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As the title would suggest, I typed this up to post 2 yrs ago after a trip to NZ, but for whatever reason never did.
I just found it on my hard drive and still think it's worth sharing, so here it is.
Well I am back from my trip to NZ as some of you may know and thought I may as well put up a post to make up for my absence over the last two weeks. After taking my car for a drive yesterday I’m glad to have it back, but not to be home. NZ roads are amazing and make ours (Brisbane’s at least) look like a third world country, maybe worse. I saw a total of one pot hole in New Zealand, and that was in Christchurch. Considering they still have buildings laying in the middle of their city streets, I don’t think pot holes are rating highly on the to do list. (Note: this was after the first earthquakes, not the ones that totalled the city. As you can see, the Cathedral is still standing in my photos. I feel for the people of Christchurch, it was a great city.)
The south island is stunning and a driver’s paradise. Even in my automatic Ford Focus I managed to have a bit of fun. The road into Picton on the way from Nelson was absolutely insane. Most of the roads over there are posted as 100, but it’s impossible to do it. This road was posted as 60 and was so windy, I’m glad I wasn’t in the passenger seat. And since I was running late for the ferry, I was pushing that little car pretty hard.
The road north from Franz Joseph was the best stretch of road I’ve ever driven. Think Mt Nebo / Glorious x1000 (for those in Brisbane). If I had a decent car it probably would’ve been the highlight, but with fuel coming in at 199.9 at one stop, it’s probably a good thing I had the little chugger. I think I covered about 4500kms in the two weeks, and while it was slow, it did the job, squeaky brakes, noisy tyres and all. Instead, the highlight was definitely white water rafting in Rotorua. So much fun and absolutely stunning scenery.
The VW scene over there was pretty small, obviously because they all get used Jap imports for next to nothing. I saw a Subaru B4 for sale in Dunedin for $200 bucks. What a bargain. I took a few pics of cars over there just to post here. I was intrigued when I saw a mk IV golf with a V6 badge on the grille. But then I saw quite a few and just figured that they must have been R32s badged differently. Only saw a couple of mk V GTIs and one mk V R32. The most exciting car was probably a Plymouth Prowler in Queenstown. I’ve never seen one on the road before, and when it drove past I actually went searching for it to get a photo. The mk III wagon was also something I’d never seen, so required another photo. I actually saw two on the trip.
Queenstown was probably my favourite town. Pretty small, but lot’s of things to do and some of the better looking people in NZ. It’s a very tourist orientated place, but I’d love to spend time working there. One of the only places with a decent nightlife too.
What else…? I don’t know. Go to New Zealand. It’s pretty tops. But don’t stay in Waitomo, there’s nothing there. Stop, check out the glow worms, but don’t stay.
I just found it on my hard drive and still think it's worth sharing, so here it is.
Well I am back from my trip to NZ as some of you may know and thought I may as well put up a post to make up for my absence over the last two weeks. After taking my car for a drive yesterday I’m glad to have it back, but not to be home. NZ roads are amazing and make ours (Brisbane’s at least) look like a third world country, maybe worse. I saw a total of one pot hole in New Zealand, and that was in Christchurch. Considering they still have buildings laying in the middle of their city streets, I don’t think pot holes are rating highly on the to do list. (Note: this was after the first earthquakes, not the ones that totalled the city. As you can see, the Cathedral is still standing in my photos. I feel for the people of Christchurch, it was a great city.)
The south island is stunning and a driver’s paradise. Even in my automatic Ford Focus I managed to have a bit of fun. The road into Picton on the way from Nelson was absolutely insane. Most of the roads over there are posted as 100, but it’s impossible to do it. This road was posted as 60 and was so windy, I’m glad I wasn’t in the passenger seat. And since I was running late for the ferry, I was pushing that little car pretty hard.
The road north from Franz Joseph was the best stretch of road I’ve ever driven. Think Mt Nebo / Glorious x1000 (for those in Brisbane). If I had a decent car it probably would’ve been the highlight, but with fuel coming in at 199.9 at one stop, it’s probably a good thing I had the little chugger. I think I covered about 4500kms in the two weeks, and while it was slow, it did the job, squeaky brakes, noisy tyres and all. Instead, the highlight was definitely white water rafting in Rotorua. So much fun and absolutely stunning scenery.
The VW scene over there was pretty small, obviously because they all get used Jap imports for next to nothing. I saw a Subaru B4 for sale in Dunedin for $200 bucks. What a bargain. I took a few pics of cars over there just to post here. I was intrigued when I saw a mk IV golf with a V6 badge on the grille. But then I saw quite a few and just figured that they must have been R32s badged differently. Only saw a couple of mk V GTIs and one mk V R32. The most exciting car was probably a Plymouth Prowler in Queenstown. I’ve never seen one on the road before, and when it drove past I actually went searching for it to get a photo. The mk III wagon was also something I’d never seen, so required another photo. I actually saw two on the trip.
Queenstown was probably my favourite town. Pretty small, but lot’s of things to do and some of the better looking people in NZ. It’s a very tourist orientated place, but I’d love to spend time working there. One of the only places with a decent nightlife too.
What else…? I don’t know. Go to New Zealand. It’s pretty tops. But don’t stay in Waitomo, there’s nothing there. Stop, check out the glow worms, but don’t stay.
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