Sleepin Around New Zealand: First Trip and More!

[KCStudly]

Keep 'em coming, Sheddie.

[Sheddie]

:thumbsup: slow!

Keep 'em coming, Sheddie.

Thanks KC and Slow for looking in and the encouragement. I am slowly catching up on our trips. I hope you don't mind all the car pics, but that is what most of our trips tend to be around.
We have just got home from a family fun day/display organised by all the emergency services. There were Police, Fire Service, Ambulance, Red Cross, Helicopter Rescue and Youth suicide. Our Classic and Sports Car Club was there to show our cars (we took the TD along as well), and a mass of bikers, mainly shiny chrome Harley Davidson.



This is our Ambulance and Rescue Helicopter Base.
Amongst other things was a demonstration of helicopter winching from a boat, and cutting open a car with the jaws of life.


Then it was tug O war time.

With a rope on the back of the old V8 pickup, the kids pulled it back over the line.

Bikers against the Kids. Kids won.

Bikers and Car Club against Police and Rescue, B&CC won

Police against the Kids, Kids won And there were some mighty little kids there too.

[Sheddie]

Day Two
Monday 18th Feb 2013
We headed back in to Tauranga to park in the street by the waterfront for another display and more speeches.



Later in item morning we headed off in another giant convoy through Mt Maunganui and Papamoa Beach (where we picked up the TD from the camp ground), and followed the coastline to Wakatane for a lunch stop, display the cars, and more speeches. It was quite handy having the TD with us, as we could lift the hatch and make some lunch or have a cupper, without having to go looking for a cafe. Although we did tend to get surround by people wanting to know all about the TD.
From Wakatane we continued along the coast to Opotiki. This is where my great grandfather had settled in 1866 and our family then spread out from there. From Opotiki we turned inland to take SH2 across East Cape and on down to Gisborne, a very scenic drive with big hills, lots of native forest and and rivers. East Cape is the first place in the world to see the dawning of each new day.
The Capri was running much better this trip. With the fully rebuilt engine we were not getting any fumes and the rocker cover was clean and dry. It also had more power for climbing all the hills in this area and with an overdrive unit on the gearbox which operates on 2, 3 & 4, it gave me seven forward gears to play with as well, so there is always a suitable ratio in there somewhere.


We arrived in Gisborne and set up camp at the Top 10 Holiday Park. As we drove in we were getting all the usual stares from the other campers wondering what the old car was and what was the little red trailer we were pulling. I must say it is a great ice breaker as you end up talking to a lot more people when you tow a tear drop.

[dales133]

Did you use the "supaloo" in gisborne or taupo ?
Best amenities in the world I've seen for traveling.1 dollar for a world class bathroom as long as you need it

[Sheddie]

Between those and Kawakawa, it sounds like the public loos are your must see tourist spot.

[dales133]

Lol hey I'm proud of my loos!
The super loos are great amenities though

[Sheddie]

Tuesday 19th Feb 2013.
As usual, this morning we headed along to one of Gisbornes sports grounds to put on a display for the locals and listen to more speeches. It was here that we heard that on the previous day as we were leaving Opotiki that several of the entrants had received speeding tickets. It was no surprise that they were mainly Jaguar drivers, and there was a great cheer from the crowd when it was revealed that the British High Commissioner was one of them. She assured us that she would not be claiming diplomatic immunity, and would be paying her fine.
Speeches done the convoy headed south for a lunch stop at Wairoa,

then continue on to Napier, NZs Art Deco Capital, for a car display on Marine Parade.
Napier's Art Deco heritage goes back to 1931 when a large earthquake and ensuing fire destroyed the town.

As they rebuilt the town all the then current design styles were used, and it has remained a feature.

We packed the cars in to the Sound Shell area and had them spilling out on to the street.

Numbers were boosted by a lot of local cars, some being from the near by British Car Museum.


We all headed across the road to the Masonic Hotel for the usual round of speeches, a meal and entertainment.

The Town Crier giving us a very interesting account of Napier's destruction and rebuild. As things wound up and we could get out of the display we headed on to Hastings where we stayed with my niece for the night.

[dales133]

The masonic hotel does a ripper all day breakfast.great place Napier , it's like Gotham city

[Sheddie]

Wednesday 20th February 2013
We had an early start today, as we needed to be in Mangatainoka at the Tui Brewery headquarters for morning tea.
We didn't have a great sleep last night as we had been convinced that we should sleep in the house, but unfortunately the bed was no where as comfortable as the bed in the TD. We won't make that mistake again. It was going to be easier going for the Capri today as it was mainly flat running until we get near Wellington, and the infamous Rimutaka Hill.
As we had stayed out west of Hastings we took SH50 down to rejoin SH2.

Morning tea was fabulous with enormous scones with jam and big dollops of whipped cream, and cake. We had a good look around the visitors centre and brewery museum, and bought some of their Tuimato sauce.
That's right, they make tomato sauce with beer in it!
As a side note, self contained campers can over night in the brewery grounds.
After the usual speeches from the mayor and other dignitaries we continued south, our next destination and lunch stop, Masterson. As we drove in to town we were directed in to the main street, which had been closed to all other traffic, and we were lined up in rows filling the area.
And look at what I found.
The area was decked out with Union Jacks and bunting, there were bands playing, and everyone had got into the mood of the occasion.
Austin Powers and Felicity Shagwell.
We decided to head to a café for lunch in a bit of piece, instead of trying to eat at the TD.
It was a hot day as we headed further south, there were roadworks for miles, and with re - sealing happening, it was slow travelling with metal chip flying everywhere. The guards on the TD were getting peppered, taking off big chunks of paint. One guy in a Morris Minor van had his windscreen shattered. As we reached the Rimutakas the day was getting even hotter and with lots of traffic and more roadworks the Capri was getting very hot as we slowly wound and ground our way to the summit.

We had the windows down and the heater and blower on to help with keeping the engine cool. We arrived at the Top 10 holiday camp with just enough time to shower and get ready to head off to the evening activities. We joined with some of the others to share a taxi van into central Wellington to attend a function at Parliament House.

Drinks and nibbles at the Beehive with several politicians, and you have all guessed by now what that meant. More speeches!
Then a group of us wandered off down to the waterfront to a sports bar for a meal then headed back to the camp for some sleep, it had been a big day.

[Sheddie]

Thursday 21st Feb 2013
Another early start. We were meeting at the waterfront wharf area for another display and having a traditional English breakfast of "Bacon Buttys".
They were also using the rally to promote British products and technology.


There were displays of new Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Triumph motorbikes and an Alexander Dennis bus to cart around all the small items, with the driver easy to spot in his Union Jack suit.
After all the usual formalities we were off to the Interislander ferry terminal to catch the ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton at the top of the South Island. We sailed on the Aratere, which in 2011 had been cut in half and lengthened by 30 metres, and had a nice calm trop across. So far we have always had nice weather on the Cook Strait, touch wood, but it can have a fierce reputation.


From Picton it was a short drive to Blenheim for an over night stop at the Top 10 Holiday Park, under the Blenheim bridge.

Here we met up with another group of cars from Nelson that had driven across to join in.

[felixx]

Hello from Christchurch, NZ

[Sheddie]

Hi Felixx
Welcome
It is always good to see another kiwi. I see you intend towing with an Anglia. My Capri is its slightly bigger brother. What engine do you have in it?
Frank

[felixx]

Hi Frank
Im running a 997cc at the moment, but slowly building a 1500 for her too.

I know the consul capri club is strong here in chch

[mobile camper]

Frank,

Thanks for the tour of NZ. The pictures are awesome.

Steve G
Astoria, OR

[Sheddie]

Friday 22nd February 2013.
We started today with a fabulous breakfast at the Drylands Winery & Restaurant. Blenheim and the Marlborough district is New Zealands major grape growing and wine making area. In 2014 there are 568 growers, 168 wineries, covering 22,903 ha, (56,500acres) producing 329,572 tonnes.


It turned out to be worthwhile hanging around for the speeches today as we were presented with a bottle of wine for taking our little mobile home with us all the way from Auckland to Christchurch. On the way back to the car I was stopped by a reporter from the local radio station, doing a live feed and wanted me to tell him about the TD.
From Blenheim we headed on to Kaikoura, for lunch, a display and you guessed it, speeches.

Kaikoura is an area known for crayfish, seal colonies and whale watching.

We had a good look around the town and Dale found a TD salt and pepper set.

We headed on to Christchurch and the Top 10 camp. Again they had put someone else on the site that we had booked several months ago. After a lot of shagging around they finely found us a suitable site. We set up camp and had a cuppa while we watched the road rage going on as a guy was trying to manoeuvre his monster of a fifth wheel camper into place.
That night we went to the final dinner at the Riccarton racecourse.
Saturday 23 Feb 2013.
The last event for the rally was a public display at Hagley Park. We took the TD with us (we left the RV shade standing)

and as usual spent all the morning talking to people about all things TD. There were all the usual questions, Do you sleep in it? Isn't it claustrophobic? How do you stand up in there? Oooh it even has a kitchen! And you built that your selves? Hopefully by taking it to places like that we are planting the odd seed in the grey matter. We headed back to the camp about 1pm, as we were getting picked up by a double decker bus to go to a wedding.

My cousin had moved to Chch to work on the rebuild and was getting married that day, and as most of our family are in the north of the country and we just happened to be there, we invited our selves to attend.