Offroad-Express

Hi all, new here and reasonably new to offroading. Names Hayden, I'm 25 and working as a scenic pilot here in Queenstown.

Got myself a 94 Bighorn 3.1td a few months ago that I'm slowly modding up to make it more capable/safe.

At this stage all it has are some Mudstar tyres, and my little accessory bin in the back (snatch strap, spade, axe, head torch, etc etc).

I have just ordered a snorkel and will be getting some decent recovery points for it as well as a front bash plate once the local engineering shop reopens after xmas break. Once I've got the snorkel on, recovery points and bash plate I'll probably look into a 2" suspension lift kit for it, ground clearance is its only weak point at the moment on the tracks around this area.

Anywho, onto some pics:

Playing in the Arrow River


Coal Pit Saddle (posing, not stuck )


Shotover Delta (quite badly stuck...)


Both my babies

hey thats a nice setup. im from queenstown too, doing a road trip up north back to queenie next week.
mace town is fun one huh, have you checked out any others yet? rees, skippers, coal pit road, tobins? there is heaps of terrain there. there is a club down there too, i did a couple trips with them but it was kinda tame.
if you see a silver challenger on any of the trails thats me. names kyle.

Hey cheers

I've done Coal Pit (just as far as the saddle) a few times, tried the Rees but after the carpark the track had been washed out leaving about a 1.5m near vertical bank to climb up which I wasn't keen on doing without another truck with me. Skippers is easy, been along Skippers Creek beyond the old town as well. Haven't been all the way to Macetown, saving that for when I have the snorkel fitted so I can have a bit more fun. Tobins is a good idea, been trying to think of one to do this week and that might be the winner. Do you know if you need any permissions or anything for it?

na its sweet, you can go over to the crown range and come down that way. nevis is next on my list, ive been up from the cromwell side but never over it.
looks good.

Nevis is one on the to do list, except entry into the Nevis via Coal Pit (land owner permission needed) then down to Garston.

Hit me up when you're in town, I'm always keen to go for a bash somewhere when I'm not working

A couple of other semi-local tracks are:
Upper Mataura (go in from Fairlight, south of Kingston).
Robert Creek (turn off from Upper Mataura).
Eyre Creek (just over the bridge south of Athol)
Mt Bee (Irving Road, between 5 Rivers & Mossburn)
Thompsons Gorge, between Bendigo & Manuherikia
Pylon Road, between Clyde and Bannockburn.

Surprised you think the local club (Shotover Club?) was a bit light - may have been the actual trip you were on. They do do some tough runs, especially the ones to Haast or Mossburn.

When you say you did Skippers Creek, did you take the track past the cemetery? Or the one past the old school and station buildings? If the latter, I think that is Stoney Creek, not Skippers Creek. The reason I wonder where that was is most people need lockers or winch to get a decent way along Skippers Creek (Bullendale or Tiger Trail).

I hope this helps.

Awesome thanks for that list of tracks! Do you know if any of those need land owner permission or are they public access? I'm very cautious of this, hence asking

It was Skippers Creek we went in to, didn't go all the way in as we had heard it gets a bit hairy down at the river so we just go a few km in by vehicle and then take the rifles on foot from there.

Me and 2 other trucks were actually heading there early this week when my vacuum pump (on back of alternator) decided to catch fire on the top of skippers saddle. Left it there and continued in the other trucks. Fun times ensued after we got back to my truck after dark and had to get it home with no alternator or thus radiator fan (cut the belt and disconnected the alternator, belt also runs rad fan). All replaced now though and I have a massive improvement in braking so I think the pumps been shot for a while

In other news, my snorkel has arrived and will be fitted this coming week

They are all public access, either legal roads or public access easement. The Mataura ones are identified on the DoC website.

Generally you can drive as far as the confluence of Skippers Creek and Dynamo Creek (or at least the creek going up to Dynamo Hut), a fair way in and mostly driving up the creek bed. It is a fun trip, especially in a club environment if you truck is fairly standard.

Nice toys! Was your X the featured press car in nzperf magazine back in 08?

I don't know but I have a very strong feeling it was a demo launch car when it was new. It was one of the first ever registered here and a few other things lead me to believe so. I would love to find the old articles to see if I can run back through plate history or something

http://www.drivesouth.co.nz/news/review ... ru-wrx-sti

Yes, yes it was

Nice. Yep I thought it was the demo car. I've got the original article somewhere.

I got the first off the shipment after that one.

Good to have toys that cover both worlds.

I would love to see the article if you ever feel like digging it up and sending some pics or similar. What magazine was it, NZPC? If so then I probably have it somewhere as well... Great cars they are, only had mine about 6 months or so

Yes nzpc. Will dig it up this weekend. Was front page.

After some dramas of a cheap trademe snorkel not fitting, I ended up getting an Airflow one off my local 4wd shop and got it fitted last week. This pic is taken out in Macetown on its christening trip

I have also taken the plastic "garnish" off the bullbars, figured it was there for no other reason than to look pretty and if I was to hit anything it would just crack anyway

Went to mace town today. River was so low it was pretty cruise. Who did the snork?

Yea did macetown 2 days in a row last week, piece of cake, my cousins petrol 2009 vitara with no snorkel made it without concern. I went for a bit of a play in the river this evening to give the truck a bit of a clean.

I got the snorkel from Central 4WD up on Industrial Place and got Stewart Motors to fit it. Seems like they did a pretty good job and decent enough price too

A couple of pics from our most recent trip. Into the Nevis from the Bungy road, along The Horn Range, down to the hut on the Doolans Creek Left Branch, and up Coal Pit Saddle. Worth noting for anyone in the area, permission is needed for basically the whole trail.

Amazing trip with such varied conditions from loose rock, mud, sodden grass, ruts, ice, snow, rivers... Best trip I have done yet

Here's some pics along the way:

Crossing the Nevis:


Crossing the Nevis:


A very frozen "puddle" up on the Horn Range:


A splash through some mud by the hut:


Crossing Doolans Creek by the hut, the exact moment my front number plate got ripped off:

I'm so jealous of that area!
Was there in November and went up the Carricktown track as far as the Australian water wheel. Had to turn back after that due to ruts and being on our own. Scared the missus good too

Was going to carry on through the Nevis to Kingston but there had ben slips and I was told the road wasn't clear all the way though so had to skip it. And hoping to get there in Nov again and do the Macetown track