Sunday 1st November 2009

In NZ you don’t have to go far in order to be in sync with your fellow Capri enthusiasts – it was a pleasant surprise to meet Jason and Odette on the Wellington Wharf sporting a fashionable yellow MkII.

A motley crew with Wellington in the background.

Yes we managed to have the first breakdown ½ way up the ramp onto the Bluebridge’s Satan Regina oops sorry the Santa Regina – so anyone heading onto this ship and having to go up the ramp to the first level – make sure all your bolts are tight!!! (And probably that the fillings in your teeth are in place too!) However the staff on board were great in allowing us to go down to the car once we hit the Marlborough Sounds to fix the car. Don’t know what the South Islanders would’ve thought about all the North Island river silt shaken from the yellow car while getting onto the boat!

So we parted at Picton, Jason and Odette heading for the winding curving dangerous piece of road running from Picton to Nelson via Havelock – (A Gnome’s mother’s suggestion) which is apparently really scenic but make sure you go during daylight hours – Jason and Odette figured that they had plenty of time and anyway it’s Peter’s car not theirs so nothing to lose!!! J

We headed for the South with no real destination in mind – turn right at Blenheim and perhaps spend a night in St Arnaud but alas we are in the South Island and on a Sunday by 6.30pm everything is closed – well just about – we made it to Reefton before we found somewhere to both stay the night and have a bite to eat!
We are off this morning heading on the next leg of the Southern Targa I mean Tour and will hopefully catch up with the Pacey’s or the Adlams in the next couple of days. Will keep you all informed.

The above photo shows how NZ still operates some rail and road combined bridges - what was interesting was that there was no barriers or warning lights to warn the driver if a train was coming along soon!