Self-Drive 4×4 Off Roading in Greymouth – Day 112

So I’ve organised for us today to make the most of the rainy weather. Today we’re getting On Yer Bike.

It’s been raining the past few days but Robin has found us the perfect activity to do after a few days of rain here in Greymouth so we’re making our way just about 10 minutes outside of the city to On Yer Bike. We are greeted by the cutest little hosts ever but we also meet mike and Sue who are the owners of the company and they get us geared up kind of looking like New York firefighter but this is the essential kit we need to go off roading in Greymouth.

Alright we are ready to go play with the mud with On Yer Bike.

Once sat on the 4×4 buggy mike is giving us a very thorough lesson on how to use those buggies because because we are going to be driving ourselves we are going to be following him through the whole network of track that he has built himself. He’s spent the last 19 years of his life building 16km of track around his property. It’s really impressive the amount of work he has put into that and it’s really cool because he has heaps of different tracks for all kind of levels so we’re going to be starting with something really easy until we get used to the 4×4 track and then we’re going to move onto something a little bit tougher.

But as soon as we start it’s already getting a little bit challenging. It has been raining a lot and there is a lot of mud. it’s a mud-tastic tour so far.

Already Robin is stuck in the mud. Oh my God what a loser but Mike fishes him out and we are on our way on what is the muddies track I think in the whole wide world.

Now I really understand why they did kit us up so much with that kind of outfit. It is somewhere to get dirty. Also I’m getting a helmet that actually says the word fearless so I feel empowered and I’m taking some speed on some of the most er mellow sections of the track. And to keep the buggies running smoothly we have quite lot of sections which are filled with water which helps cleaning the engine and the wheels and all of that and keep it having a really good grip on the track.

But once we are trained it’s time for us to head to the more forested area where the challenge will really begin.

We are now heading into this beautiful native forest. These tracks incorporate a lot of different features and this has to be one of my favourite parts. And after maneuvering between trees past ferns we are making our way to a section that Mike calls Cave Creek. it is a very narrow creek in the middle of the forest which we have to squeeze our buggies through. It’s really awesome that we get to drive these 4×4 buggies ourselves. they drive just like a car but there’s a little button to press for changing to 4×4 which Mike up ahead is telling us when we need to do so. And these buggies can go through just about anything.

It’s a really cool tour that allows us to see a lot of ground in a very short time. We get to go really deep into the native forest and get to see a lot of how the forest is living itself. We see a lot of birds we see a lot of trees. It’s really fun. Also maneuvering of the buggies ourselves is really fun. I really enjoy having to kind of race through the forest and because there is so many ferns around it really feels that we’re going super fast while we’re probably doing like 15 to 20 k an hour. At a max.

After making our way through the creek we are then heading up-hill higher into the forest where Robin is shook so much his helmet is falling off head. Yep, those buggies are really not being kind on us they are shaking us left and right and back and front. It is an all over workout right here. And turns out that we’re getting pretty exhausted by the end of the tour. It’s crazy how just driving around gets you tired. So on our way back we are heading toward a bit more sections with a lot of water and even a massive section of water that Mike calls the washing machine basically we are going to go over half body in the water so we get to clean the entire buggy before giving it back. It’s a super cool tour and it’s an awesome way to finish it.

Also Robin is an idiot and he cannot drive.