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| 1995 - 2001 (E38) (1995 - 2001) |
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#1
12-29-2009, 02:36 AM
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3000km Summer Holiday Roadtrip
Seeing as it's Christmas time, I have four weeks off and we had to attend a wedding in the South Island two days before Christmas, My wife and I decided to that a holiday road trip would be in order.
The plan is to drive from our home in Wellington (bottom of the North Island) to Nelson (top of the South) via ferry. Then onto Akaroa (near Christchurch) for the wedding, drive back to Nelson for Christmas and a few days with family. Then drive down to Invercargill (bottom of the South Island), then back to Nelson via the West Coast, onto Picton and back to the North Island via ferry, and up to Auckland (upper end of the North Island) in time for the Cannonball Run (From Auckland to Tauranga and back with some racetrack work in between) on the 10th of January. Here is a map to give you some idea of where I am referring to:  The whole trip should be around 3000kms (give or take). First up the car was booked in for a service and a thorough check over. Then Road trip on: 2am Tuesday 22 December:  Hitler is safely loaded onto the Interisland Ferry (MV Awatere) with an e32 740il and a Mitsubishi Chariot to keep him company. 6am Tuesday 22 December  We roll into Picton. I was too sleepy to take photos of Picton so here is a file photo:  7.30am (or thereabouts. I'm on holiday so don't expect too much accuracy) 22 December: Nelson. Again I didn't take any photos as it was early in the morning and bed was a far more pressing concern. Plus my wife was asleep in the passenger seat and was in no mind to take photos. Here's an overview of Nelson:  Drop off Gracie (Samoyed) at her "Grandparents" and she gets to meet her "cousin" Milly. Gracie's not impressed.  I sleep. Then sleep a little more. Wake up, eat some steak, have a brandy and then sleep a bit more. 6am Wednesday 23rd December. Leave Nelson. No photos. I remember that I'm not a morning person and curse my wife for having friends that get married in the middle of fricking nowhere in the lead up to Christmas. 7.30am Arrive in Murchison for Breakfast. 300kms done only 2700 more to go.  Main Street of Murchison.  Hitler waits patiently outside while I wander in to find a decent cooked breakfast.  My wife (White shirt) and travelling companions await breakfast. 8am. Leave Murchison. I'm happy. Happy because I have a full stomach and don't have to live in Murchison. 11am 23 December. 50kms from Akaroa. 32'C outside, middle of nowhere. Hitler decides that he is bored of driving and wants a rest so pops off his upper radiator hose and dumps coolant everwhere. We stop. I fit a spare hose and refill the radiator with coolant. Did you expect anything else? I've owned an e38 long enough to never travel anywhere without spare hoses and coolant. 12pm. We can see Akaroa! (it's the bay in the distance)  Nic (my wife) gets excited and takes photos of herself, Kirsty and Andy...    ...and a Mistubishi Legnum (I don't know why either)...  ...I kept driving (serious driving face).  12.30pm We arrive in Akaroa. Wedding is at 3pm. Perfect timing. 530kms.  Main street of Akaroa We find our accomodation for the evening and park up.  It was a quant little 5 bedroom house, built in 1878 and converted into a Bed and Breakfast in 2002.   Nic slept. I wandered off into town to find some lunch. Akaroa was settled by the French and has maintained it's Frenchiness ever since. This makes the people a little odd, but the food brilliant! Some snaps around town:    3pm 23 December: After some wild venison sandwiches (the venison was wild before it was killed and made into sandwiches. The sandwiches weren't wild, they were very pleasant), a selection of cheeses and some wine and a bit of a sleep (I'm on holiday remember) it was time for the wedding.  Church were said wedding took place and coolest wedding car I've seen in a long time   Happy couple. Plus child and flowers. 5pm Wedding Reception. Held at the Gaiety Hall. Not a gay bar. Apparently gaiety had a different meaning in 1879     9.30am Thursday December 24. I awake convinced that I'm allergic to alcohol. Wife seems to have a similar allergy. Drag myself out of bed and crawl downstairs hoping that the second "B" in B&B is going to be large and greasy. Greeted by mountains of scrabbled eggs and half a pig's worth of bacon and sausages. Excellent. Followed by french toast and eggs benedict. God I love the French. 
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#3
12-29-2009, 03:24 AM
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10am Thursday 24 December: Load our bags back into Hitler and prepare to head home. It's already 20'C outside. I decide that I like being in the Southern Hemisphere at this time of year
 . Stop off down town for some last minute Christmas shopping (Akaroa is famous for its pearls)  Oil spots not from Hitler 10.30am. Leave Akaroa bound for Nelson. We decide to go up the east coast via Kaikoura and Blenheim. It's longer, but I figure the traffic should be lighter going this way on Christmas' Eve. Plus Kaikoura is known for its fresh Crayfish. 1pm. Arrive in Kaikoura for lunch. Breakfast has long since worn off.    We order a massive Seafood Chowder which arrives in its own bread bowl. It is wonderful. The waitress tells us that everything within it came from the sea in front of the cafe that morning. I said that I was suprised to learn that they could get cream from fish now. She didn't get the joke. 7pm. Arrive back in Nelson. No photos again. Eat a massive dinner. More brandy. Sleep. 1275kms done.  1200kms worth of roadgrime, bug guts and a grill dislodged by a bird that wasn't quite as fast as it thought it was. Friday December 25th. Christmas day. Eat too much, drink too much. Sleep. Eat a bit more, drink a bit more. Sleep (rinse and repeat). 9am Saturday 26 December. Boxing day. My allergy to alcohol still seems to be present. Decide that more sleep will solve the problem. 12pm. Decide that I love my duvet and that sleep is a wonderful invention. Wife threatens to smother me with a pillow if I don't get out of bed. Tempted by the offer, but I figure that 30 is too young to die. BBQ lunch is the order of the day. So we head off to Rabbit Island (30mins away from Nelson) 1pm. God I hate Holiday traffic. We find a BBQ spot.   I pretend to do manly things while my brother-in-law watches on.  My wife does womanly things (like laying out the salad). I go for a lay down...  ...while my brother-in-law begins loading the steaks and burgers on the BBQ.  I go for a pre dinner walk and find a Triumph Herald that someone has decided would make a mighty fine planter. The shubbery seems pleased. Sunday 27th of December. We go and explore the hills.   Monday 28th of December. We drive to Motueka 50kms west of Nelson.    My friend owns a wine tour business so Tomorrow I am heading off on a wine tour. then it'll be off to Invercargill and another 1100kms added to my total. At this rate I think I'll be well over the 3000kms mark by trip's end. The E38 really is the perfect car for this kind of motoring I find a ship wreck.
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#5
12-29-2009, 03:34 AM
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God New Zealand's country side looks so much more lush and alive than Australia's dead 'outback'. Really pretty scenery.
We have had a horrid Christmas weather wise. 36C today and there is actually alot of cloud today so it's very muggy. Horrible.
__________________
 Andrew 4.4i Badges, 16" Bottlecaps, Exposed Tow Hitch = Cool Status Confirmed. E38.Org - Helping to plan my weekends since mid-2009
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#6
12-29-2009, 03:43 AM
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Quote:
Trips like this remind me why it's worth the money that I spend on maintainence. Sure I could easily do the same trip in a Japanese econobox, but overtaking a line of motorhomes in a blink of an eye and arriving at your destination 500kms later as fresh as daisy is worth every penny. Quote:
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#8
12-29-2009, 04:12 PM
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^ +1
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#10
01-06-2010, 11:16 PM
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Quote:
It turns out that my roadtrip has been cut somewhat short because the person I was going down south to visit had a last minute change of plans and was no longer going to be there. So I decided to stay in the top of the South Island for a bit longer. I spent New Year's Eve in Nelson. They day was filled in with some shopping...  ...getting lost in a maze...  ...and berry picking...   ...then we decided that a BBQ dinner was in order. That's when things took an umm interesting turn.  Mmmm flame grilled chicken...flames and faint smell of burning plastic are normal right?  Maybe we should just turn it down a little bit...  Yeah, that's much better...  Cooked to perfection No photos of New Year's evening as documentary evidence of the night was banned... Next day I checked out the Street Races:    Anyway onto car related photos as this is in the e38 section... Hitler lost in forest...    The South Island still has a lot of gravel roads...   I swear I could hear banjos playing  Black wheels; great for hiding brake dust, not so for dust dust. Hitler in wine country...   
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