Vahryous thoughts
It seems ages ago now, but in the early years of this century, a venture was put together to investigate four-wheeling opportunities on the East Cape of the North Island.
It was a local initiative to test the value to that community of encouraging recreational travel with the lure of a variety of ‘ less travelled’ routes around the East Cape region. The vision was supported by funding from the then Labour Department to enable, by the Matakaoa Charitable Work Trust, some ‘on the ground’ research of viable routes and negotiations with landowners by a dedicated planner.
The New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association was invited to provide advice on optimum routes and with their then experience in hosting biannual 4x4 jamborees, they contributed to planning for an inaugural event over Waitangi Weekend 2003.
That went really well with over 100 participants, so a second event followed over Easter that year which was aimed at involving a greater local organisational input. It too was well received, but then the funding dried up for the ‘planner’ and with a family to support, it was back to finding a real job!
It was hoped that another local person who’d been involved to a lesser degree would pick up the idea and develop it further, but that did not eventuate, so after just two events the concept faded.
However, all was not lost and the idea still has merit and with that original ‘planner’ still involved with various Maori land trusts, I understand that four wheeling is again, with a variety of other recreations that traverse land, being touted as an opportunity to encourage visiting that East Cape region. With the existing forestry blocks being harvested now, a vision by some locals is for the replanting programme to make provision for recreation routes to allow access through the forests as they grow.
What a fantastic idea, instead of discouraging access to that forestry land, it would become an incentive to visit and with the right forethought, those routes in the forests could become destinations in themselves to generate additional income streams through hospitality, etc.
Maybe such opportunities could be more attractive than we even consider at present? A motoring commentator in Canada has suggested that premise... “Newton nailed it. Sure, he was talking physics when he determined that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, but his Third Law is also a solid predictor of human behaviour.
“Among other things, it may explain why, as drivers contemplate a bleak future of self- driving electric cars in nose-to-tail convoys on dedicated highways, controlled through the ether by a digital Big Brother, there’s an apparent resurgence of interest in driving where there are no roads at all.
“Or at least, in looking like you could. If you wanted to. Even though you probably don’t.”
The author then goes on to quote a ‘ brand specialist’ who sees a parallel with “the surge in sporting capability of certain Swiss tool watches 10 years ago. A $ 13,000 Rolex Sea-Dweller is waterproof to a depth of 4,000 feet, yet most of them spend their lifetimes in boardrooms and night clubs.”
However, that statement was then balanced by... “Then there are the off-road or 4WD recreationists. They are a tiny minority, for sure, but there are enough of them to justify the existence of umbrella organizations that represent the local 4WD clubs in their respective areas. These organizations promote off-road recreation, but also encourage social and environmental responsibility, running supervised events that also fundraise for charity.”
But even one of the biggest of those events is limited to 125 participants. Meanwhile, most rugged off-roaders strut their stuff on city streets where their vehicles are likened to high-tech, luxurious musclecar replacements.
But also, he agrees, this resurgence of rugged offroaders could be motivated in part by “an emotional rebellion against automotive political correctness.”
Going even further, he adds, “No doubt, given the right data sources, you would find some measurable parallels to certain political tendencies that we are seeing across Western democracies.”
I don’t see four wheeling fading away despite the rapid adoption of the SUV variations, as even those are likely to be adapted by enthusiasts to become more capable. When looking at ‘online’ sites and city roads, it is quite common to see highly modified examples of vehicles like twenty-year-old Isuzu models such as the MU and variations on the ‘ Trooper’ which are IFS and were never marketed as serious ‘offroaders’, but are now often seen in such situations.
The Canadian commentator may well be right, as automation and regimentation of on road travel increases, so may the opposite and perhaps our planners might need to be reminded of such a likelihood.
Which takes me back to the suggested concept of forestry with planned provision for recreations. Let’s encourage that!