The Variety Bash diaries: Day six on the road

Napier's Lorraine Hayne, Hamilton's Murray Creighton, Cambridge man Mike Alton and Napier's Yvonne McDonald with the Tron truck. Photos / Jacqui Madelin

Day five of the Variety Trillian Bash, and the teams split into three to visit six area schools as the crews head north, before detouring to the wind farm above Ashhurst.

This is the perfect leg to join the Fishpot crew aboard a 1960 Los Angeles ladder truck powered by an 18-litre six-cylinder engine - yes, each cylinder is three litres in size. No wonder it drinks a litre of fuel per kilometre travelled. Fortunately for me they won't wind the 30-metre ladder up today, we've not got the time.

This beast is so long it has a separate steering apparatus out back. Owner Peter Drummond needs that length to accommodate an extensive list of sponsors which have supported the band of good mates for 25 years of raising funds on the Bash, driving from Cape Reinga to Bluff and (almost) all points between.

David Shorter and rocker Tom Sharplin pass the time en route for Pahiatua with an arm wrestle aboard the 1960 Los Angeles ladder truck.

The NZ Herald initially rides up front, surprisingly comfy and fairly sheltered, heated by the vast engine behind our backs. But when we get to the hairpin gravel bends up to the wind farm, I'm thrown up the back behind Euan Ross - in charge of steering the rear - staring in horror down at the steep drop-offs. The tail lets you better appreciate the skill needed to pilot this mighty rig, with Euan often steering the rear wheels the opposite way to swing the far end of that ladder round bends, threading the vast appliance across single-lane bridges more suited to bicycles than this sort of rig.

Back here I don't get the full value from the Panasonic sound system with its eight subwoofers, 10 mid-range and eight tweeters. Some of those speaker boxes are longer than the average car - no wonder it sounds so good.

The afternoon's Tron truck may not be as well appointed, but it's certainly more sheltered... Two of its crew hail from Napier, where we'll spend the night. Yvonne is still wide-eyed after talking to a teacher this morning and discovering many of the kids dancing around the truck turn up to school unwashed, as there's no soap at home. "We let them be kids for a bit, load them up with giveaways and give them a special day."

Lorraine says the Bash makes her, as a mother, realize how lucky her family is. And both say watching a wheelchair-bound child's face the first time they try a liberty swing is a memory they'll always carry with them - they're both confirmed Bashers.

But they're about to detour to J-Mia Autos, a Hastings supporter, and we're due at Napier, so the Herald stops at the roadside to flag down another of the crews supported by Tron sponsor Education Services. After all, the show must go on.

On Thursday the Bash breakfasts at the Masonic Hotel, Napier from 8-9am, then calls at area schools before travelling to Tauranga via Taupo and Rotorua.

For details of the route, YouTube clips and updates, head to facebook.com/VarietyNZBash.