Nearly 1400m up, the mist rolls back to reveal two jewels of Central Otago, lakes Wanaka and Hawea, far below.
Along their shores a thin ribbon of road snakes from bay to point to bay. We have climbed a vertical kilometre to get this view; looking down, cars on the road we left behind look like small dots on the move.
When I say ‘climbed’, of course I mean ‘drove’, because this is a 4WD club outing, the highlight of a weekend spent camping on the shores of Lake Wanaka. The drivers and passengers of the 10 trucks on today’s outing feel especially privileged to be soaking in this view because this is private farmland, with closely controlled access. The only reason we have been granted access is through the club’s connections and its good name.
Newcomers to off-roading often start out exploring the backblocks with friends and family, 4WD guidebook at hand. You can have a lot of fun that way, no mistake. But the more you get into it, the more likely it is that you will want to learn more, about where to go and how to make sure you get home again.
That’s where joining a 4WD club will help. More experienced members are a source of advice on vehicle choice and recommended modifications, as well as on what gear to carry and how to find the half-hidden access to that wonderful West Coast mining track or that secluded Central Otago campsite. Club-run training days will show you the safe way to recover a stuck vehicle, and the various tricks to crossing a river or tackling a steep climb.
And being a member of a club with a good reputation among landowners for respecting the track, closing all the gates and not ripping up the hillsides means you will get to go places non-club members never would.
There are a lot of clubs to choose from around the country. The easiest way to find out what is available in your area is to search on the internet – most clubs have a website.
Some clubs confine membership to owners of a particular brand, such as Land Rover, Jeep or Suzuki; others occupy different points on a spectrum that runs from low-key family outings to hardcore trips guaranteed to result in damaged trucks, broken gear and financial pain. The choice is yours. Even within a club there will usually be a range of trips on offer, graded from 1 (easy) to 5 (not).
I was a total bunny when I joined a 4WD club in the mid 1990s – I still have the photo of my first river crossing, in which the tyres got wet but not the rims. These days it’s not worth a photo unless the water is up to the headlights. Getting to that level of confidence has involved some trial and error on my part, but advice over the years from fellow club members has enabled me to learn from their mistakes, rather than to repeat the mistakes myself.
So get Googling, find a club that matches what you want to do, and check it out.
