4WD North Island Adventures book - ADV?

[Eddieb]

4WD North Island Adventures by Andy Cockroft.

Anybody ever had a look at it?

102 or something 4 Wheel Drive tracks around the North Island, complete with a cd of GPS tracks, waypoints and photographs and available in all good book stores.

At face value it would appear to contain an excellent selection of publically accessible ADV suitable tracks and trails with very good directions and instructions of the complexity and navigation of said tracks and trails.

Have I discovered a previously little known or unknown valuable resource or is all not what it would seem?

[Warr]

Yes been around for a while.
Made good use of the South Island one 1 year. But since my 4WD is shiny I haven't tackled any NI ones.

The South Island ones are excelant.
There is another book same format "4WD South Island by Ken Sibly & Mark Wilson"

Just realized there is 2 NI books by Andy

"4WD North Island 91 Back Country Adventures"
"4WD North Siland 102 Off Road Adventures"

[Howie]

I have the south island 77 off road adventures by Ken Sibly and Mark Wilson. the edition I have is about 10 years old, I used the route description in conjunction with a topo map for the New Creek to Denniston track a couple of weeks ago, and we only found one instruction in the route to not appear right. Which isn't to bad 10 years after it was written. I also have the 102 off road Adventures book by Andy Cocroft, but have only been on a few closer to home routes, and normaly with someone who has been before. I do find the books useful when planning trips, and looking for unusual places to go. In saying that though some places a 4WD well go wouldn't be that easy on a loaded up adventure bike.

[offrd]

I have the 102 north island adventures book, Funny you mention it as i only pulled it off the shelf a few days ago! Am thinking of doing a few as adventure rides too.

I know at least one of the tracks is now too over grown and also behind locked gates to be any use anymore.

I may have to solo eplore and organise a ride or two

[cooneyr]

Got two of the SI books and a reasonaby unused 2001 NI book. Interesting about the CD - I was thinking about approaching them for GPS data for a web site that by Bro-in-law and I were looking to build and promoting their book on the site in return - too late now I recon.

Cheers R

[OV Lander]

Hi guys, Andy is a member of our 4WD club and has spent a lot of time traveling across the Nth Island to develop two books: Back country routes and off road routes.

The back country routes are in the main gravel tracks, the majority passable by cars with good ground clearance, which in many cases use roads that most people would not consider as an alternative to the main drags. Sure, they take longer than the main drag, but you do get to see the real NZ.

The off road book is aimed more at true 4x4 tracks, whilst many are reasonably tame (it is aimed at the general public after all), there are some real gems in there e.g. Thompsons Track. It includes the famous 42 Traverse discussed elsewhere on the forum, amongst many others.

I would however recommend checking the status of tracks in the Off Road book, as conditions on these tracks can (and does) degrade rapidly, (one or two have improved massively too!), and unfortunately, some have been closed due to irresponsible use. This last point is unfortunate, as Andy (along with many from the 4WD groups: NZFWDA, ARAC, Clubs etc) have spent a lot of money ('000's) and time trying to keep these places open. HOwever, the pressure from DoC etc to close down these places e.g. Macetown etc, is unrelenting.

With that in mind, we ask that all 4WD's adhere to the 'Tread Lightly' code of conduct, and it would be great if everybody using the book/tracks could do likewise.

OK - Soap box finished now - just that we are continually losing land access.

Cheers

G

[JATZ]

Not sure about the N.I.one but I have the 2 S.I. books, used alongside a KiwiMaps S.I. road atlas (which also shows a lot of the tracks in the books) I can usually find somewhere to go. Descriptions of routes are pretty accurate.
Just my 2c

[Eddieb]

With that in mind, we ask that all 4WD's adhere to the 'Tread Lightly' code of conduct, and it would be great if everybody using the book/tracks could do likewise.

I whole heartedly agree, and riding a 26 year old tractor I'm just looking to plod along to get places a little out of the way and scenic, not race through and launch myself off everything.

Sounds like they would suit me, I may have to add them to the shopping list.