April 2022 – 42 Traverse
Throughout summer, adventure plans get tossed around, overnight trips turn into long weekend adventures, and the imaginary grows! After being beach-bound for most of the summer, we needed to head into the high country for a different kind of adventure. With winter just around the corner, we wanted to make the most of it! So we got the crew together and loaded up to hit the road.
Finally loaded up, we pointed the trucks south and hit the road off; looking for a spot to set up camp for the night, we headed down to Ngaherenga campsite outside! Rolling into camp in the dark is always a different experience. Thank God that we had a good setup of floodlights and super easy-to-pitch tents! The backbone of our trip was our kitted-out Isuzu Dmax with a custom-built Overlanding trailer with Kiwi Camping Tents and awnings which had enough accommodation for everyone and then some.
The lads finished off the convoy with the Mighty Pajero; this Pajero has been in the family for as long as we can remember and has been on some classic New Zealand adventures; with some recent mods done, it has become an Overlanding weapon!
After a frosty night, we woke up to a beauty of a day! We fired up the good old Gasmate cooker and whipped up some BLTs for the team while we waited for the tents to de-frost and dried out.
Taking the Back roads, we headed down to the iconic 42 Traverse; having spent most of our lives living in the North Island, we thought it was about time we did some exploring in our backyard. Pulling up to the start of the track, we dropped our tyre pressure; there is always a sense of adventure once you start airing down.
There is something special about the Central North Island. The feeling of someone watching over you as you head into the bush under the mountains is eerie but exciting. As we headed down the track, we started crawling and bouncing toward our campsite in the middle of the 42 Traverse.
On our way to our campsite, we pulled up at what can only be described as a world-class lookout, one of those spots where you want to escape for days on end.
Waking up in the middle of the bush never gets old; the sound of birds waking up and the creek next to camp is better than any hotel room! Another cold night was made better by the extra protection our Kiwi Camping tents gave us.
After a couple of cups of coffee to warm up and a few more BLTs to keep us going, we hit the road! Heading deeper into the bush following the 42nd traverse towards Owahanga, the second part of the track is the most exciting, with river crossings and some tricky rock crawls.
Pushing through the track, we started putting the newly built Overlanding trailer to the test! It went everywhere we did and never let us down! It is a game changer for us, and we can now take more mates away camping with us. The 360 coupling is mind-blowing and doesn’t limit your approach angle or departure angles, meaning you can still tackle the most challenging obstacles!
We wrapped our trip with a round of Smash burgers on the classic Gasmate cooker using the Charmate skillet to farewell the weekend.
See you out there on the next one!