We set off on Friday night as usual, all loaded up for four days off the beaten track, spare fuel, heaps of food and as much gear as you can squeeze into a 110.
Nothing out of the ordinary untill Sunday at lunch time. We were on our way back out of Erua Rd after the farmer got grumpy about us following the road and it started to snow. Big fat flakes. It wasn't lasting on the the ground long but was hanging in the trees.
It was about that time the trip took a more "adventurous" turn
One of our group left us just after mid day as they had to attend work on Monday. Now down to just two vehicles, we could cover more ground more quickly, so headed through Ratamire Rd, looked into another couple of places and finally ended in Waiouru. We loaded up with fuel and headed into the Desert Rd.
By this stage (6pm approx Sunday night) the road was still open but the snow was falling persistently and the temp was dropping rapidly!!!! It was dark, slippery and getting pretty grim.
As the storm was coming in from the SW, we decided that the intended destination which was right up on the plateau was quite possibly not the best option. We needed to get down into a valley to find a bit of shelter.
We arrived at camp and were set up and ready for worst by around 7:30 pm. As fast as we could set things up, the snow was settling on it, making awnings and shelters a mongrel to erect.
This is our little sheltered camp at about 8pm Sunday night
We even got the fire cranking, the fire wood stash was still dry!!!!!!
Zuki decided it was all a bit much and made himself a nest
Because we're idiots, as well as being slightly on edge about just how bad the storm was about to get, we were still crashing around the camp at 11:30pm, with a clear sky and a full moon. The snow covered trees and blanketed ground was quite spooky and surreal in the moon light! We took the opportunity to see how deep the snow drifts had got, and tried to imagine what it would be like right up on the tops. Down in the valley we had about a 2" base, with over 4" were it had drifted
I tried but couldn't capture the landscape in the full moon on my little camera, but got some spooky shots of vegetation
Monday morning dawned, and it was still snowing, REALLY snowing. At about 8:30am it started to ease a little, and we discovered that UBZ was stuck in his truck with the doors frozen shut
We got him out, only to find all the buttons on the door handles on the 110 were frozen solid. I unstuck them, only for them on to freeze up again 10mins later!!!!!Monday mornings awesomeness
As it was still snowing quite heavily, but more sporadically, we had to weigh the options up.
Based on the weather map from the previous day, we were convinced there was worse on its way. We had food, gear and fuel for about 4 days, so sitting tight wasn't going to be an issue.
A quick recce' up the track indicated the option for escape was still open if we wanted to use it, but it would have to be done in the next hour or two based on the rate of snow fall. The issue with attempting to head out from the valley was that we had a gnarly off camber approach to a creek crossing which could go bad if ice was present. We also had no idea how deep the snow and then the snow drifts were going to be once we got back up onto the tops, and then there was the 3 Sisters to contend with once we did get out.
So guess what option we chose
Heading out
Assessing the crossing:
Safely through
The weather cleared a bit briefly, giving us this shot:
A while later and we were back on the Desert Rd. Its not often you get to drive down SH1 with your tires at 15psi, in Low Range, Diff Lock engaged, punching through snow drifts!!!!!!!!
It took a few hours to get to the road closure gates, and was quite funny to see peoples expressions as we passed through. It must have been quite a site, two trucks that looked more like mobile blobs of snow emerging out of the cloud, cautiously coming down the hill in low range towards the gates
On the way we picked up these little hitch hikers. They were sitting out on the side of the road in the pelting snow way up on the plateau wondering why the boss hadn't picked them up yet. They were so weak they almost couldn't climb into the back of the truck
Pig dogs make me nervous, but these little critters were absolutely wrecked!! Zuki and Chess gave them the last of their biscuits, and we dropped them at the Turangi SPCA, who suspected they had been in the bush since Thursday.
I have a cool vid uploading to youtube
legal road access to a "conservation area" (read hunting area) blocked off by boulders .was a perfectly good road with a perfectly good bridge.
