2015 ZUKFEST
With his Suzuki Samurai, ‘Little Whale,’ A-framed behind the trusty Patrol, Murray Taylor headed to Reefton over the Easter weekend for this year’s Zukfest.
With his Suzuki Samurai, ‘Little Whale,’ A-framed behind the trusty Patrol, Murray Taylor headed to Reefton over the Easter weekend for this year’s Zukfest.
on the gravel we stopped to adjust tyre pressures, in my case down to 12psi, and selected 4WD.
Hard right
A little while later, past the start of the track to Big River it was hard right into this narrow brush-covered track. This was where we needed low ratio and vehicle separation, because having been hit with lots of water in the past few weeks, the track had cut up. Slowly slipping, but mostly under control, we crawled down towards the first creek. Not long into the track the second to last ‘ Zuk had clutch problems, with it slipping, so it was turned around and with another in company ( both being locals) headed for Reefton and repairs. The remaining Zuks headed along the creekside with a couple of crossings before heading through a section of turned over river bed ( long gone are the men who did this with pick and shovel) before a sharp right turn up an almost vertical 5m wall to arrive at Green Hut, on a flat above the river bed. After lunch and a brew it was time to head back up the track, the return an exercise in controlled direction, accelerator position and a bit of praying along the way...
After winching our leader and one other we arrived back at the start of the track, having decided that it was closer to a grade 4 than grade 3 due to all the recent water damage… As the afternoon was still young, it was decided to do a run through to Big River, with Pete pointing out the odd side track along the way. On arrival at the winch house, the kids in the group headed up to the poppet head. After a brief explore and chat, we all headed back towards Reefton having had a great first day out, with the only noise the odd clunk from underneath having lost the handbrake. Arrival at the motel was time to relax and have dinner with any problems being left to the morning...
Up early
Saturday and it was a case of up early and time to find out the problem... A brief trip under ‘ Little Whale’ showed the left hand brake cable was completely destroyed, and the mounting bracket was bent. What to do? The short answer was cable tie the cable out of the way, remove the bracket and we were all go again, albeit without a handbrake, for an 8am appointment at the Workingmens club. With the possibility of rain it was decided that Napoleon Hill was the first order of the day so off we went, over Reefton saddle, down past Ikamatua and over the Grey River to turn right into Waipuna Road, before stopping on arrival at Waipuna Creek. After a brief look at the log before the gate, it was over the bridge through the gate on the left and left again into the streambed. The creek was low and travel was good all the way to the tunnel for another brief stop, the call being made to continue up stream and use the Mosquito Creek track to enter the main track south of the old settlement site.
Tunnel vision
Morning tea was had at the junction and after a brief stop we headed along the track to Napoleon Cemetery. Our next stop was alongside a miner’s tunnel which ran into the side of the hill 30- 50m and came out the other side after splitting three ways; most went through the tunnel and back again. It was interesting as having been down the hill a few times in the past, I was not
aware of the hole in the cliff face alongside the track. We then continued at our own pace down Nobles Creek, through the tunnels to come out into Waipuna Creek again. While driving the creek the rain had arrived and it was decided to head downstream and have lunch under the road bridge. Once lunch was over, it was back down the road then up Snowy River Road until we passed the old fuel pump and took a hard right down a pleasant lit tle track which would take us all the way to the Grey River and the top of the lower gorge. With a side track on the way, which had an interesting tree fell section to get through, we arrived at the end of the track in time for a short walk to the head of the gorge, afternoon tea, then the run back to Reefton, a shower and dinner having had another great day with no breakages…
Sunday best
Sunday, a new day, no rain and clearing skies and it was looking to be an interesting morning as the Wankel Hill track was another I had heard about but not done. To get there we had to drive out past the Big River turn off and keep on going, past the turn off to Green Hut, before a brief stop at the end of the road then retracing our steps 50m to find a hard right into a very narrow rutted track. With lots a water and mud about, the first obstacle was a large log in the track, so after winching the first truck through, the rest put a wheel on the log and drove it. The steps got bigger and the amount of time a wheel was off the ground increased. The last section was a long chute which we winched the first truck down under guidance. One other drove it but the rest of the trucks drove the chicken track, the last 100 metres of which was interesting due to the wheel ruts and mud. After lunch we headed for Power Line ridge, which is a short but pleasant alternative route to get to Reefton, through the cow race, and up the hill to the lookout, through the gate and down to the next pylon/ lookout point... at which stage the track vanishes into a gorse bush! It’s then down through the bush – with a very sharp turn even for a Suzuki – before heading down what is the second winch
section if heading uphill. After a lit tle slipping and sliding we arrived at the bench before the last drop into the creek... which required a bit of road construction as the left hand side of the drop-in had collapsed. Under guidance we all headed down and out onto the Inangahua River bed, from whence we headed out on a track leading to the main road which took us to Reefton. With plenty of time left in the day, a smaller group headed back into the Big River road to do Merrijigs track.
To sum up?
A great three days, with the ‘ Little Whale’ going places I thought I was going to get stopped. Equipping it with a Power Trax diff was certainly a saviour and I learned a lot along the way... and am already looking forward to Zuk Central, Easter 2016.