Launching at Hahei

Well I would normal be keen, and nappies are not an issue... have a few nieces and nephews of my own so find that its part of life, but have also just remembered that I have an event on this coming weekend, and as I am hosting it at my place feel it important that I attend! Thanks anyway mate... always keep me informed of any potential trips!

Ok, I did all the right things, checked with the camp site and 'yes' you can launch off the beach with a 4 wheel drive so I set off on Saturday morning at 6am looking forward to a fish only to have a nightmare!!

The sand was pretty soft which had me worried but, given that everybody else does it I figured I'd be ok. Got as far as backing up and started to get stuck. Out of the car; dug out behind the wheels and had another go only to sink a little deeper At this point I was at the point of no return as I couldn't drive up the beach onto the soft sand, only backwards into the incoming tide!!! Dug out again behind the wheels and this time I managed to back up a couple of metres before getting stuck again and this time only a few centremetres off grounding the car!!!
By this point I was seriously worried and drastic action was required so I opted to unhook the jetski in an effort to save the car. Swung the jetski round to give me room to back up, dug the car out and to my relief, the car got going and I didn't stop til I was back on the road! Ok, car saved, now the Jetski. To be honest, I wasn't too worried about the jetski. I knew I'd be able to float the jetski off as the tide came in and the trailers easy to move without 400kgs of jetski.

Anyway, as I waited for the tide to come in, help arrived with Ray and his tractor. He'd seen me struggling and come down to help although as the hon coast guard he did ask me to promise to get my jetski registered which I've since done. Interestingly, we don't have to register Jetski's in the BOP so I wasn't aware of this rule and he could have fined me $100 but instead he put the ski into the water so we could go out for a fish and towed the trailer round to the car.

I told Ray what the campsite said and he confirmed you could launch off the beach with a 4x4 but, not around high tide. However, he told me to give him a call if I ever needed putting in the future. Thanks Ray...

Incidently, didn't catch any thing and I got a mate to drive the car round to Cooks beach for the retrive but, the car didn't get wet so all in all not a bad day. However, I did drop my phone in the water so $400 up the spout but, I've come to the conclusion there's no such thing as a cheap day out on the water. Fortunately, it's a company mobile and I got it replaced with a waterproof one.

Great trip report, any story with or without fish is great reading. We have all had days like that! and putting the info here, helps others learn from our experiences
Better luck next trip.

When it comes to driving on sand its all about tyre pressure any 4 wd should be able to go most places in sand with the tyre pressure let down to 18 psi if its really soft and hot sand maybe even as low as 12 lb. We have a set of tyre deflators set at 18 psi just screw them on to the valve stem and sit back and have a cool drink. Simply pump them back up when you are about to go back onto the tar road.

Cheers Hoot

Certainly appreciate the info, and sorta feel a little off having heard your 'issues' with the beach landing... real bummer mate, but at least we have all learnt from this experience! I was certainly reassured that this was an everyday activity and no-one ever mentioned anyone previously getting stuck!!

Well... Cooks Beach, it maybe from now on, but a beautiful place all the same!

Thanks again...

Hi Hooter,

Thanks for the tip, I keep this in mind next time I go out on the sand.

Julian