[dave_au]

Well, after stealing RSGerry's idea for a post topic, here I find myself in an Auckland Hotel, my first time visiting NewZealand.

First impressionas are good, seems to be a nice city, Im touring round both islands for the next two weeks. As the final insult, my hotel is opposite my work's Auckland office. I wonder what the work hours are like here, it certainly doenst seem to have the "rat race" (or should that be pace :nerner feel of Sydney or Melbourne. Tonight I have become a temporary member of DUAG, thanks to the hotels 31.1kbs connection

I must say the japanese motoring influence here is a little greater than expected. Everytime I take the hire car out, I find myself trying to work out what the hell that car is in front of me, certainly not the sort of numbers of falcons and commodores on the road like we find back in Australia. Seems that the LPG falcon isnt the taxi of choice either, this seems to be given to a 93 model bluebird, maxima or sprinter. Also the "european" themed traffic signals are a new sight for me, having only previously travelled to America.

Thanks to a stuff up by my rental company, I find myself behind the wheel of a 2.0L Mondeo for the next week before I head to the south island instead of the XR6. Not a bad car, engine has a bit of kick for a 2.0L, seats are very comfy, trim plastics need a bit of work though.

Fuel prices are about 1.15NZ for 91RON, 69C or so for diesel, which should give the aussie diesel users the shits. Oh, and the smokers might want to know I could get 250 ciggys for $34 dollars aus duty free..... if I smoked :nerner:, sorry guys, cant take orders, my mates have already claimed that.

Special hello to the MIRC guys, especially danny. ooper: :wnc:

 

[allsorts]

come down to Wellington, then hop on the ferry down to the Malborough Sounds. Beautiful, absolutely ****ing beautiful

 

[Ambrose_1]

yea come down to wellington, drop into my place hehe

 

[rsgerry]

hi dave from london

NZ is a lovely country. i never went to the north island, but the roads in the south island are something else. the scenery is incredible, the people are lovely and it is a great place o visit. some of the roads had me longing for the RS, others had me wanting the XR6. all of the were great

enjy your stay. i am off driving next week to the english south coast. supposedly in a focus or similar. today, i am off to the football. i am going to see millwall, so lets all hope i get out of there in one piece.

 

[dave_au]

come down to Wellington, then hop on the ferry down to the Malborough Sounds. Beautiful, absolutely ****ing beautiful

Hey guys, yep, I did this today, I got into Wellington late last night, when it was ****ing down with rain, dumped the Mundane-o at the ferry terminal and got the Lynx to picton. Im now in ChristChurch driving a Mazda 6 (little more punch compared to the 2.0 Mondeo IMHO), heading up thru athurs pass tomorrow.

Beautiful country side, and I must say how polite the mass majority of NZ drivers are.

Anyway, losing net, talk soon
- Dave

 

[Mr Sparkle]

Damn, I wish I was going on a driving holiday there now... oh well, at least you'll be coming back to join me in the Northern districts of Syd :wnc: :wnc: :wnc:

 

[puts99]

Head back up to the Mount (tm)...

They'll show you a good time..

 

[NZ]

Are you still going to do a trip into Milford Sound?

Oh and the diesel price - they get a road user charges tax. Something like $20 - $25 per 1000km. Applies to road registered vehicles farm machinary excepted. So it works out to be the same as petrol in some cases.

 

[allsorts]

heading up thru athurs pass tomorrow.
- Dave

Ohh yeah. My old mans mate pulled 240kays thru there in his ZR1 on the last Corvette cruise. Try and beat it :wnc:

 

[Ambrose_1]

you had to come in to Wellington on that day! but it was bloody shithouse

 

[puts99]

you had to come in to Wellington on that day! but it was bloody shithouse

Yeah the weather was not so great either! - Kidding!

Enjoy the South Island, everything down there's so peaceful and quiet, not to mention the straight streches of road... :wnc:

 

[dave_au]

Hey guys, Im now in Queenstown, and this holiday has been sensational. Since I last posted, Ive been in a helicoptor, jetboating, rafting, kayaking, Luge-ing (if that counts), walked on a glacier and consumed 2500km of south island roads in the mazda 6 (heres hoping that a small donation to kiwi state revenue is not on order)

Weather has been a bit touch and go here and there, we had quite heavy rains yesterday driving from the glaciers to queenstown, I may have missed out on a bit of scenery along the way, but apparently this area is in drought, so I guess its lucky for the locals.

Anyway, this is an amazing place, if your young and like "adventure sports" you could spend your entire holiday in Queenstown. Just been driving on an awesome road just outside of queenstown that runs by the lake to some place 40 Km away starting with a G (sorry I dont have a map on me at the moment), came across a film crew filming a car ad (I believe its a peugoet 207), had a nice black dualcab f150 to tow it with :nerner:

The mazda 6 turned out to be a neat little package with quite a bit of highway punch, I'd recommed looking at it if u want a medium sized car. It slurps premium, but not much of it, the dial remained at 10L/100 when being driven "enthusiastically"

Drivers here seem to have a few more whits about them than back in Oz, there has been a slight deprovement on the south island compared to the north IMHO, but Ive been amazed on this trip that when I have come behind a slower vehicle, be it a truck, some japanese form of toyota starlet that Ive never seen etc, on the majority, they either pull over to the side or somehow tailor themselves into a position that makes it easier for me to pass. A few times I've actually checked to see if Ive knocked the high beams on, I find it quite amazing, and quite polite too. I'm also amazed to find that general comprehension of the "keep left unless passing" is successful here too.

Beer here is cheap and great, I have developed a taste for steinlarger, about $11- $12 kiwi from your local supermarket. The coldie lovers will be upset that I saw a 6 pack of it for sale over here for $7.50 kiwi, thats about $1.10 per beer in Oz currency.

Anyway, I better get going, Ill post some pics when I get home next week.

Oh and Danny, tell me mate, did you ooper: :nerner: :Aahhh:

 

[NZ]

What ever you do, do the crown range! Go to arrow town and then you'll see where to go. Its an awesome drive with about 20km of zig zag up the side of a mountain. Forget how high it gets but its a pretty veiw.

The place you went to starting with G is Glenorchy.

 

[ebxr8240]

Going to bay of Islands up north ? My brother has a charter boat up there.In Paihia...Most thos taxi's are turbo diesel too...

 

[dave_au]

What ever you do, do the crown range! Go to arrow town and then you'll see where to go. Its an awesome drive with about 20km of zig zag up the side of a mountain. Forget how high it gets but its a pretty veiw.

Doh! Im in Te Anau right now, doing the Milford sound tomorrow, back here tomorrow night, then to duneden, then Mt Cook, then back to Christchurch, so I dont think Ill be able to get round to do that road in question! Damn!