Wild West

In Canterbury, November means Show Week and that means we get a Friday off! We usually stay in town and enjoy the A&P Show, but this year it was cancelled. Instead we had something exciting and adventurous up ours sleeve… a trip to the rugged and beautiful Wild West Coast.

Day 1

Friday morning we had the truck packed and left home at 7.30am and headed to Golden Bay via Murchison. Just over 9 hours and 560kms later we arrived at our friend’s amazing slice of paradise the Wetland View Park. If you get the chance you have to visit Giff and Sally their hospitality is superb!

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We haven’t been up this way for a couple of years. Before dinner we went for a wander up the track Giff has been working on and explored some of the mining and forestry history of the region. The kids were amazed as was I walking through a nikau palm grove. It was beautiful. After dinner we headed off to bed excited for the day ahead.

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You may be thinking “where are they and where are they heading?”. That is a good question. We stayed in Mangarakau and to get here you drive to Golden Bay over the Takaka Hill and head to Farewell Spit. Before you hit the Spit you take a left at Pakawau and drive 40mins down a gravel road enjoying the views over Whanganui Inlet. Now we have got this far the trip will head further down the West Coast to try and get to Kahurangi Point Lighthouse.

Day 2

The Canterbury Recreational 4WD Club had scheduled a 10.30am departure from Collingwood a good hours drive to us so we had a leisurely morning. After helping Giff clear another track in the morning and a spot of morning tea we headed out on the road to wait for the rest of the club.

Just before noon we met the convoy and headed south. The first obstacle was the Anatori River a very picturesque spot that was full of holiday makers and whitebait fishermen. Fording the river was not an issue as the water flow was low, still very exciting.

The convoy followed the road to Turimawiwi River for lunch and to air down our tyres before hitting the beach. As I was cooking up our wild west coast sausages Josie and I felt a jolt as I was sitting on the ground we both looked at each other and said it was an earthquake. Later in the evening Sally confirmed that is was one not too far away. After lunch and the rest of the convoy airing down we forded the river and hit the beach!

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Oh my goodness, what fun. We felt like we should have been on a 4WD adventure magazine. The beach was stunning and the views and landscape was truly out of this world. It seemed like every few minutes the rocks changed in shape, texture, and content. We saw beds of sand stone festooned with fossils. Fingers of rock jutting out through the sand and diving off into the surf. Rocks scattered over the beach that looked like a lunar landscape!

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Next obstacle was the Anaweka River. The sand is soft and the water makes ripples in the sand that are perfect for tyres to sink into… exciting. Our trip leader was sent out to wade across the river and found us a suitable fording spot. Crossing was uneventful and we could see the lighthouse in the distance.

Big River was as the name suggests is a big obstacle. Low tide was at 3.30pm we arrived at 2.40pm and there was way too much water to even think about crossing. Toby and I had a look in the lagoon and found some tyre tracks that crossed the river and we waded across. The water was only up past my knees. Following the tracks lead us to the ‘road’ on the other side of the river mouth. After our wee recon mission Toby and I headed back and had a chat with some of the other drivers. I was able to rope in another truck and we gave it a crack with success.

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There was an unsuccessful attempt to cross closer to the sea that vehicle had found a sand hole and ended up flooding their vehicle and getting their computer wet, oh no, they were dead and had to be towed back up the beach. The convoy headed back up the beach to keep well ahead of the turning tide.

Over the radio there was a call for help as the towed vehicle and truck pulling got themselves stuck in the Anaweka River. This was an exciting recovery as the dead weight and sand were not a good mixture. It took three trucks to pull out the first truck and then four to pull out the dead one! Once this recovery was behind us the rest of the trip was retracing our steps to the Anatori River were we aired up and we left the convoy to head back to Giff and Sally’s place for the night.

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Day 3

We beat the birds in the morning and headed home at 5.45am. The run home was a personal best arriving back in Christchurch at 2.00pm with 1186km under our belts we washed MJ to get the salt and sand off her and I had a nap!

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This trip was amazing! The kids and I were buzzing as we had so much fun and the country was wild. Annushka said “not many people get to enjoy this” she is so right, we are really fortunate to live is such a wonder place.