Words: 4XJournal Photos: Midnight Creative and Quality Antics
There are two very different ways to approach four-wheel driving. The first is easy to find online: bigger tyres, more horsepower, and harder tracks. Every trip becomes a competition to see who can climb the steepest hill or throw the biggest rooster tail of mud. The second approach is quieter. It's about loading the camping gear on a Friday afternoon, pointing the bonnet towards the mountains, and disappearing for the weekend. It's about river crossings, old mining settlements, nights around a campfire, and arriving home with another story to tell.
It's this second approach that defines Hankook ambassadors Hayden Jones and Ben Orchard. Neither is interested in building the biggest truck on the internet. Instead, they've built reputations around something far more relatable: preserving classic Land Rovers, exploring New Zealand responsibly, and showing that memorable adventures don't require unlimited budgets or heavily modified vehicles. It's a philosophy that aligns naturally with the Hankook Dynapro MT2 — a tyre designed for the journey as much as the destination.
For Hayden, that journey started long before social media existed. His family's 1972 Land Rover Series 2A arrived in 1995 and quickly became the vehicle that introduced him to New Zealand's backcountry. Weekend trips evolved into a family tradition, with one of his earliest memories coming from a 1996 trip along the famous Barn Bay track on the West Coast with the Dunstan 4WD Club. Crossing the Cascade River was particularly memorable — it was the first real test of his dad's homemade snorkel, constructed from plumbing pipes. It worked, and the adventure continued.
Three decades later, that same Land Rover is still doing exactly what it was bought to do. Now powered by a Toyota B diesel and Celica five-speed gearbox, it continues exploring some of the South Island's most spectacular backcountry destinations while starring on Hayden's YouTube channel. Rather than chasing views through impossible recoveries or extreme obstacles, Hayden deliberately focuses on something different. He wants to encourage people to get out and explore, regardless of what they're driving.
"You don't need a big expensive triple-locked rig with 35s to enjoy four-wheel driving. Old Landys are just as fun and they make every challenge just that much more interesting," Hayden says.
There's more to it than proving an old Land Rover can still get the job done. Hayden wants people to see just how beautiful New Zealand's remote places are and recognise that there's much more out there than the typical tourist hotspots. Equally important is respecting the land and the tracks used to reach them. For Hayden, there's no need to redline a vehicle at every obstacle. Treading lightly means future generations will hopefully have the same opportunities to explore the country.
It's a message that's becoming increasingly important as four-wheel driving continues to grow in popularity. Responsible access, mechanical sympathy, and respect for the environment have long been part of New Zealand's touring culture, and Hayden's content reinforces those values without ever feeling preachy. His adventures aren't about proving what a vehicle can conquer. They're about showing where it can take you.
Ask Hayden where he'd take someone on their very first four-wheel-drive trip and the answer is instant: Macetown. With dozens of river crossings, spectacular mountain scenery, and fascinating gold-mining history, Macetown brings together many of the things that make exploring New Zealand by four-wheel drive so rewarding. There's enough challenge to make the drive interesting without making it intimidating.
"By the end of the day they'd understand that four-wheel driving isn't about conquering obstacles, it's about reaching incredible places that most people never get to experience."
That outlook also explains why the old Series Land Rover has never been replaced with something newer or more capable. For Hayden, its appeal has very little to do with outright performance. There's Land Rover's long association with exploration, but equally important is the simplicity of the vehicle itself. As Hayden sees it, even someone with little mechanical knowledge could begin figuring one out after five minutes on YouTube.
More importantly, this particular Series has become part of the family. Hayden learnt to drive in it, guided by his dad's theory that if you can drive an old Series Landy, you can drive anything. It's challenging to drive and an even bigger challenge to take off road, but that's precisely why reaching the destination in it remains so rewarding.
Ben Orchard arrived at Land Rovers from a different direction, although his appreciation for them is no less genuine. Growing up in the United Kingdom around Series Land Rovers, he completed his first restoration alongside his father before eventually taking on multiple rebuilds of his own. Those projects led to the creation of his Instagram page, The Series Shed, and ultimately to the purchase of his 1996 Defender 90 County Station Wagon. Where Hayden is driven by exploration, Ben is equally driven by the satisfaction of restoring and maintaining a vehicle properly.
Those years spent rebuilding Land Rovers taught Ben that shortcuts generally take more time in the long run. His approach is methodical: read the manual, follow the specifications, and take the time to do the job correctly. They've also taught him patience. Restoration rarely goes exactly to plan, and sometimes walking away from a problem and returning with a fresh perspective is more productive than forcing a solution.
"I think the restoration journey is just as rewarding as the finished vehicle because you learn so much about how everything works along the way," Ben says.
That same mindset extends to his Defender. Approaching 395,000km, it remains remarkably close to factory specification, wearing only carefully considered touring upgrades rather than a catalogue of aftermarket accessories. It's an approach based on reliability first, modifications second.
Old Land Rovers might carry a reputation for unreliability, but Ben sees that in a slightly different light. Most Land Rovers are now 30 or 40 years old, and any vehicle of that age will have problems if it has been neglected. Properly maintained, their simplicity becomes one of their greatest strengths. They're easy to understand, relatively easy to diagnose, and, in many cases, repairable with basic tools.
Ben's own Defender provides a fairly convincing example. It has never actually left him stranded. For a vehicle of its age and mileage, that's a pretty strong endorsement of the maintenance-first philosophy.
That practical approach also shapes Ben's opinion of the Hankook Dynapro MT2. Like many touring enthusiasts, the majority of his kilometres aren't spent crawling through mud or picking a line through an obstacle. They're spent getting to and from those places, which means a mud-terrain tyre still needs to behave itself on the road.
That has been one of the biggest surprises with the MT2. Compared with the tyres previously fitted to his Defender, Ben has found them noticeably quieter on the road. On gravel they've also impressed, feeling planted and predictable on faster South Island back roads, while, off road, they've delivered the performance he'd expect from a proper mud tyre.
"For me they've struck a really nice balance because my Defender still spends plenty of time driving to and from the tracks, not just crawling around off road."
Although the pair regularly travel together, their personalities couldn't be more different. Ben is methodical and analytical, while Hayden is often happy to see where a faint track or riverbed might lead. It's a contrast that has produced plenty of laughs over the years, including Hayden's apparently questionable habit of wearing slippers while driving.
More importantly, their different approaches complement each other. Ben credits Hayden with a natural ability to lead, particularly when following a barely visible track through a riverbed or picking a tricky line, even when an easier option is sitting right beside it. Hayden might be more willing to see what happens, while Ben prefers a considered approach, but somehow the combination works.
Despite approaching four-wheel driving differently, both men ultimately arrive at the same conclusion. The destination might be the reason for planning a trip, but it's rarely what they remember most.
"I'd say we're actually pretty similar in that respect," Ben says. "The destination is often just the excuse to get out there. I enjoy seeing parts of New Zealand that most people never get to experience, but it's equally about the people you're with, the laughs, the unexpected challenges, and the stories that come from them. Looking back, it's usually the things that didn't go to plan that become the best memories."
This is reflected in the advice they offer to newcomers entering the hobby. Expensive modifications are no substitute for experience, and respecting the places you visit is every bit as important as choosing the right line through an obstacle.
Hayden's advice is to keep things simple. Learn the fundamentals of four-wheel driving before spending heavily on upgrades and don't head out alone unless you're prepared for a potentially very long walk home when things go wrong.
Ben's philosophy is similar, but starts with the vehicle itself. "My advice would be to spend your money on maintenance before modifications. Learn how your vehicle works, understand its limitations, and get out there and use it. You don't need huge tyres or a heavily modified truck to have a great time. We have been on some amazing trips in vehicles that are close to standard."
That responsibility extends beyond the vehicle. Staying on designated tracks, leaving gates as they're found, taking rubbish home, and avoiding unnecessary damage all help preserve access. Both Hayden and Ben have little time for what they describe as the limiter-bashing, mud-spraying, and rut-chewing scene. Their position is straightforward: respect the tracks, pick up your rubbish, and don't be a dick.
Hayden Jones and Ben Orchard’s shared mindset makes them fitting ambassadors for Hankook. While their Land Rovers may differ in age and specification, as well as the personalities behind the wheel differing, both represent a style of four-wheel driving that values preparation over modification, exploration over ego, and experiences over obstacles.
The Dynapro MT2 fits naturally into that picture. It's there to get them through the difficult sections, certainly, but, just as importantly, it’s there to carry them over the hundreds of kilometres of tarmac and gravel required to reach them in the first place. Because for Hayden and Ben, the challenge has never been the entire point of the trip. It's simply part of the journey to somewhere worth going.
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hayden_jones
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