I first joined the New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association back in 1985 through the Manukau 4WD Club. The club was very active in those days – a group of similar aged folk and a great social circle. In 1988 a national NZFWDA Jamboree was organised by the Otago Land-Rover Owners Club based in Bannockburn near Cromwell. My brother and his wife joined the Manukau club (briefly) to enable participation and the Jamboree was attended by a vast number from all over the country. This was where my love of ‘Central’ was born and to this day I relish the opportunity to hit those old Gold trails.
The NZFWDA have a monthly newsletter sent to all members and back in January 2023 ‘Notice’ was served for the Annual General Meeting to be held in Methven – but the AGM included five days (yep 5!) of Off-Road trips for the week leading up to the AGM on the Sunday, hitting the major Braided rivers in the Methven area. I contacted the organiser John McDonald and asked if the event would be like the old Jamboree I attended, and if so, could I advertise it on Facebook – to which he replied ‘yeah – I suppose we should have called it a Jamboree, and yes – the more the merrier’.
Naturally having a bent for Land-Rover I hit
