Trip report - Old Kaiwarua Road
On a cool wet Sunday morning 8 trucks including 2 who had travelled from Ashburton met up at the car park opposite the Waihao Forks pub ready to commence the days trip led by Owen and his co-pilot Chantelle.
We left there making our way up Stoney Creek Rd to the first gate leading to the Old Kaiwarua Road. As we drove this first part the rain soon turned to sleet and then light snow. On reaching the gate the landscape became a winter wonderland covered in snow just beautiful.
The next section was the drive through forest with quite a bit of gorse along the way. Our trip leader was well equipped and made several stops along the way to cut back branches closer to the track trying to avoid too many scratches to our vehicles. The snow continued to fall but in the distance there were patches of blue sky.
With the weather clearing we then carried on following the track driving very carefully through the many greasy patches along the way. One of the drivers needed a bit of assistance when their truck slipped off the track but just a minor hiccup.
Lunch stop was at the old Kaiwarua woolshed site. As we were lower in the valley there was no sign of the snow we had encountered earlier so a good area for a break.
Moving on towards the station sheep yards and through the Kinbrace Rd the track was still very wet and greasy in spots but posed no problems to most of our experienced drivers with just 1 needing a small helping hand when stuck in the mud.
Next stop was Cattle Creek for a cuppa in the sun. From here the group split up with 4 trucks heading back to Oamaru through Kurow and the other 4 taking the Myers Pass road home.
Thanks Owen for another enjoyable days outing.
Norm and Jackie
| 
