Road Trip

[Ray B]

Thank God you didn't have to drive through Auckland. I rarely ever get as disoriented as I was the last time I tried to drive through that town- I couldn't have pointed to North, South, East, West if my life had depended on it. Sounds like you are having a great times combining visits with relatives and successfully showing your products. Good!!

 

[nztimb]

Have been to Auckland twice before which was why I insisted that this stop at Katikati was as far north as I intended to go ever again and under any conceivable circumstances. Two of Lynette relatives made the trip down this way for that reason.

 

[Shootist43]

It sounds like you and the Mrs. had a great time on your vacation. Does Australia have its' own Hunting Magazine? If so it might not be a bad idea to contact "them" as well. Hopefully the additional exposure will keep you and your shop busy for years to come. Will you be keeping the "sleeping pod" intact for future use?

 

[nztimb]

It sounds like you and the Mrs. had a great time on your vacation. Does Australia have its' own Hunting Magazine? If so it might not be a bad idea to contact "them" as well. Hopefully the additional exposure will keep you and your shop busy for years to come. Will you be keeping the "sleeping pod" intact for future use?

I think I will wait and see how the NZ market reacts to the four gunshops and what extra the magazine brings in with the article, give-away and advertising before I look elsewhere for what may may not be serviceable in terms of one man band production that is when all is said and done, just a hobby in retirement. Besides I don't want to take on so much that I can't keep to the timely delivery expectations for knives the AH forum members order as you guys have been the inspiration for all this and will always remain my first priority.
As far as the sleeping pod goes, no it will not be kept intact as I have enjoyed this so much that I have made some mental improvements that I want to put into place over the winter so we can do further trips to see other places Lynette and I have not seen as yet. I intend to lengthen to rear to make an approx 10in overhang to allow for the rear to be open in the rain. At the front I will make another full height rib about a foot behind where the present curve over to the forepeak ends, and go directly to the front of the trailer from there which will allow for a storage shelf for cloths etc so all that needs be in the vehicle is the food chiller/storage and cooking equipment. That will take away the need for suitcase or bags etc and easier access for Lynette and with no wrinkled clothes, although having said that, this trip has shown her that about 10% of what she packed is about all that was needed. What I have learned is that I can slow down and enjoy the journey rather that hunting for the destination.

 

[nztimb]

We started the homeward journey yesterday and made a stop at Rotorua to do the tree tops walk through the redwoods so have some good pins and a little video to post later and the came down the desert highway on the central plateau so we could visit the national military museum and have spent the last couple of hours and a lop of visuals to post when we get home. Hoping to do the run down the north island today and hopefully get a night sailing back to famiar territory. I need to get back to the shed......

 

[nztimb]

Both of us are very tired tonight after about 40 hours on the go. We stayed at the truckstop in Waioiru overnight but the trucks didn't stop so it was a sleepless night and at 6am yesterday morning (fri) we decided to go down to the museam and wait for it to open at 9am and spent the next few hours taking photo's and reading so much of the written textx accompanying the displays so have lots to show you over the next few days as I get things sorted out. We left the museam at bout 11.30am and drove down to Wellington but had to wait till 8pm for the first sailing which got us into Picton at near midnight. We drove to Blenhein thinking to get a camp site for the night but there was nothing going si we tried to get a bit of shuteye in the truck but it was no go so I decided to drive on and finally got into our driveway at 2.30 pm with 1052 more km under the wheels. All up I did 4302kn or 2688mile with 657mile on the trop yesterday and today.Will gte back to this with a photo spread when we recover a bit.

 

[Shootist43]

Glad you are home safe and sound. I'll bet sleeping in your own bed felt really good. After a couple of days unloading, unpacking, chilling out etc. you will be ready to resume your "normal" activities.

 

[cagkt3]

Wow, that's a lot of miles! Glad you made it home safely

 

[nztimb]

So this is some of the pics I woud have liked to post as we progessed on the trip. It will take a while so will do it over several days.
Ready to leave

An early warning to drive carefully as this head on crash happened just seconds before we arrived just 15 miles from home

Our first stop was at the Riverstone gardens at Oamaru where the owners private home has been built as a castle but there was also a antique and sales "street" done as an old time town or village street.

 

[nztimb]

Following a night in Ashburton and a fruitless drive in and out of Christchurch we headed for Akoroa and found a nice roadside picnic area to have lunch.

At one end of the area was a little bridge that was a secondary entrance and lead over to an old church

Then it was on to Akoroa which necessitated a drive over a narrow coastal rim range of about 1500 ft height that had a lot of very tight corners and very nice view down into Akaroa from the top.

There is a really nice war memorial in town.

I a not as energised by coastal areas as Lynette is so after a good look round this French influenced town we headed off toward Hanmer and the lewis Pass over the southern Alps.

 

[nztimb]

Getting away from the coastal plains was a relief as we started up into the southern Alps even though it was a bitingly cold wind and a trial with the first "selfie"

At the entrance to Hamner there is an old bridge that is now the center for a bungy jumping and jet boat business although while I might have been tempted by the second ther was no way that the first was of any interest at all.

Hamner itself is a small alpine village

With some magnificent trees in the center of town

And then it was onto the Lewis Pass over the Alps with some lovely little creeks to delight the senses.

 

[nztimb]

Once over the pass with its tight corners it was on to Murchison where we had lunch and the first communion service I have held in the outdoors which was very nicely serenaded by a herd with big red stags standing for the hinds in the paddock next to the roadside picnic area where we stopped for a break.

The stags have thier antlers taken off in the velvet as it is a valluable commodity into the asian market so there is no visual display of the stag but they were in full voice and probably in the region of 200 animals in this one paddock. It wasn't till later in the trip that I found out how to use the zoom on this new ph camera and as I tried to get closer they started to get nervous and show signs of moving away so this is as close as I dared to get for the pic.. .

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Beautiful scenery!

 

[Hunting Sailor]

Wonderful pictures and great read about your adventures.

//Gus

 

[Shootist43]

Those photos were great. I'm looking forward to future installments. Your celebration of Communion outdoors was touching.

 

[nztimb]

We stayed in the Maitai camping grounds in Nelson for two days and I cought up with friend of about 15 years that I hadn't met in person so that was an enjoyable evening. I had cast up about 350 400gn 404J bullets for him as he has a nice original factory 10.75x68 that came from Africa and converted to 404J.
The camp at Maitai and you an just see the blue of the trailor above the white style

With the nice little creek that runs behind it

We spent a pleasant afternoon at the Mapua warf with a coffee over lunch and listened as there were some impromptu and casual tunes played on the piano.

This is the gunshop in Brightwater just a few miles south of Nelson that is going to carry my knives for the top half of the south island (I am busy making his order along with the others from the trip and some from AH members at the moment)

 

[nztimb]

leaving Nelson we headed for Picton where the interisland ferries leave for the north island. These are really sea going ships and the blue bridge we went over on had three car and truck decks. I have quite a fe videos but when I go to upload a file only the still pics show so may not be able to post them which is a shame as there is some good footage here and at other places on the trip

Safely aboard.

LLooking back at Picton and the two ferry warves

The other ferry got away about 20 minutes befor ours did

Heading out into the Marlborough Sounds

And after catching up, we passed the other ferry and wer in Wellington a good half hour before them. Looking away accross the Pacific toward South America.

 

[Ray B]

Looks like you had really calm seas going through the straits. I'm going to show these photos to my wife and will likely be contacting the travel agent about another trip. On previous trips the New Zealand portion was an add-on to some projects in Tonga, but those are completed so we'd go straight to NZ. We had similar modes of transportation- rented a small motorhome from Maui and where we wanted, when we wanted, parking in various parks overnight. That is really the best way as far as my wife and I are concerned.

 

[nztimb]

After I get through all my pictures being uploaded I am going to post pictures from a series online here called Beautifull New Zealand and there are some stunners among them.

 

[nztimb]

Looks like you had really calm seas going through the straits. I'm going to show these photos to my wife and will likely be contacting the travel agent about another trip. On previous trips the New Zealand portion was an add-on to some projects in Tonga, but those are completed so we'd go straight to NZ. We had similar modes of transportation- rented a small motorhome from Maui and where we wanted, when we wanted, parking in various parks overnight. That is really the best way as far as my wife and I are concerned.

While my home is a humble abode I would welcome any of you who are in the country and down this way to call in for a visit.