An early text from Brett to let us know he’s already there, getting into the ti-tree on daylight to chop it and haul it out for his daughter’s 1st birthday hangi the next weekend. The rest of us sauntered on out there, parked in the paddock, a little after 8:30 – Rodney in his Mistral, Colin & I in the Rocky, and Luke in his Rugger. By the time we’d sorted out where we were going and what we were taking, Brett turned up with another load of ‘logs’ chained up behind the back of his wagon
; duly loaded onto his trailer and back he went into the scrub for more. While Brett’s mission was two-fold, ours was driven by the single-minded intent (mostly Colin’s) to clear the track so it joined up in the swampy clearing at the bottom with the track coming into it from the other side.... (it makes sense when he tells it......). So Rodney and Luke attacked it from the top, and Colin and I went in further to work back towards them, each crew chopping (chainsawing) and stacking as we went. Rodney’s saw gave up first, stalling out and being tricky to restart. There was plenty of bushy grand-daddy gorse, so there was easy space gained for not too much chopping. Colin’s saw threw a chain, so that was the signal for a coffee break (any excuse, eh...). Unfortunately, coffee was at the top of the hill in the Rocky, so not being needed to tend to the chainsaw I volunteered to go. As I came out of the bush, I noticed the sky was dark and threatening; by the time I got the key in the lock of the back door, the rain began, and quickly became heavy, so I tucked myself into the back of the vehicle and sat it out....I peeked out a couple of times to see was it easing or getting worse, since being under the trees as well it was a bit hard to tell. Eventually it eased enough for me to venture back down the hill, where I was greeted by the comment “Didn’t you want to walk down the hill in the hail.....!?” So, after the coffee was down and the new chain on, we wandered further around the track and felled some more trees, thoughtfully leaving a few strategic ‘obstacles’ as we went. We made it so there’s a way clear down the track – perhaps a wee bit of bashing required to get started – into the clearing, plenty of room to play, lots of fun to be had. Still some trees for Colin to hit, and if the conditions are right, somewhere to get stuck! And talking of getting stuck...... after the downpour, Luke decided it would be a good idea to turn the Rugger around, so he drove down the hill a bit, got stuck, tried to back up..... not good.....let the tyres down.....way better! Given that the weather wasn’t improving, and both chainsaws were stuffed for the day, we decided we’d done enough, so the trusty Rugger carted most of the gear up the hill (we picked a few bits up along the way, those of us travelling on foot behind it). Brett was back from carting his trailer load of wood home, so that made it lunchtime, after which Colin and I went home and the others went for a 4x4 wander out the back to ‘look for a number plate’...
; duly loaded onto his trailer and back he went into the scrub for more. While Brett’s mission was two-fold, ours was driven by the single-minded intent (mostly Colin’s) to clear the track so it joined up in the swampy clearing at the bottom with the track coming into it from the other side.... (it makes sense when he tells it......). So Rodney and Luke attacked it from the top, and Colin and I went in further to work back towards them, each crew chopping (chainsawing) and stacking as we went. Rodney’s saw gave up first, stalling out and being tricky to restart. There was plenty of bushy grand-daddy gorse, so there was easy space gained for not too much chopping. Colin’s saw threw a chain, so that was the signal for a coffee break (any excuse, eh...). Unfortunately, coffee was at the top of the hill in the Rocky, so not being needed to tend to the chainsaw I volunteered to go. As I came out of the bush, I noticed the sky was dark and threatening; by the time I got the key in the lock of the back door, the rain began, and quickly became heavy, so I tucked myself into the back of the vehicle and sat it out....I peeked out a couple of times to see was it easing or getting worse, since being under the trees as well it was a bit hard to tell. Eventually it eased enough for me to venture back down the hill, where I was greeted by the comment “Didn’t you want to walk down the hill in the hail.....!?” So, after the coffee was down and the new chain on, we wandered further around the track and felled some more trees, thoughtfully leaving a few strategic ‘obstacles’ as we went. We made it so there’s a way clear down the track – perhaps a wee bit of bashing required to get started – into the clearing, plenty of room to play, lots of fun to be had. Still some trees for Colin to hit, and if the conditions are right, somewhere to get stuck! And talking of getting stuck...... after the downpour, Luke decided it would be a good idea to turn the Rugger around, so he drove down the hill a bit, got stuck, tried to back up..... not good.....let the tyres down.....way better! Given that the weather wasn’t improving, and both chainsaws were stuffed for the day, we decided we’d done enough, so the trusty Rugger carted most of the gear up the hill (we picked a few bits up along the way, those of us travelling on foot behind it). Brett was back from carting his trailer load of wood home, so that made it lunchtime, after which Colin and I went home and the others went for a 4x4 wander out the back to ‘look for a number plate’...
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