Nothing quite like mud to make your weekend. These are photos taken on our trip last weekend, Saturday 10th October. It was a quick play around the Waimakariri River just north of Christchurch. Tracks have been cut in the area between the river and the stop-banks to provide a soggy playground for off-roaders. The previous week had not been particulary wet and therefore there was not as much mud as we would like. This was a reasonably tame area but nonetheless quite fun. There were areas permanently muddy and generally not very nice. All but one of these photos were taken by Gareth Thomas.

The trip was in a convoy of two vehicles, Sarah, Gareth and I in Mervin and Craig et al in his 'Cruiser. We arrived in the area just after lunch around 2:00pm. The first mud we encountered was in a channel of unknown origin (unknown to me, at least).
 

I swear the entrance looked narrower than that. I obtained a couple of dings in the passenger side going in. It also felt a lot steeper or perhaps I'm just a big wimp?

Oh well, only one ding so far. I'm not looking forward to washing the car after this......Hmmm, I wonder if I can splash Gareth (kneeling by the channel) along the way?

Nope, he moved out of the way. Time to turn around......I hope if any beginner is reading this, note that this is *not* how you drive off road! The thumbs should be outside of the steering wheel. I cheated since I knew from the last time that the channel floor was smooth and slippery.

Time to go back and pick up the Gareth. Sarah is looking rather tense in the passenger seat, can't for the life of me think why? I wasn't driving that fast ;-)

If it was bad going in it sure felt worse going out. Here I obtain a matching ding in the driver side door. Craig chose a different way of getting out. I had an extra inch or two diff clearance that probably would've grounded him. Thank god for taller tyres!

The obligatory upskirt shot. This is the path Craig chose that was not as steep. Not as fun as the other one but safer :-)

Well, that was a bit of tame fun.....but wait! There is more!

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