Throughout my working life I needed some form of transport to get around but, especially in those early days, Herbert Forest was the Cinderella of the Southland Conservancy - indeed Dunedin District. Actually I liked it that way because we didn't see big noises too much and were pretty well left to get on with things our way.
In those earlier days, all vehicles were the Forest Service yellow colour and wore the green triangle badge. Some of the pics are not my actual vehicles because I don't have pictures of them.
Early on at Herbert I had two forms of transport, my own little Commer Cob and Shank's Pony. I never claimed nor recieved compensation for using my own vehicle - I did not expect it really and using it was at times more convenient than walking. A lot of the time though I would walk and that too is a good thing because that's the way you find out about an area . Sometimes I would cut a track - using a straight edge slasher - to make a more permanent shortcut. I guess I was pretty fit then. As well I would have my .303 over my shoulder and if I saw pigs, I just might have a delay.
I could use old Rus
sell's truck to a certain extent but it would be borrowed for this and that, but that old A2 Bedford was a good truck. The same body fits the three ton model so there was plenty of room for the smaller engine in the engine bay. Between the seats there was plenty of room to sit my rifle {or Russell's old .3006 and the passenger seat held two comfortably - usually old Bert or Mick. Comfort?
You could always tell when the oil was getting low, the oil light came on going up Middle Ridge Road! But it was no good at towing the Wajax trailer up hill because it lost traction' too light in the arse end' Mick would say. We had a bladder for emergency storing water and it held 200 gallons. With that filled with water on the back, there was enough traction to climb most hills with gravel roads.
When
I was at Naseby Forest, there was an old Commer gang truck, but it was not used very much, so whenever anyone went to start it, there was always a problem because the carby would flood. Nobody liked to drive the old girl because she has a crash gearbox. Later vehicles had syncromesh which allowed gear changes to be smooth, all modern vehicles have something like that. I took a gang of guys to Wanaka to collect Douglas Fir seed in the old Commer and she performed well - as did the lads if the complaint's from fathers about the welfare of their daughters was any indication. Just another issue to sort out!
Anyway this Commer became my truck for a long time and one thing you could guarantee, nobody else would use it because it was so hard to drive - double de-clutch was the term. As well as the tricky gear bow, it was very heavy to steer - no power steering here. and often mud grip tyres were on the front wheels The Gearbox and diff growled so much I ended up putting thicker (SEA 140) oil in them. It was slow and the heater blew cold air whenever the vehicle was going down hill. Low gear most times uphill!
The old Commer had a canopy on the back (to house passengers) but that made it difficult to reverse - when we were making Moir's Gulley Road I had to back a trailer-mounted air-compressor [it had a Vanguard motor] way down there and around a sharp corner so we could drill the rock and set explosives. It took about two hours!
One time I lent it to a crew of students who were staying at Hampden - they phoned me to say that the gearbox was jammed! It had no oil in the gearbox, not a scarrack! I have no idea how that happened but with more oil there was no other problem.
Bob was the District Vehicle Inspector and I guess that there was more than me who was a constant thorn in his side. He liked to keep vehicles going, serviced well and in a tidy condition. He bordered on the pedantic and more than once he referred me to Keith Prior and later Jack Barber who were the respective District Rangers. My knuckles usually received their monthly rap a day or two after Bob's visit. After all, I was in charge of the forest vehicles and machinery and I did take the responsibility seriously, but clean vehicles when there was a lot of mud around - I don't think so. One time was when in a howling wind on top of Government Hill I stopped to open the gate, the door caught the wind and the door/hinge was twisted when I tried to close the door. We were fencing up there, so I took a crowbar and eased the door up so it would close. This put a small dent in the door frame and on the bottom of the door. Bob's report quoted how much extra the bill would be to fix the extra dent/s. Good old Jim though charged only for repairs to the hinge and took the rest out of my hide!
One day though, Bob took the old girl off the road! The frost plug at the back of the motor was so corroded that it 'was unsafe/unreliable to drive it. So she sat in the garage for a while until a decision could be made on what to with her. She would be auctioned off at a sale down at Conical Hills! I had to drive her down there - with no backup - but she didn't let me down!
As a replacement, I was given a Yamaha motor cycle - I think 75 cc but maybe a it more - a crash helmet and a PVC outfit of jacket and leggings. It was pretty much hopeless as forest vehicle and Robert Hutton (who had taken over Waianakarua Garage after Jim had retired) fitted a 72 tooth rear sprocket. This gave the machine power on the hills, but on the open road it was screaming at 70kmph. I lost a lot of time putting weather proof gear on and taking it off every time I went to check on something in the forest. I would get hot walking around then cold on the bike which caused me to have colds and flu!
Out by Trig J I was puttering along a narrow track [should have been walking] and over we went! It was quite steep and as I fell I was conscious of the fact that the bike was coming for me. I can't really say how I managed to dodge it but I did, and the bike went far down the hill - mainly sideways flipping over and over - sliding too. Bruised and sore, I walked down to the gang who were cutting a track through the bush towards Rutherford's - they hauled the bike out for me and other than broken mirrors and tail light, she survived and I was able to ride her to the garage for repairs.
It was not much use for delivering trees to the planing site, so Robert made a very nice trailer and fitted a draw-bar to the bike. This worked well, even if it did compromise my balance from time to time and was also good for collecting the empty tree cartons. But Bob arrived and said that 'it was not an official modification' frowning, there and then took the draw-bar off the bike! As he drove out the gate, I was putting it back on, but he sprang a surprise visit before I could take it off again! Luckily the planting season was finished, but he took the draw-bar and trailer to Dunedin with him. And my knuckles were rapped again!
Well I think they took the hint, and Jimmy, a brand new Suzuki LJ50 arrived. It was the first model I think and had a three cylinder, two stroke engine. It was a very light vehicle, and it did not have much compression so the engine could not hold it from speeding up going down steep hills - so you had to to use the brake a lot. But my, Jimmy could climb - pretty much where a bulldozer could go, Jimmy could. The Suzuki was a bit inclined to lift a front wheel when crossing ditches and the like which tingled the nerves until I became used to it. As it had a narrow wheelbase, side-slopes were a problem and it was more than once passengers leaned uphill [like in yachting] or three guys held me up on the downhill side. Once I was stuck so well in mud that I could not open the door - lucky Mick was nearby to pull me out with the D6!
I could carry a lot of trees by taking them out of the carton, just leaving them in their plastic bags! It saved a lot of walking time for the planters. But I took risks and luckily they came off. Out by Trig J we had a sudden dump of snow, so I went out late in the day by myself to recover the seedling trees - it is tricky in snow because you cant see rocks or holes and really, I guess the trees would have been fine! By careful maneuvering however I managed to extract all the trees and was home by dark.
While I was on long service leave, my replacement, Frank, ran Jimmy out of oil and seized the motor. The repairs were done in Dunedin and the workshop forgot to fill the oil tank, so when Frank picked Jimmy up it seized again going over the motorway!
Frank conveyed to the District Office that Jimmy was not a suitable vehicle - to me it was perfect but someone set the wheels in motion!
From the sublime to the ridiculous, Jimmy was replaced with a Nissan Patrol! A four litre petrol beast with absolute power to burn! Red in colour and impossible to keep clean - ow go my knuckles again! I once towed a caravan to Naseby in a howling [head] NW wind. The caravan swayed from side to side but when I went fast the caravan just flew behind me! I can never remember getting stuck in it but the bonnet was huge [I said half an acre but that's stretching the truth] and it felt uncanny at the top of a steep climb when I couldn't see what was over the bonnet! Dangerous really!
By now we had this big tandem trailer for transporting trees because we were planting larger areas now with a larger planting gang. The soil at Trotter's Gorge was much like that of Engorora and Manyata - sticky and slippery when wet. I had a full trailer load of trees and spades/planting bags to take up to the planting site and this involved a steepish climb up a razorback ridge. Well, it was a bit wet and half way up the vehicle sledged backwards! It was difficult to judge, but I managed to slide down without going over the edge - that would had been trouble! I put chains on the front wheels and had another go - I managed to climb further this time and fortunately while I sledged back, the chains gripped enough for me to direct my descent - the wheels were going forward, but we were still going backwards. Time was money and I was determined [foolishly] to get the trees up there. Close by there was a heap of Manuka planting poles and I strapped a heavy load of them to the bull-bar! She didn't miss a beat and I delivered the lot to the site!
Bulldog Kerr was driving the Patrol back with me in the passenger seat from Oamaru and he was always inclined to drive a bit fast, but he was faultless here. At Reidston, an elderly woman in a small car crossed suddenly in front of us - she was looking a the sign advertising tomatoes and fixed only on that. Bulldog tried to go around her and swerved sharply. We hit the rear of her car and we tipped up on two wheels- sitting up there for a time, almost rolling, then thumped back down on to four wheels.
The woman was shaken and unhurt so we comforted her until the law arrived to assess things. I took the woman over to a guy I knew nearby and she was given a cup of tea and was well cared for until someone picked her up.
The Patrol was drivable and I limped it back to HQ.
By now I was in charge of harvesting and the watchful eye of Laurie King was on me to run a cost-efficient operation, so I conned Bulldog into exchanging his vehicle, a white Diahatsu double cab. The pic is actually Toyota but anyway it was a bit like it. He liked the powerful Patrol but it was costly to run. The Diahatsu was diesel and very economical but it was a bit inclined to get stuck, luckily there were plenty of machines handy to extract me. In this vehicle I taught out older son to drive - a biggish truck on narrow roads, not easy for a young fella, but he mastered it in the end - even if I did lose some hair.
So its been a merry old range of vehicles over the years, none of them are the best - they all do their job. It is a matter of trying and finding out what each is capable of and driving within those constraints.
In those earlier days, all vehicles were the Forest Service yellow colour and wore the green triangle badge. Some of the pics are not my actual vehicles because I don't have pictures of them.
Early on at Herbert I had two forms of transport, my own little Commer Cob and Shank's Pony. I never claimed nor recieved compensation for using my own vehicle - I did not expect it really and using it was at times more convenient than walking. A lot of the time though I would walk and that too is a good thing because that's the way you find out about an area . Sometimes I would cut a track - using a straight edge slasher - to make a more permanent shortcut. I guess I was pretty fit then. As well I would have my .303 over my shoulder and if I saw pigs, I just might have a delay.
I could use old Rus
sell's truck to a certain extent but it would be borrowed for this and that, but that old A2 Bedford was a good truck. The same body fits the three ton model so there was plenty of room for the smaller engine in the engine bay. Between the seats there was plenty of room to sit my rifle {or Russell's old .3006 and the passenger seat held two comfortably - usually old Bert or Mick. Comfort?You could always tell when the oil was getting low, the oil light came on going up Middle Ridge Road! But it was no good at towing the Wajax trailer up hill because it lost traction' too light in the arse end' Mick would say. We had a bladder for emergency storing water and it held 200 gallons. With that filled with water on the back, there was enough traction to climb most hills with gravel roads.
When
I was at Naseby Forest, there was an old Commer gang truck, but it was not used very much, so whenever anyone went to start it, there was always a problem because the carby would flood. Nobody liked to drive the old girl because she has a crash gearbox. Later vehicles had syncromesh which allowed gear changes to be smooth, all modern vehicles have something like that. I took a gang of guys to Wanaka to collect Douglas Fir seed in the old Commer and she performed well - as did the lads if the complaint's from fathers about the welfare of their daughters was any indication. Just another issue to sort out!Anyway this Commer became my truck for a long time and one thing you could guarantee, nobody else would use it because it was so hard to drive - double de-clutch was the term. As well as the tricky gear bow, it was very heavy to steer - no power steering here. and often mud grip tyres were on the front wheels The Gearbox and diff growled so much I ended up putting thicker (SEA 140) oil in them. It was slow and the heater blew cold air whenever the vehicle was going down hill. Low gear most times uphill!
The old Commer had a canopy on the back (to house passengers) but that made it difficult to reverse - when we were making Moir's Gulley Road I had to back a trailer-mounted air-compressor [it had a Vanguard motor] way down there and around a sharp corner so we could drill the rock and set explosives. It took about two hours!
One time I lent it to a crew of students who were staying at Hampden - they phoned me to say that the gearbox was jammed! It had no oil in the gearbox, not a scarrack! I have no idea how that happened but with more oil there was no other problem.
Bob was the District Vehicle Inspector and I guess that there was more than me who was a constant thorn in his side. He liked to keep vehicles going, serviced well and in a tidy condition. He bordered on the pedantic and more than once he referred me to Keith Prior and later Jack Barber who were the respective District Rangers. My knuckles usually received their monthly rap a day or two after Bob's visit. After all, I was in charge of the forest vehicles and machinery and I did take the responsibility seriously, but clean vehicles when there was a lot of mud around - I don't think so. One time was when in a howling wind on top of Government Hill I stopped to open the gate, the door caught the wind and the door/hinge was twisted when I tried to close the door. We were fencing up there, so I took a crowbar and eased the door up so it would close. This put a small dent in the door frame and on the bottom of the door. Bob's report quoted how much extra the bill would be to fix the extra dent/s. Good old Jim though charged only for repairs to the hinge and took the rest out of my hide!
One day though, Bob took the old girl off the road! The frost plug at the back of the motor was so corroded that it 'was unsafe/unreliable to drive it. So she sat in the garage for a while until a decision could be made on what to with her. She would be auctioned off at a sale down at Conical Hills! I had to drive her down there - with no backup - but she didn't let me down!
As a replacement, I was given a Yamaha motor cycle - I think 75 cc but maybe a it more - a crash helmet and a PVC outfit of jacket and leggings. It was pretty much hopeless as forest vehicle and Robert Hutton (who had taken over Waianakarua Garage after Jim had retired) fitted a 72 tooth rear sprocket. This gave the machine power on the hills, but on the open road it was screaming at 70kmph. I lost a lot of time putting weather proof gear on and taking it off every time I went to check on something in the forest. I would get hot walking around then cold on the bike which caused me to have colds and flu!
Out by Trig J I was puttering along a narrow track [should have been walking] and over we went! It was quite steep and as I fell I was conscious of the fact that the bike was coming for me. I can't really say how I managed to dodge it but I did, and the bike went far down the hill - mainly sideways flipping over and over - sliding too. Bruised and sore, I walked down to the gang who were cutting a track through the bush towards Rutherford's - they hauled the bike out for me and other than broken mirrors and tail light, she survived and I was able to ride her to the garage for repairs.
It was not much use for delivering trees to the planing site, so Robert made a very nice trailer and fitted a draw-bar to the bike. This worked well, even if it did compromise my balance from time to time and was also good for collecting the empty tree cartons. But Bob arrived and said that 'it was not an official modification' frowning, there and then took the draw-bar off the bike! As he drove out the gate, I was putting it back on, but he sprang a surprise visit before I could take it off again! Luckily the planting season was finished, but he took the draw-bar and trailer to Dunedin with him. And my knuckles were rapped again!
Well I think they took the hint, and Jimmy, a brand new Suzuki LJ50 arrived. It was the first model I think and had a three cylinder, two stroke engine. It was a very light vehicle, and it did not have much compression so the engine could not hold it from speeding up going down steep hills - so you had to to use the brake a lot. But my, Jimmy could climb - pretty much where a bulldozer could go, Jimmy could. The Suzuki was a bit inclined to lift a front wheel when crossing ditches and the like which tingled the nerves until I became used to it. As it had a narrow wheelbase, side-slopes were a problem and it was more than once passengers leaned uphill [like in yachting] or three guys held me up on the downhill side. Once I was stuck so well in mud that I could not open the door - lucky Mick was nearby to pull me out with the D6!
I could carry a lot of trees by taking them out of the carton, just leaving them in their plastic bags! It saved a lot of walking time for the planters. But I took risks and luckily they came off. Out by Trig J we had a sudden dump of snow, so I went out late in the day by myself to recover the seedling trees - it is tricky in snow because you cant see rocks or holes and really, I guess the trees would have been fine! By careful maneuvering however I managed to extract all the trees and was home by dark.
While I was on long service leave, my replacement, Frank, ran Jimmy out of oil and seized the motor. The repairs were done in Dunedin and the workshop forgot to fill the oil tank, so when Frank picked Jimmy up it seized again going over the motorway!
Frank conveyed to the District Office that Jimmy was not a suitable vehicle - to me it was perfect but someone set the wheels in motion!
From the sublime to the ridiculous, Jimmy was replaced with a Nissan Patrol! A four litre petrol beast with absolute power to burn! Red in colour and impossible to keep clean - ow go my knuckles again! I once towed a caravan to Naseby in a howling [head] NW wind. The caravan swayed from side to side but when I went fast the caravan just flew behind me! I can never remember getting stuck in it but the bonnet was huge [I said half an acre but that's stretching the truth] and it felt uncanny at the top of a steep climb when I couldn't see what was over the bonnet! Dangerous really!By now we had this big tandem trailer for transporting trees because we were planting larger areas now with a larger planting gang. The soil at Trotter's Gorge was much like that of Engorora and Manyata - sticky and slippery when wet. I had a full trailer load of trees and spades/planting bags to take up to the planting site and this involved a steepish climb up a razorback ridge. Well, it was a bit wet and half way up the vehicle sledged backwards! It was difficult to judge, but I managed to slide down without going over the edge - that would had been trouble! I put chains on the front wheels and had another go - I managed to climb further this time and fortunately while I sledged back, the chains gripped enough for me to direct my descent - the wheels were going forward, but we were still going backwards. Time was money and I was determined [foolishly] to get the trees up there. Close by there was a heap of Manuka planting poles and I strapped a heavy load of them to the bull-bar! She didn't miss a beat and I delivered the lot to the site!
Bulldog Kerr was driving the Patrol back with me in the passenger seat from Oamaru and he was always inclined to drive a bit fast, but he was faultless here. At Reidston, an elderly woman in a small car crossed suddenly in front of us - she was looking a the sign advertising tomatoes and fixed only on that. Bulldog tried to go around her and swerved sharply. We hit the rear of her car and we tipped up on two wheels- sitting up there for a time, almost rolling, then thumped back down on to four wheels.
The woman was shaken and unhurt so we comforted her until the law arrived to assess things. I took the woman over to a guy I knew nearby and she was given a cup of tea and was well cared for until someone picked her up.
The Patrol was drivable and I limped it back to HQ.
By now I was in charge of harvesting and the watchful eye of Laurie King was on me to run a cost-efficient operation, so I conned Bulldog into exchanging his vehicle, a white Diahatsu double cab. The pic is actually Toyota but anyway it was a bit like it. He liked the powerful Patrol but it was costly to run. The Diahatsu was diesel and very economical but it was a bit inclined to get stuck, luckily there were plenty of machines handy to extract me. In this vehicle I taught out older son to drive - a biggish truck on narrow roads, not easy for a young fella, but he mastered it in the end - even if I did lose some hair.
So its been a merry old range of vehicles over the years, none of them are the best - they all do their job. It is a matter of trying and finding out what each is capable of and driving within those constraints.
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