Tractor owners and enthusiasts from around New Zealand have completed the first two legs of a scheduled 22-day trip from Bluff to Picton and back.
In total, 37 tractors, as well as support vehicles, were driven across Central Otago yesterday as the 2010 South Island Tractor Trek for Cancer Kids made its way from Tapanui to Patearoa.
Between 10am and 11am, the volunteer fundraisers were offered morning tea at Millers Flat, before heading to Lake Onslow for lunch, courtesy of the Roxburgh Lions Club.
During the afternoon, they continued along the top of Rough Ridge before dropping down into the small Maniototo settlement of Patearoa.
Convener Maurice Short, of Balfour, said every dollar collected on tour would be given to the Child Cancer Foundation.
"We don't take any expenses out of what's donated.
"We probably would have been financially better off to each write out a cheque to the foundation and stay at home, but then we wouldn't havehad any fun," he said.
Before leaving Bluff on Monday, tour volunteers had already generated $50,000 for charity, and Mr Short hoped a further $50,000 could be raised during the trek.
About 2500km had to be travelled, with a tentative finishing date of March 16.
The oldest tractor on tour was built in 1937 and the oldest vehicle is a 1923 Dennis truck.
Mr Short said many of the tractors were models from the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Some modern-day machines were participating, as well.
Trekkers would visit Kurow, Fairlie, Methven, Lees Valley, Hanmer Springs, Molesworth, Blenheim, Havelock, Wakefield, Murchison, Greymouth, Whataroa, Lake Paringa, Makarora, Cromwell, Garston, Te Anau, and Thornbury.
