH8 last winter, until we got to "Cross Roads" where we wound our way back down towards Pahiatua. We then traversed back-country roads into Pahiatua where again there was a quick stock up of supplies for the night and we headed south out of town then struck out in an easterly direction on our way to the Kaitawa ridge road. While this may appear to be a no-exit road on most maps, there is a rather narrow winding ridge track that eventually brings you out to the high plateau of Pori.

The organizer certainly had a sense of humour as dotted along this track were little signs such as "Muddy Waters" by a bog, "Lovers Leap" where there was no track and "Kaiangroa Forest" where there was more than one pine tree, or "Lunch Spot" next to the remains of a dead cow.

While we found the trip reasonable going with only one or two difficult spots, the Discovery sustained damage to the indicator lens. However, one Land-Rover owner misjudged the direction in which his wheels were pointing in thick mud and launched himself off the side of the track and rolled 8 to 10 times. A lot can be said for roll bars and the wearing of seat belts because although the Land-Rover was totalled and the driver rushed by helicopter to Palmerston North hospital, he suffered only a broken arm and bruised kidneys and was released the next day.

We camped on a farm at Puri where the conditions were rather cold and draughty and we ended up positioning the vehicles and using a pile of fire wood to break the wind. It was not until the next day that we realised we were on top of a high range of hills.

The organizers had arranged a spot for the chaps to have a wee play in a water hole. Those who did not join in were certainly entertained by those who did, with the battle of the big block Land-Cruisers versus the water proofing of the genuine motors as hugh muddy rooster tails could be seen.

At the end of day three we had slipped to 10th place, still a good result.

Day 4 saw us head through Alfredton and over Castle Hill and through to the finish point at Castle Point on the east coast of the Wararapa. The vehicles were lined up on the beach and photos taken. Of approximately 130+ vehicle that had started at Foxton, only 86 remained at the end. Of these, 19 were Land-Rovers. Of the team of Forward Control 101" Land-Rovers, only one decided to complete the journey and we heard rumours that one of the 101s had drowned in the river but this is yet to be confirmed.

Prize giving was entertaining and our team won equal first prize for the most accurate map and was presented with a coffee mug with Manawatu 1996 Coast to Coast written on the side.

Some teams dropped out due to a lack of off-roading, which was a justifiable criticism to some extent, but for the likes of myself who drove his pride and joy, a 40 year old vehicle, the 1082 miles around the track, I would not have been too happy about pushing my luck too far, that distance from home. Damage? I bent my rear number plate on a bank that I cut too close. The 1995cc engine consumed approximately 50 gallons of petrol and averaged about 20mpg, which was not too bad considering the hammering I gave it on the way home.

My thanks to the Manawatu 4X4 club for a very well organised event which showed me around an area that I had not seen before.

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