Escaping the Bush!

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly trying to leave the Go Bush accommodation. Confused? Well let me explain. As you know yesterday, we ran into the bush to the Go Bush lodge. There are no sealed roads leading to the Go Bush lodge. In fact there are no unsealed roads. There is simply only a track which has been dug out by Danny (our host) using his machinery. The only way to reach the lodge is by a 4x4 jeep.

This is all well and good. When it is dry. We were ok having had some glorious weather the last few days. However as we tucked into breakfast this morning, the rain started to pour, and it got wetter and wetter. Danny, Steve and Richard were our jeep drivers, and Danny was getting increasingly worried about the conditions so we had to pack up quickly and leave before our intended departure time. Four of the guys (including Chris) were walking the first section and picking up a fourth jeep part way up the hill.

We set off on the 10 mile drive up the side of a mountain and then across the bush in convoy, lead by experienced driver Danny. It started off ok, keeping in a low gear with the rev’s high seemed to be working on the first few steep hills, however, it wasn’t long before we ran into difficulty. On a short steep hill which went round a bend, we ended up sliding back down and worried about chewing up the clay even more by making another attempt (and making it difficult for the jeeps behind us) we had to hop out and waited for Danny to drive the car up.

This was only the first tricky section and there were many times when we were sliding around, often going sideways and I found it difficult not to hold my breath. A number of times we had to make more than one attempt at a section, and I had visions of rolling down the mountain in a jeep!

When we met the walkers with the fourth jeep, we had another problem…the 4th jeep wouldn’t start. Pouring with rain and not yet half way into the 10 mile journey, we tried desperately to shelter in the roofless and windowless jeeps, and wondered what to do. There were no jump leads in any of the jeeps. But Danny has a plan for everything, and to everyone’s amazement he managed to get all the jeeps started by lifting the battery out of a running engine (and getting a few shocks in the process) and then replacing it with the ‘dead’ battery - whilst the engine was still running. Perhaps not the safest but it worked!

We finally reached a proper road and our vans about two hours after leaving. Cold and wet and facing a long queue for the one shower, but very pleased to have reached the other side safely. Then it was on to Wellington - five or so hours drive South!