Thread: Budget Family 4WD

Club will rate southern river trips not only on conditions you see in the moment, but for safety - on what can happen in those mountains rivers very quickly. McCauley river in low summer conditions is an easy grade 2-3. Standard Mitsi and Prado 4wd will do these. Easy crossings down low, becoming a little more rocky and less predictable as you cross further up. Summer usually ok, and winter can be ok as alot of high country rain is locked in as snow. Can be very tricky with nor-westers, in snow melt periods, and of course with unexpected rain which can change a 5 cumec (5 tonne per second) river flow into a 50 tonne per second flow in 45 minutes. Been there - got out in time. 50 cumecs is 25 Prados coming down the river at you every second.. Then they can go onto 500 cumecs/tonnes per second in a matter of hours. You don't want that.. We may know a river and its crossings very well, but riverbeds can change hugely after flood events. You drive into what was an easy rock crossing, and straight into and over some big boulders and truck can't move. If you're alone - big trouble.

So as clubs we factor in safety - we are very careful with forecasting, and use well setup trucks. Any of the Canterbury mountain fed rivers can become very dangerous very quickly - Wilberforce, Clyde, Lawrence, Avoca, Harper, Waimak, Waiau, Hurunui etc. Even little Selwyn river near me - can change very rapidly. Dry most of the year, it was running at just 2 cumecs/tonnes per second a week ago, but in matter of hours up to 49 tonnes. Peaked at 330 tonnes per sec last flood. Huge!

By all means wander up the MaCaulay/Godley in a 4x4 - lovely spot. But be very sure on forecasting and for own and passenger safety have good truck spec (lift, snorkel, some recovery gear etc) for that changeable terrain. We see the stories on the news - death or two in recent times - and we hear of a lot more public misadventures at club meetings. Good to prepare well.

Originally Posted by mudgripz

Club will rate southern river trips not only on conditions you see in the moment, but for safety - on what can happen in those mountains rivers very quickly. McCauley river in low summer conditions is an easy grade 2-3. Standard Mitsi and Prado 4wd will do these. Easy crossings down low, becoming a little more rocky and less predictable as you cross further up. Summer usually ok, and winter can be ok as alot of high country rain is locked in as snow. Can be very tricky with nor-westers, in snow melt periods, and of course with unexpected rain which can change a 5 cumec (5 tonne per second) river flow into a 50 tonne per second flow in 45 minutes. Been there - got out in time. 50 cumecs is 25 Prados coming down the river at you every second.. Then they can go onto 500 cumecs/tonnes per second in a matter of hours. You don't want that.. We may know a river and its crossings very well, but riverbeds can change hugely after flood events. You drive into what was an easy rock crossing, and straight into and over some big boulders and truck can't move. If you're alone - big trouble.

So as clubs we factor in safety - we are very careful with forecasting, and use well setup trucks. Any of the Canterbury mountain fed rivers can become very dangerous very quickly - Wilberforce, Clyde, Lawrence, Avoca, Harper, Waimak, Waiau, Hurunui etc. Even little Selwyn river near me - can change very rapidly. Dry most of the year, it was running at just 2 cumecs/tonnes per second a week ago, but in matter of hours up to 49 tonnes. Peaked at 330 tonnes per sec last flood. Huge!

By all means wander up the MaCaulay/Godley in a 4x4 - lovely spot. But be very sure on forecasting and for own and passenger safety have good truck spec (lift, snorkel, some recovery gear etc) for that changeable terrain. We see the stories on the news - death or two in recent times - and we hear of a lot more public misadventures at club meetings. Good to prepare well.

Have done a few leery crossings, been bellied in silt, stuck on boulders, floated off a couple of times, been stuck on lips. Got good at using a chain block, ground anchors and a shovel. Scariest crossing ever was main channels between Lilybank and the motorshed, in a dead engined double cab hilux on the end of a tow rope attached to a 40 series Land cruiser flat deck, not funny starting to drift in the flow watching the water push across the flatdeck, that's me on the radio shouting at the driver to pull his finger out! (might not be the actual words used, but it's a family show....)

Now days, I don't like the look of it, I just go naah, and go somewhere else. There are advantages in going in multiple trucks.