So much has been seen and done I’ve covered over 3,000ks and found some of the most epic roads and drove them in the wrong car but in a lot of ways a very good little car and I’ll refer to that later! I’ve seen beautiful scenery, mix in countless coffee stops – I won’t list them here all with days full of sunshine and no traffic – its been a shit road trip!
I’ve had such little time to devote to bloging my journey I’ve been on a roller coaster of a ride to say the least, living out of the boot of a car for 13 days is an experiece I’ve taking out a 60ft sailing boat around the bay of islands – what a way to see them and yip add a boat to the wish list too I want one of those! Then I found myself one day putting on my walking shoes the grey trousers which also double up as shorts, a fleece, making a packed lunch (no flask of tea tho) packing my bag and set out for a walk which I will add I didn’t have any music for – I was blowen away by the scenery it was out of this world – it’s called the Tongariro Crossing wow stunning see the picts on my images page somewhere. Anyway yes I did look like one of those type of walkers or should I say trampers I vowed never to look like in my life oh well managed to get away from it for thirty odd years so not bad! Oh and for once I made it to the end of the walk – it was 20km’s!!
As it was a road trip I decided to ditch the normal touristie thing of going to White Island amazing as it sounds but $185 to walk on an active volcano and a cheese sandwich for lunch pahh no thanks, one it is active so not really a great place to go for a walk if you ask me – yes i know the Tongariro is the same but paying for it no way, the second reason is the Hamilton 500 season finale was on – come on I’m a boy, it’s a road trip, Holdens & Ford V8s tearing around a race track was so going to win. The highlight was the classic race I’m so ashamed to say I didn’t get one picture as watching it from behind a lense would be wrong – the noise and view of them going around was something else, they all were set off at 10 second intervals, slowest first then let the gentleman racers do their stuff with the delecate art of drifting a leaf sprung car around a street circuit – what a spectacle!
The roads what are the roads like that’s what you want to know if your still reading this far! Well all I can say is its pretty close to perfection! So where do I start all I can say is if your a petrolhead you have to get here at some point in your life and why Top Gear has not been here I will not understand! I’ve been on everything from very fast sweeping A roads to mountain passes with endless left/right over tightening right/left handers all on-camber with marble smooth tarmac, it’s just endless. Then the coastal roads start to wind along the side of the island with only a thin slither of armco to hold you back from dropping into the drink! One of them Clevedon to Beachheads was something else I ended up taking a left instead of a right turn when I was on my way to Thames – tired from already doing close to 6hrs behind the wheel but I didn’t give a shit, within 5 minutes I was dialed into driving the arse out of the Mazda – let’s say I was stretching fourth to give you an idea of speed, this ride of enjoyment was to last for nearly 40kms only to find that the road is a dead end! Another great idea in this country I say this because you will count the number of cars you pass on one hand you will drive past when your on the road. This was at night too which also helps but it will be one of my top drives, when I got to the hostel and met the owner he told me I should see them by day as the view is “out of this world” when I said I was more interested in the drive he smiled and gave me an “ah yes” see thats a Holden driver for you better than Ford that’s for sure! No matter how fast you are going if a Holden driver sees you they make every effort for you to pass easily, safely and continue on with your fun without any fuss or comment I had this countless times over the km’s!
But then it comes down to what car do you need to make the most of it, well the classic is off the list they are always repairing roads here so stone chips galore and then limestone and cement splashes will also eat the car, so also take out your hyper-cars they just won’t work and you’ll be too scared to take them out! Oh I finally found out why they wanted a kings ransom to hire anything nice or special – insurance! Say no more.
What youwill need is 300+ bhp nothing less no compromise’s with this yes you’ll have way too much for the twisty mountain passes but those A roads will only get very interesting when your close to knocking on 50%+ of the speed limit, I would also say 4 wheel drive is also a great option to have as one minute you feel like a touring car driver next your a rally driver on unsealed roads with gravel then back to track like roads and thinking your Jenson Button. Yes every now and again you will be happy to have a girlie roof like at sunset time along the coast or the Forza Motorsport syle highway through Auckland by night but it’s gotta be a Coupe all the way.
The car you don’t need is an MX5, I’ve cursed it so many times I’ve lost count I will never forget the look on a kiwis face when I said I’m off to the V8 race and I’m getting there in the hair-stylist mobile – bad move! Just when you think it’s ok the car is fine you then see something which changes your mind – everyday so far I’ve seen something cool and which has heaps more power.
My favourite was the kiwi style Barbie and Ken couple waking across the petrol forcourt I was parked trying to look at a map but instead checking out the 70’s Matt black Pontiac or whatever it was on a trailer been pulled by a Ford F150 pick up truck at least 800 horses between them, Barbie smiled at me – nice! Ken looked at the stylist wagon and inside I’m sure he was pissing himself but didn’t show it – but he didn’t need to I knew it was the wrong option as soon as I saw the indicator lights flash from the alarm and then he climbed into the F150 – but at least I’m not trying to make up for something else I say to myself as he roll’s past!
To top it off I’ve seen Steve McQueens Mustang the one that I should have rented, plenty of Mitsubishi EVO things and the other 4×4 knacker wagons but nothing what I would say is special. My case in point is I’ve seen 3 911’s; 964 C2, 996 turbo and the last was the latest model driven by a cougar so it’s the rich old man that has a 911 here! But all skirting the issues of rpd choosing ‘the wrong car’ this I feel is going to haunt me for a long long time with the boys!
So do those moments of automotive heaven make up for the faults of the car, to be honest the faults are not with the car, or its mechanics it actually works, its balanced lovely and is able to show you how the roads are laid out in a lot of different ways, the fault was an alpha male petrolhead resorting to hiring an MX5 in the first place!
the bean hunter 