Central Otago/Southland 6 day Safari 16-22 January 2010

[2roky]

you did better than me i never made it at all. was wanting to but got held up back in dunedin n that was only for the serpintine leg of the trip. having to work this week is just a pain in the ass

[NJV6]

[juz]

HAHA!!!! HiLuxury lookin a bit dirty there! Is that up the private land you had lined up for them?

[2roky]

that land is private its glenary station if my knowledge is correct

[badnuz]

They have a day off tomorrow then onto Mavora Lakes

We spent a nite there on our trip, absolultely magic spot, you SI guys have some magic spots indeed!

will post some of our SI trip pics this weekend

[tallsam66]

Awesome trip....just sorting thru the photos & will put some up during the week.

Thanks AL for organising a great trip.

[DA RAM]

hi there
thanks AL for letting me n shag (pup) on this trip with the bundy family had a great time cheers
also thanks for the guided tour to blue lake NJV6 cheers

[DA RAM]

YES DA RAM DROVE THE BOG !!!! BOTH WAYS
but only just that mud suck's the horse power ,and had a bit of a cough n splutter on another one lol

[albundy]

Just got back from 5 days in Catlins after our 6 days 4wheeling . Awesome time, absolutely great group. We all clicked so nicely which really makes a great trip. Jim, you and shag are most welsome on any of my trips, my boys really enjoy your company, and shag, and I know you will keep the little buggers in line And yep that bog that stuffed me almost got ya. I will find a hole one day to **** you up .
Poolburn was good until the sun went down then coold as. Note for self: look into camping amongst rocks next time. Got hammered that night, had a wicked hangover for first 4wd day, what's new. Spued before I started and had to pull convoy up for another halfway along Long Valley Ridge Rd . I wasn't laughiong at the time, shit I was crook. Tried a couple of beers at lunch and that didn't fix it either. Only came good in Alex that night after a gut full of KFC.
Next day we had a good climb up the Fruitlands track. Three out of four trucks got hot, but not too bad. Very steep long climb. We went from sweating our guts out at Mitchells cottage to three layers of clothing at the Obliesk in half an hour.
Cruised around the Old man range to the Old woman Range and up the staircase, did a u turn and headed down the south side of the Old Man Range circuit to Potters. Then down the Whitcomb rd. Long day as we didn't get in to Piano Flat until about 8pm.
Next day, NJV6 caught up with us and took us into private land to Blue Lake, awesome day, have wanted to get into here for years. Thanks Glen.
Wednesday was a rest day in the sense of no 4wheeling. We headed out to Lumsden to re-stock with food, fuel and booze and headed into Mavora Lakes. Found and excellent camp under the trees. Set up the bush shower and had some nice hot showers all round under the trees amongst nature. Next day we headed to Boundary Hut, spent a little time exploring "old taracks" by foot. We then headed up to Forks hut, hot, dry, rough, rocky track. Crawler gears came in handy here, actually they came in handy across all the rocky terrain as it made the ride so comfortable as you could really control the throttle. Wife manged to get a novel read whilst driving all these days over this type of terrain.
Thursday night was our first night of rain on the whole trip, we semed to drive between it all over the whole week. Must have good contacts with weather gods me thinks.
I will fess up now, only truck to get stuck all trip four times.
1. On Serpentine after church going towards Lake Onslow rd. Hit a mud hole with walls that wasn't wide enough to take a safari. Previous pics show it. It now is
2. South side of Old man Range circuit, long mudhole that turned out to be full of finely compacted silt, not muddy water, and deep. A few good pulls to get through that one. It's now clear of mud as Jim had a good go at it as well. and made it.
3. Going down Whitcomb Rd, last bog hole, soft right hand side pulled me into it, seriously stuck. Another few serious pulls on the snatch and out. When Jim hit it I told him to steer as hard left and not give in to the right hand pull and he only just made it through, nearly put the fire out too.
4. Going into to Blue Lake, last half hour of three hour trip, I realise I am only in three wheel drive going up a steep slippery grassy track. All four wheels ended up in its own rut, wife looked at me from novel and said " I think something is wrong with your truck"
Quick hub fix at Blue Lake and all good. Got to re-modify that mod to the hubs.

Great holiday and awesome trip. Good to get back to Central Otago and Southland after a three year absence. Good things about these tirps is you 99.99% of tyhe time come home with trucks that aren'/t broken as opposed to the West Coast.

Will get Bro-in -law to show me how to p;ost pics as I have never doen it on this site.
Al

[2roky]

sounds awsome gutted i didnt make got held up with jobs to do in dunedin sadly. And i did warn you about that last bog hole heading over to waikaia lol

that right hand side was the only bit i got stuck in when i did it to

[Engineer]

dissapointed i couldnt end up going for aday or two. the blue lake trip was the morning i finished work n a boys gotta sleep and couldnt make mavora due to other circumstances. its nice country especially for camping

[petefj40]

Awesome trip....just sorting thru the photos & will put some up during the week.

Thanks AL for organising a great trip.

No more pix then?
Looks like another good trip organized by Al. Nice one.

[tallsam66]

ill make up an album later on & load some of the ones i took.

[petefj40]

ill make up an album later on & load some of the ones i took.

Cool.
Thanks.

[tallsam66]

Link to the album
http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/gallery/als-southern-safari-2010