Offroad-Express

ive just been informed by a mate who went riding up woodhill tha other day that rimmers road is now full closed off to all bikes and 4wds forcing us to get on the beach at the bottom end,whats the deal wit this?does anyone kno whats goin on,rimmers road has been around for agggges

Rimmers Rd in Woodhill forest is closed, but an alternative access has been created a little further south. The forestry company are just managing the way the public get to the beach. It is harder to get off the beach on the new access but that may change with ongoing use.

oh cheers for that info peter,do u kno the name of the road on whioch the new access is?and by bit harder how much do u mean??1 gear lower or are we talking low rang 4wd instead of high,many thanks

I've not been on the new access but understand from the forest managers that the only change is that the entry does not now go up past the old motorcycle park and it is marked on the forest side. It was they who also suggested that it was a bit trickier to drive.

the new access leaves from ten mile car park, my mate and i did it in a standard terrano and safari. i didnt make it back up in low, but was fine in high 1st (bit more speed helped)

oh cheers big-Al,yeh usually i do find spped helps to,but yeh should be good,gna be goin up ova xmas so yeh,info helps heaps

cheers

I went up the beach last weekend with all intentions of coming out at Rimmer road.

haven't been up their in a while and drove straight past the old Rimmer road exit.

Stopped heading up the beach when we reached the conservation area and were given directions by a fisherman to an exit just before the beginning of the sand cliffs.

This brought us out via a very nice little drive around Lake Kereta to Wilson Road and then South Head Road and down to Parakai.
(no motorbikes allowed on this track)

Much more enjoyable drive than the old Rimmer road exit.

It was a "paper road" that has recently been opened up by Rodney District Council as another access to the beach. The forestry people are a bit unhappy as various incidents like cooking fires and vehicles racing have been occurring.
There is a slight suspicion that RDC are setting up additional access so that they can then ban vehicle use along the beach!

There are also 4 or 5 car wrecks on the beach at the moment, two of which are very hard to see until you are almost on top of them.

One Bighorn looked like it hadn't been there very long at all.
Still had plates, carpet and shiney metal

Reminders of the perils of beach driving.

great news,even less places to go 4wd ae

i was out there last weekend and found the new access fine

UBZ wrote:There are also 4 or 5 car wrecks on the beach at the moment, two of which are very hard to see until you are almost on top of them.

One Bighorn looked like it hadn't been there very long at all.
Still had plates, carpet and shiney metal

Reminders of the perils of beach driving.

I know, I hit one of them a couple of weeks ago doing about 80clicks at night I neeeeeed better lighting.. Only managed a few dents in the left hand rims so nothing major but it's one of the wrecks that sits about 150mm out of the sand, on the way back in the morning I noticed two of them so dunno which one I hit..

If you're coming up Rimmers road you come to a sudden stop well before the bike park with a sign pointing left saying 4WD access and you pop out on the Muriwai side of the old Rimmers road cutout, my truck struggled but I guess with use it'll sort itself out

Times like these you wish you had a plottable GPS unit

Andrew1706 wrote: 80clicks at night

on the beach your a braver man than me.

UBZ wrote:There are also 4 or 5 car wrecks on the beach at the moment, two of which are very hard to see until you are almost on top of them.

One Bighorn looked like it hadn't been there very long at all.
Still had plates, carpet and shiney metal

Reminders of the perils of beach driving.

I assume all of the wrecks would be too difficult (burried) for a bunch of us to remove?

Once I get the truck going I`ll be looking forward to some trips to South Head and anything we can do to protect that access I'd support.

MNC wrote:

UBZ wrote:There are also 4 or 5 car wrecks on the beach at the moment, two of which are very hard to see until you are almost on top of them.

One Bighorn looked like it hadn't been there very long at all.
Still had plates, carpet and shiney metal

Reminders of the perils of beach driving.

I assume all of the wrecks would be too difficult (burried) for a bunch of us to remove?

Once I get the truck going I`ll be looking forward to some trips to South Head and anything we can do to protect that access I'd support.

removing wrecked cars is always good for the PR of 4x4ing.

That would be a good idea to get a bunch of guys together to help out and boost the nice friendly profile of 4x4ing.

hell yes mnc,id be in for sure,but yeh,they mostly pretty buried but then again,10 or 20 guys diggin there hearts out then a couple of trucks setup with winches and 2or3 times that amount of trucks for anchores(spelling)and i reckon ud get them out,all in the name of keeping access surlly anything is pos

skid wrote:removing wrecked cars is always good for the PR of 4x4ing.

That would be a good idea to get a bunch of guys together to help out and boost the nice friendly profile of 4x4ing.

Think the council usually gets them out with Tractors. Would need to organise a Tractor with a loader and couple of guys towing empty car trailers.

Could even tell the media to get them along

im keen to help

council and tractors ae,neva knew that 1 but yeh,still be kool to do whateva we can,ive been goin up there for years with my dad and now my first lil ones on the way id really like it to still be there in a few years for him/her to experience

Removing buried vehicles is a huge job. The Auckland area clubs do an annual beach clean-up with the Regional Council and they tell us to leave them as they don't have a place to store the wrecks and the effort is very high. The ARC have a large tractor that they do use to try and clear the wrecks before they get too buried but the distance is often too great up the beach.
Several years ago the Army sent along one of their huge recovery units with a fork hoist system on the front. It was able to stab the wrecks and hoist them out. It was unfortunate that they misjudged the distance and fuel capacity as they had to radio urgently for fuel from some 30km up the beach.

They got it off the beach in time but the Army has not come back since.

Guess if the wrecks still have plates they are still legally the owners so couldn't just take them?? (but could return them back to them haha)

Otherwise there is a heaps of places round like pick-a-part that will take them free or even buy them off you ...

Most of the wrecks i seen were below the high tide mark and well buried.

Would take serious digging to get them out.

But im keen to go up there with a group of ORE guys and girls and do what we can to clean the beach up

Access to the beach needs to be protected and we as 4wd enthsisits should lead by example.

We have removed some wreck's from the riverbed and tracks here in Canterbury and the same on the west coast, pretty much in discussion with the council all we have to do is get a photo of them as they sat then get them to a point where they can be easily recovered.

we have done this to 4 or 5 cars, and sent a photo and GPS coordinate of where we found them to the ranger or council to forward on to relavant parties. The more we do with the councils the better it is for every 4wd owner later on, it takes a lot of work but is rewarding and you deserve a DB after clearing some of them!

heak you could even get a gas axe set up there and cut mhm up a bit before removing,then throw them on sum trailers like previoulsy mentioned and then yeh,dump mhm at pikapart or places like that

The wrecks on Muriwai fill up totally with wet sand and even one tide can crush them almost flat. Usually there is little more than 50cm of vehicle sticking out of the sand. To dig them out by hand is very difficult and the sand adds to the original weight considerably. The only disposal option is a landfill, as the sand and seawater make anything else unworkable.

I will post on this forum when the next ARC scheduled Muriwai 4x4 clean-up is planned.

muddyhilux wrote:heak you could even get a gas axe set up there and cut mhm up a bit before removing,then throw them on sum trailers like previoulsy mentioned and then yeh,dump mhm at pikapart or places like that

I like that idea

How many people would be interested in a clean up run???

the question before asking if anyone would be interested is weather or not were allowed to just go out and dig up a wreck in the eyes of the council.were helping out but would they just want a random trip organised,do we need there promission?but yeh im in