The Maungatapu Diaries

**Kenb** · 21st December 2010, 11:40

Hey Guys,

I was tagging along with the GS boys as well. The wire was up at the summit but they had gotten the key from the Council to unlock it.

Cheers

Ken

**NordieBoy** · 9th January 2011, 20:00

Phew wee Rangi!

The track is easier from Pelorus to Nelson but took 1 1/2 hrs at a decent adv cruise speed instead of the usual 45 mins.
I could quite easily see it taking over 2 hrs if you're a bit more cautious.

There's a slip just before murderers rock thats no problem with knobs on but on a big bike you'd need friends to push at the start and half way.
The big ditch with lots of fibre cable and tape showing should be ridden in and not around. The Marlborough side from the summit to just past murderers rock is the worst I've ever seen it.

I wouldn't go through there solo unless you're comfortable with dropping your bike on rocks.

I love it, it's a proper adventure now

**Woodman** · 9th January 2011, 20:05

Originally Posted by NordieBoy

Phew wee Rangi!

The track is easier from Pelorus to Nelson but took 1 1/2 hrs at a decent adv cruise speed instead of the usual 45 mins.
I could quite easily see it taking over 2 hrs if you're a bit more cautious.

There's a slip just before murderers rock thats no problem with knobs on but on a big bike you'd need friends to push at the start and half way.
The big ditch with lots of fibre cable and tape showing should be ridden in and not around. The Marlborough side from the summit to just past murderers rock is the worst I've ever seen it.

I wouldn't go through there solo unless you're comfortable with dropping your bike on rocks.

I love it, it's a proper adventure now

evening cruise time me thinks??

**JATZ** · 9th January 2011, 20:23

Got your txt a bit late Nordie

you have to be more on the ball than that

**NordieBoy** · 9th January 2011, 20:23

Originally Posted by Woodman

evening cruise time me thinks??

Would not want to do it in the dark though.

**NordieBoy** · 9th January 2011, 20:29

Originally Posted by JATZ

Got your txt a bit late Nordie

you have to be more on the ball than that

So that's who txt'd

Meh. Forgot my licence, money, food, gorse-proof pants...

Took 10 mins at Pelorus to de-gorse the left sock and bootie.

Copped a bees arse on the lip on the way back too.

No photo though

**NordieBoy** · 9th January 2011, 20:39

All the fords/creek crossings are changed too.
They've all been scoured out and left with big rocks apart from the murderers rock one that is quite gravelly but wider upstream now.

**Padmei** · 10th January 2011, 06:49

Aw poo I was wanting to take Schmidtty over when I got some good tyres.

I got a text from Jenny yesterday - apparently she was getting a bit sick of hearing the Dakar commentary & wanted a certain someone out of the house so she could get a bit of reading done or whatever girls do on Sunday afternoons

Woman huh they don't understand about theimportant things in life...

**NordieBoy** · 19th January 2011, 20:28

Just a bit of before and after, rain damage footage...

**Padmei** · 19th January 2011, 20:46

If you had put a tarp over your bike when it rained it wouldn't have shrunk

**NordieBoy** · 19th January 2011, 21:07

It got a WoF today

Without cheating (much) either!

**NordieBoy** · 5th March 2011, 22:26

The wire is back up at the summit.
The fibre optic trench is partially filled but easily rideable through.
The slip is slippery when wet.
The river over on the Pelorus side below the bridge is cutting a deeper channel right on the southern bank. The digger parked up there will probably do something about this sometime.

**NordieBoy** · 14th March 2011, 08:22

Still temporarily closed...

Originally Posted by NCC

Maungatapu Track closed to assess damage

Posted by Nelson City Council on 27 October 2009

Following the weekend tragedy along the Maungatapu Track, Council is temporarily closing the through road (Nelson-Pelorous) to all traffic to assess damage caused to the road in the rescue and recent wet weather.

Large rescue vehicles were involved in a fatal 4WD accident on the track on Saturday night and heavy rain fell both before and after the incident.

Senior Executive Technical Services, Alec Louverdis, says it's unclear how long the temporary closure will be for, but with the current wet conditions, it could be some time.

Council is erecting temporary closure signage at the entrance to the road and will advise the public when it is reopened. The Marlborough District Council has also been contacted to introduce a closure to the road from its end.

The public is asked to be patient during this temporary closure

**NordieBoy** · 14th March 2011, 08:24

Originally Posted by NordieBoy

Still temporarily closed...

When Padmei braved the ridge beside the fibre ditch, from behind I could see crap falling into the ditch and down the bank.

I'm not going near that side again

**NordieBoy** · 14th March 2011, 08:26

Originally Posted by warewolf

And further, he suggested a couple of other areas within NCC control that we could use, and will set up meetings with the caretakers in those areas.

One of the areas is Linton Hill: it's an NCC reserve, not part of the forest. They deliberately built the gate at the bottom with a motorcycle-sized gap on one side, quote, "in order not to piss everybody off", unquote. Apparently the road across the top is in the reserve, and then some.

Interesting that this is now inside the "Action Forest Management" areas?