NZFWDA Day 5 Basin Hut Avoca River

Friday is day five of the New Zealand Four Wheel Drive association safaris in the centre of the south Island – based around Methven. Through the week the organizers ran two trips each day - covering the same routes on alternate days. For our last day - we had the choice to continue on from where our group turned around yesterday on the Wilberforce river - and travel to Urquhart’s Hut – which was reputably quite a challenging run, or we could do an easy drive - back up the Harper River and then turn north-west - up the Avoca River as far as Basins Hut. Due the deteriorating weather, it was suggested that the Wilberforce would be too high - due to the heavy rainfall in the mountains - raising the river to a dangerous speed and depth. So the decision was made to combine the two convoys into one – and travel up the Avoca to Basins Hut for lunch.