Well seeing as I apparently am the recipient of the Mater award (tow truck from the Pixar movie Cars, for those that don’t know) it has been decreed by Bubbles that I’m now responsible for the trip report.
So here goes.
19 trucks met up at the Ashley Gorge reserve on a fine and sunny Sunday morning, ready for the trek down to the Rangiora Bridge.
After a quick run through of what to expect from trip leader PR, we all set off in convoy down the river, as promised the first part was the roughest for rocks etc, and it was only 5 mins in, on about the second crossing that I got hung up on a rock and needed a quick drag back to dislodge it.
Things smoothed out a bit after that, but the water crossings didn’t get any shallower, I can’t really speak for all the participants, as I was near the front of the group, so missed some of the fun further back down the line, with 19 trucks it’s hard to see everything.
On some of the harder crossings everyone stopped after the crossing to check everyone got across OK, and of course for the actions photos as well.
There were a couple of excursions into the unknown which resulted in a couple of recoveries needed, and of course there was the highlight for me, of watching the PR Safari (boat) doing the floating thing down one section, it wasn’t a problem until PR decided this wasn’t a good way to follow, and tried to come back up, a bit of a breather was needed for the Safari boat due to a air cleaner ½ full of water!
Bloody lucky I would say not to kill it, but all was restored, and an alternative path found that required PR to winch himself out of.
After a lunch stop, that was a great experience in who comes most prepared, kiwipete & hosehustler, nice BBQ lunches! We were off down river again, for a couple more recoveries from the clutches of the water, and overall a great day out.
I’m sure all who went will agree it was a stunning day out, and a learning curve for all of us who still had carpets in, and were yet to enjoy the delights of getting wet feet inside your truck.
A group of us turned off at the Okuku River and headed out to the road, leaving the remainder of the group to carry on down to the Rangiora Bridge.
I’m sure there is someone else who can fill us all in on the rest of the trip, possibly the next to get stuck after me if you carried on down the whole way.
A very big thanks to PR for having the gumption to put this trip together, and hanging in there when Mother Nature put her oar in and postponed it!
I guess the number of us on the trip showed how much your time and effort in setting it up was appreciated.
Roll on the next one!!!
Ashley Gorge-Rangiora Bridge 18/11/2007
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billyvanboheman
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Ashley Gorge-Rangiora Bridge 18/11/2007
1989 LWB Isuzu Bighorn, Intercooled 4JB1T, Ball Joint flip, Torsion bar wind, 3 inch stainless homebuilt snorkel,1/2 done electric fan mod,front sway bar quick disconnects, 15x8 ROH White Spokes,33x12.5x15 Hankooks.
and I think the first person stuck after we split was Hulux_Happy so he can do the trip report for that part 
QUADRACER wrote:great report, next time we can nominate at the start of the trip first to get stuck writes the report
I thought I would keep that part out of the pre-trip breifing as its good to see the look on the persons face when you tell them aye Billy
Its NOT a whale !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! more like a large seal
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hulux-happy
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ok guys and girls, here is the second half of the trip report from the ashley gouge trip.
well after the two groups split and we continued on downstream we were in yet more broom. i cant stand yellow flowers now. we were on a track winding in and out of the tree line, then pr took a sharp left into what i thought was a creek, then i relised where we were
i had been wanting to give this hole another go since the last ashley trip we did. pr went frist and made it, then my go. well i was stuck. pr rescued me and i drained all the water out of the truck. i had renoved my carpets long ago so she dried out faily quick. the hosehustler had a go and made it. wel that was it. it was war and i had to make it, with a little encourgment from bubbles i was at it again. bugger i was stuck again. a quick tow from pr again and another emptying out of the water. then quadracer had a go, and he got stuck. i towed him out and then i towed the vitara out. quadracer said that we should have another go, and you little ripper. i gave it all she had and poped out the other side of the hole then quadracer went and made it aswell. we were chuffed and rekoned it was the best thing we had done all day. after my head srunk back to reality we carryed on into the depths of the broom again. did i metion how much i hate yellow flowers 
. about 10 minutes down the river pr had his trye come of the bead. i gave him a hand with his hi-lift jack as it had a toyota moment and failed to do what was asked of it. .once we were moving again about a minut later bubbles had the same tyre problem pr just had, only it was two tyres this time. after a breif stop pr made the call to end the day there. we all split and i escorted the vitara back to the ragiora bridge. along the way we were following jezza. as we were going slow for the baby in the back of the vitara, we lost sight of jezza fairly quickly. once we got to the bridge the vitara left. me and azza hung around for a while incase anyone got lost and needed an escort back to the road. that gave me a chance to pump up the tyres and give the truck a wash. once the truck was sorted we noticed pr, bubbles, and kath heading over the bridge. well what a day. thanks to pr for organising the day and thanks to hosehustler for being tail-end charlie. most importantly thanks to all the members for turning up and making it one interresting day. cant wait for the next trip. cheers all
well after the two groups split and we continued on downstream we were in yet more broom. i cant stand yellow flowers now. we were on a track winding in and out of the tree line, then pr took a sharp left into what i thought was a creek, then i relised where we were
i had been wanting to give this hole another go since the last ashley trip we did. pr went frist and made it, then my go. well i was stuck. pr rescued me and i drained all the water out of the truck. i had renoved my carpets long ago so she dried out faily quick. the hosehustler had a go and made it. wel that was it. it was war and i had to make it, with a little encourgment from bubbles i was at it again. bugger i was stuck again. a quick tow from pr again and another emptying out of the water. then quadracer had a go, and he got stuck. i towed him out and then i towed the vitara out. quadracer said that we should have another go, and you little ripper. i gave it all she had and poped out the other side of the hole then quadracer went and made it aswell. we were chuffed and rekoned it was the best thing we had done all day. after my head srunk back to reality we carryed on into the depths of the broom again. did i metion how much i hate yellow flowers . about 10 minutes down the river pr had his trye come of the bead. i gave him a hand with his hi-lift jack as it had a toyota moment and failed to do what was asked of it. .once we were moving again about a minut later bubbles had the same tyre problem pr just had, only it was two tyres this time. after a breif stop pr made the call to end the day there. we all split and i escorted the vitara back to the ragiora bridge. along the way we were following jezza. as we were going slow for the baby in the back of the vitara, we lost sight of jezza fairly quickly. once we got to the bridge the vitara left. me and azza hung around for a while incase anyone got lost and needed an escort back to the road. that gave me a chance to pump up the tyres and give the truck a wash. once the truck was sorted we noticed pr, bubbles, and kath heading over the bridge. well what a day. thanks to pr for organising the day and thanks to hosehustler for being tail-end charlie. most importantly thanks to all the members for turning up and making it one interresting day. cant wait for the next trip. cheers all 
safari SWB, 33x12.5x15 muds, lsd, snorkel, pto winch, uhf cb, recovery gear
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hulux-happy
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Moriarty wrote:Yeah, thanks for that, Why did you not forward it to ME as Editor I am supposed to publish these for all the membership. did you forget?
How come no fotos!! ???
Yes I forgot
This is just a trip report have a look under Planning a Trip (Ashley George 18/11/07) photos in there
Its NOT a whale !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! more like a large seal
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Moriarty
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PR wrote:Moriarty wrote:Yeah, thanks for that, Why did you not forward it to ME as Editor I am supposed to publish these for all the membership. did you forget?
How come no fotos!! ???
Yes I forgot
This is just a trip report have a look under Planning a Trip (Ashley George 18/11/07) photos in there
Can you redo it with fotos embedded etc, as a wrod doc and send it to me?
PM me when its done, if you DO do it, and I will give you my email address.
Moriarty wrote:PR wrote:Moriarty wrote:Yeah, thanks for that, Why did you not forward it to ME as Editor I am supposed to publish these for all the membership. did you forget?
How come no fotos!! ???
Yes I forgot
This is just a trip report have a look under Planning a Trip (Ashley George 18/11/07) photos in there
Can you redo it with fotos embedded etc, as a wrod doc and send it to me?
PM me when its done, if you DO do it, and I will give you my email address.
I will try to do somthing later to day
Its NOT a whale !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! more like a large seal
(021) 02388443
(021) 02388443