Life has been extremely busy. Today was a day to regroup, have some fun before starting a new term of study. The Christchurch 4WD Club was heading to the Mid Canterbury 4×4 Park, just out of Ashburton at the end of Cochranes Road, to have a play. This would be my second trip with this club. I need to do a training day and I can become a member. The first trip was Sunday Drive up the Waipara River, what seems like ages ago. The weather was grand, it was a classic Canterbury frosty start with clear blue skies. This trip was a club family day and my children weren’t the only ones out today.

The last time I was out with this club I felt wholly under prepared. Today wasn’t that much different. What I do have is a bit more experience and know MJ a bit better too. I didn’t put on the mud terrain tyres as I thought we had options on how to negotiate the park… opps, mistake number one for the day. We aired down at the beginning of the park entrance and had a final briefing and headed into the park. It was muddy! It was exciting as the squealing started off straight away.

  • The rules.
  • The way forward!
  • And… we’re off.

It didn’t take us long to get stuck as the convoy snaked around the park. The way out the door was blocked by the the truck being in a deep rut but I was able to climb over Annushka and help get the tow rope onto the recovery point. A quick tug and we were off!

  • First recovery
  • Waiting for our turn

So much experience was gained by watching and getting into the thick of it. We were negotiating some very trick terrain and the ruts were wonderful for giving everything a work out. Over the last few trips I have gained plenty of experience picking lines and when to give just enough throttle at the right time. Just before we stopped for lunch we had a play at the flex obstacles designed to give the suspension a good work out. After a play there and a quick tow we had lunch. For something to do it was decided to do it all again in reverse order!

By this point I was feeling pretty cocky and boasted to the children we could negotiate the next bit with easy. Well, that bit me in the bum. Not only did we get stuck we broke something…

Listen for the ‘crunch’.

The skid plates were pulled off they protect the underbelly of MJ, thankfully, it wasn’t critical. Jacks came flying out and MJ was up in no time, to assess the damage. The damage was deemed not crucial and MJ became a grader so we ploughed on through. For rest of the trip out we had to be towed twice more through deep ruts and drove out the last bit bouncing around. So much fun. A few of the members helped my remove the bent skid plates and a quick wash later the spare parts were nicely tucked into the back of the truck.

  • Uh oh!
  • Two jacks
  • Assessing the damage
  • Opps
  • Removal
  • and clean

Once MJ was secured the plan was to head up the river to have a play. This was a great way to finish off the day. We dropped into the North Branch of the Ashburton River and drove up to Winchmore Road enjoying the lovely weather and getting some big water fans up the side of the vehicles. Just before airing up we had to get out of the river and it was the first time we had water over the bonnet of MJ! Great day out, after airing up we headed back to Christchurch. We stayed out later than we thought and decided to have a meal out. First thing we did was give MJ a bath at the carwash, then it was dinner time. After parking MJ we noticed that she had no license plate! Doh, another part missing. Despite all the ups and downs we had such a wonderful day out.