Wildside - Vehicle Access and Safety

Take care with those trusty steel horses

© Zane Mirfin, Wildside column, Take care with those trusty steel horses, Nelson Mail, 30 January 2010

Getting to the great outdoors might be half the fun, but it comes with its own perils.

 We came around a corner in the dark at open-road speed to find three black cattle in the middle of the road.


  Back of Beyond: Scott Mirfin drives through the bowels of Molesworth Station enroute to Lake Tennyson.

The modern automobile has revolutionised fishing and hunting in New Zealand. Increasing mobility and access has become a double-edged sword, though, because pretty much everyone has a 4WD vehicle and areas once lightly fished and hunted can now be pounded by the masses.

Access by vehicle, great though it is, is not without risk and after a few near misses by idiots lately, I’d have to say the most dangerous part of hunting and fishing is getting there. Sure, the occasional helicopter goes down, a boat sinks,
or someone gets swept away in a flooded river or dies of gunshot wounds, but these are extraordinary circumstances, whereas car accidents are a common and largely under-rated risk.

Over the years, I’ve had some memorable experiences with my trusted steel horses and have learnt a few things along the way. For one, I’ve always found time and money spent servicing vehicles when rattles, leaks and strange sounds appear is the way to go avoid inconvenient breakdowns. One time I had to hitch a ride with some pig hunters and almost got licked to death by their dogs while my vehicle languished on the roadside.

Sometimes, breakdowns are more sinister. I’ve heard tales of sabotage and vandalism and experienced a few myself,
including brake hoses being cut. Others have had tyres slashed or wheel nuts loosened.

Fortunately, such behaviour is rare, but it never hurts to keep a careful eye on your vehicle. Recently my steering wasn’t
feeling too good and I knew enough to get straight to the garage, where we found a front tyre rod controlling the steering
was about to fall off. A bit of wheel alignment was straightforward and I was back to fishing.

Careful driving goes without saying, but many drivers out there think they are Stirling Moss and Evel Knievel rolled into one. Single-lane gravel roads can be treacherous at speed and when you add wet weather, one-lane bridges and other motorists, it can be lethal.

Having the correct gear in your vehicle is important. People are always amazed at what I’ve got in the back of my truck but when you go into remote areas, it’s good to be self-sufficient. Some of the things I carry are tools, air pump, battery jumper cables, bolt cutters, satellite phone, personal locator beacon, tow rope, spare parts and all manner of odds and
sods that have saved my bacon.

Sometimes when I go really remote on gravel roads I even take two spare tyres in case of two flats. Believe me, I’ve seen it happen.

Over the years this gear has been most useful for getting other recreationalists out of trouble. One time I found an English guy up Rainbow Station who had taken a corner too fast and buried his truck in a swamp. It was a big job to extricate him with a 10-metre strop. His lights didn’t work, his brakes were virtually non-existent and the engine was
clogged with mud. I told him to go ahead slowly and we would follow him out to be safe. When he accelerated like a madman, we couldn’t keep up. I never read about him in the paper so I guess he made it to his destination alive.

I’ve had my own share of driving disasters and it’s probably no wonder I prefer Aimee to drive on family outings. It also means I can look out the window for new river access, channels to net flounder or nicelooking ridges to seek venison at
some other time.

Some places are more treacherous than others and the Maruia Valley, between Murchison and Springs Junction, has been the scene of a few incidents I’d rather forget.

As a young man, I hit black ice on the old Pea Soup Creek corner and spun out of control, dinging the car badly. Another time, heading home on the last day of the fishing season, we came around a corner in the dark at open-road speed to find three black cattle in the middle of the road, facing away so their reflective eyes gave no warning. As we slammed on the brakes and went into a big skid, two cows miraculously stepped aside while the third one came up on the bonnet – but fortunately not through the windscreen. There was blood, fur and gore everywhere, but fortunately not ours. Any accident you can walk away from is a good one, in my opinion.

Perhaps my worst accident was tipping into an unmarked culvert up the Maruia while pulling over to fish a favoured fishing location.

I was 50 metres too short and although going only 30kmh, we ended up hanging upside down in a culvert and totally writing off my new truck. Again, we were fortunate to walk away unharmed. The great thing was we didn’t even break a fishing rod.

My last vehicle drama was due to worn battery terminals at Reefton. Luckily, our local helicopter pilot and motelier performed sterling service and with a bit of No 8 wire ingenuity, we were back on the road. The next and last day of fishing was epic and after releasing the biggest fish of the trip, we were relieved when the truck turned over nicely and
we could head for the nearest source of cold beer.

When it comes to going outdoors by road, look after your vehicle and drive carefully, and the odds are good that you’ll be around to enjoy hunting and fishing trips for many years to come.

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