Sleepin Around New Zealand: First Trip and More!

[Sheddie]

Ford Capri Car Club AGM Taupo Queens Birthday Weekend 2016.
Wow it has been such a long time since I have posted any updates
Two weeks before the AGM we were informed that we would that we would be doing some "Rocker Racing". After the events at the summer camp with the motorised chilly bins, I thought they must have come up with some powered rocking chairs. After a quick Google search I found out what it was all about. The club sent through the rules and regulations, such as max length, max width, max height, max wheel diameter and max weight. I went to just under the limits on everything.


With our members spread all over the country, I was unable to try it out against any of the others, so had no idea if it would be fast or a flop

We arrived on Friday afternoon, the weather forcast for over night was for cold We felt sorry for the dogs with the thought of them sleeping in the car overnight, so threw their cussions to the foot of our bed so they could sleep in the teardrop with us. After all they are not accustomed to that much cold. We live in the north of the country (southern hemisphere remember) and we very seldom get a frost and the dogs always sleep inside. They have never slept with us before, so we had doubts about how much sleep we would get as we expected them to be fidgeting and that every time we moved they would be climbing all over us to see what we were doing. Surprise surprise, they were perfect little angles and didn't move all night.
Saturday morning we were off down to the Lake Front to meet up with the Capri Club for a display and concourse and also catch up with the friends that we only see at best twice a year.


After the display we headed off on a mystery tour. It was a real mystery for a few of us as there were no directions given, it was a case of of follow the leader. Unfortunately getting a convoy of cars out of Taupo on a long weekend Saturday morning without getting broken up at x roads and roundabouts, wasn't going to happen. A group of us got lead off down the wrong road but soon realised, got back on track and caught up to the rest, waiting just up the road. We headed along the western side of the Waikato River to the Whakamaru Ski club for a lunch stop. This area is where they did the filming of the Yogi Bear Movie. Apparently it had to be done at a time that was not suitable for filming it in the USA and this place had the right look about it.




We headed on beside the river to cross the Whakamaru hydro electric dam and then to a couple of collections of cars and memorabilia, before returning to Taupo for the AGM meeting and evening get together.


This is an old streamline Texico petrol tanker that was recently imported from the USA to be restored.


Some of our Capri Club Cars.

[KCStudly]

Thanks for sharing. I always love to see the beautiful scenic views of NZ. You have every type of scenery there is, all packed into a relatively small package. The gear head stuff is cool, too!

[Sheddie]

Ford Capri Car Club AGM Taupo Queens Birthday Weekend 2016.

Saturday evening started with the Annual General Meeting and then dinner.
Then it was down to the important stuff! The rocker cover racing


The competitors were all lined up and what an amazing lot of effort and ideas had gone in to the designs

Considering we had only been given a couple of weeks to come up with these racing machines the results were fantastic.
No motors permitted, gravity powered only, down a long sloping ramp. The ramp we had was borrowed from the local Taupo Hot Rod Club. It was made out of roofing iron with two flat centre sections with a ridge each side to guide the cars. A member of the Hot Rod club came along with two of their clubs fastest cars to show us how it is done. He was very impressed with what we had come up with in a couple of weeks, but was then a bit embarrassed when his cars were eliminated in the heats.

With all sorts of ideas on what were the best options for wheels, Lance was having a few breakages with the CDs on his v4 Capri. He was running out of spares and was looking at having to sing to himself on the trip home.

This train was amazing, right down to the torch sticking out the front for the headlight.
Only problem was, I think the 8 wheels were creating a bit too much drag.

And the winners were from left to right...
In the end it came down to a best of three for the top two. After one win each, I was beaten by about one inch on the final run.
There were many phones with their cameras focused on the finish line

The next morning we woke up to a really good frost.
It is just as well the dogs were in the teardrop with us, as their water bowl that had been left in the car over night had frozen.

My cousin and his wife had arrived yesterday afternoon and parked their newly aquired teardrop in the camp site next to us.

After thawing out we headed out to the Taupo race track for the day for a few car related activities.

Even Dale took her beloved Capri our for a few laps.
But there was no way she was going to let me, or anyone else for that matter, go along for the ride.


Late in the afternoon we went for a walk along the paths by the Waikato River.
It's winter but people were in swiming in the creek flowing under the bridge and in to the Waikato.
It's a thermal creek and the water was lovely and warm.

Sunday morning and another good frost

The temperature in the teardrop was 6°c but we were nice and warm in bed. The car was -3°c. The dogs were glad to be in with us.
We headed down to a caffee by the lake front to have breakfast with the rest of the Capri club, before everyone headed for home.
By the time we got back to the camp, things had thawed out so that we could pack up.

We left Taupo and headed around to Kinloch (also on the northern shores of Lake Taupo). My sister and my niece live there and we thought we might catch up with them before we headed for home. But as it was such a nice day on the lake they had all gone out on the boat. We had lunch at the marina and did a few guided tours of the teardrop then hit the road for home.

[Sheddie]

Thanks for sharing. I always love to see the beautiful scenic views of NZ. You have every type of scenery there is, all packed into a relatively small package. The gear head stuff is cool, too!

Thanks for looking in

[eLink]

My very first car was a '72 Ford Capri! I recall that it was imported from Germany because Capris were sold under the Mercury badge here in the U.S. I wish I would have held onto it, but I was a dumb teenager then.

[Sparksalot]

What a fun thread. Great road trip tours!

[Sheddie]

My very first car was a '72 Ford Capri! I recall that it was imported from Germany because Capris were sold under the Mercury badge here in the U.S. I wish I would have held onto it, but I was a dumb teenager then.

Hi eLink, yes I think we have all sold cars that we later wished we had kept, I know I have several.

[Sheddie]

What a fun thread. Great road trip tours!

Thanks Sparksalot. Sorry that I have been a bit slack with updates lately. 2018 has been a bit hectic and I haven't looked in on the site much. Part of the mahem has been getting the car and teardrop ready for a tour from the top to the botton of New Zealand in 2019.