Quad Biking: Kapiti 4x4

This weekend a bunch of us "Cre-tards" (and one modeller) went out quad biking up along the Kapiti Coast. Kristie organized it for us after having gone on a different 4x4 excursion out in Martinborough months ago. In total 15 of us went, a few people bailed last minute...could've been the fact that it was raining all day, but the rain actually made it more fun cause there were puddles to splash through, and more mud to get stuck in. One of the workers actually said it's better when it's wet otherwise it turns into a dust storm on the trails. Either way, I know we all had an awesome time in the rain!

We booked a 4 hour ride with Kapiti 4x4. About a 1 hour drive up the Western coast from the city. 4 trail guides with 3 groups of 5 riding in between each guide. Accessing 18,000 hectares of natural landscape, with terrain ranging from dense rainforest to pine forest, riverbeds, grasslands, to dirt and rock trails. The guides basically tailor the route based on time and the abilities of the riders. Standard gear was gumboots, and waterproof overalls (kind of like the gaiters or wading pants fishermen use). And since it was raining, we also wore matching 'fishermen' coats.

After a brief obstacle course which gets you comfortable with the bikes controls, and how to navigate very uneven terrain, we hit the trails. Every so often we'd come to a difficult obstacle like a steep climb up a tracked out hill or deep mud pool. We'd go through it one by one with the guide explaining what you need to do. Some of the cool stuff was riding in super deep tracks or channels where your quad basically fit into a groove carved through the ground, with the sides of the channel basically being the height of the quads. Hitting roots and rock obstacles in the tracks mean the quads would lean left and right to the point it felt like they'd roll..but not quite. And of course who didn't enjoy blasting through every deep puddle or river crossing you could find! Getting wet or muddy was part of the gameplan :)

If Kapiti 4x4 gave out awards for "Group With The Most Camera Gear" award, I think we would've easily won :P

Lonnie was apparently kidnapped by a group of bandit cowboys when nobody was watching.

Jesse giving us his latest GQ pose.

James and Jesse sporting the required Pimp Gear.

Since the guides didn't want us taking photos while riding, for obvious safety reasons, they put all our cameras onto one guides bike, and used them randomly to take photos for us. There was one point that we took a break though and they let us snap some quick shots of the view towards Kapiti Island. And then we all ran around taking photos of each other like a bunch of school kids on a field trip :P

And finally a couple of pics that the guides took with random cameras. I KNOW you're jealous of my yellow raincoat and shiny red helmet :P