I've never lived in South Canterbury by my parents moved back to Timaru (Mum?

When?

My Nanna's famous hyacinth garden now grows the mouldering corpses of unloved cars.

As soon as these holidays clear up, I'm of down there scavenging your good rust-less steel. Well, doing a reconnaissance mission at least.

Dad used to drive slower and slower toward the end of bridges just to taunt us, eventually I figured out that?

As soon as these holidays clear up, I'm of down there scavenging your good rust-less steel. Well, doing a reconnaissance mission at least.

You can see the car pile on Google Earth. I guess it's easier to look after than a couple of thousand hyacinth bulbs.

hat stretch of road?

My "I'm nearly home' stretch of road is the Takapau plains in central Hawkes Bay. Then a left onto SH50?

I remember little enough of the route now, but a few of the journeys stand out:

The night I drove back from Christchurch with a bootload of free?

And it was fine on the trip down, but on the?

But I?

My own childhood road, summer or?

My gods, that's dedication. I'd either find that touching or slightly creepy

Well, it proved worthwhile but, on reflection, I think I should have courted the mother with the same vigour. As I recall, she was rather tasty.

Growing up in South Taranaki (Hawera), the options for a long road?

Well, it proved worthwhile but, on reflection, I think I should have courted the mother with the same vigour. As I recall, she was rather tasty.

...and you just upgraded yourself on the creepy-meter there.

on reflection, I think I should have courted the mother with the same vigour. As I recall, she was rather tasty.

Oh, dude, that's... you know, my ex father-in-law looked and sounded just like Sean Connery. I'm just sayin'.

the boredom of the Manawatu before we finally got to the?

I did lots of tripping on fairies. I remember one glassy blue day onboard the Toroa heading for Auckland, thru huge flocks of birds, hunting schools of fish.

I?

. . . a lovestory to a Humber Super Snipe (what really got up my nose apropos Harvey's review was that she called it 'violent' – geeeez!!)

Super Snipe – powered by a Commer truck engine, and with the mass to match. Many Snipes met their end in demolition derbies,?

Heh, I was actually born in Taihape. When you're three getting snowed in every year is the best

I am somewhat ashamed to admit my first thought was "wait, people reproduce in Taihape?"

I am somewhat ashamed to admit my first thought was "wait, people reproducein Taihape?"

When you're the nearest pub to an army camp? Hell yeah.

I loved that car.

I loved driving it.

I loved driving that road.

Siobhan?

King George Tupou V rides the tapa highway in his late grandmother's Christchurch-restored royal limo.

I am somewhat ashamed to admit my first thought was "wait, people reproducein Taihape?"

You ought to have been, Taihape is lovely.

Admittedly, though it's where we break the trip back from the Waikato, so pretty much any place would look like a utopian dream city.

I remember that stretch of road from "doing" it as a commute between the ferry at Lyttelton and varsity in Dunedin, usually by motorbike (small & underpowered for such a journey). So I have seen in in most conditions except for high summer.

I would get the?

... indigo mountains velvet with distance

Oh what a lovely line.

We'd driven for about an hour before I worked out why I felt so horribly claustrophobic. Everywhere was green: there were too many hills and way too many sheep in those paddocks.

I have almost the exact opposite experience. When we moved to Texas it took me days to figure?

Oh what a lovely line.

Thank you. I have to say if this thread is indicative of the head-patting I get, I shall have to be writerly more often.

You ought to have been, Taihape is lovely.

Giovanni, I love you and everything, but no it isn't, it's a hole.?

We were driving from Dunedin to Picton overnight to catch the morning ferry after the closing "ceremony" (piss-up) of the 'Varsity Winter Tournament @ Otago.
My four teammates crammed into our hired Fiat Uno were all in a drunken snoring stupor. I was?

My father was a traveling salesman and spent one week out of every four on the road. I remember driving with him in his Holden station wagon during school holidays?

The big difference for me these days are the dairy factories, and shelter belts disappearing, replace by irrigation systems. Dairy was never an industry across the Canterbury plains like it is now.

Driving south from Christchurch, we turned off at?

...and you just upgraded yourself on the creepy-meter there.

Well, I can only justify myself in that it was quite some time ago, before matrimony and children and the internet.

Now I'm desperately homesick.

What's superior to a Super Snipe? The preposterous Humber Pullman

Heh.

So we've now had one of those, the Snipe and both the Morris and Austin versions of the Landcrab 1800.

Is this the big-assed British motor thread?

Every weekend, between Ashburton and Christchurch, every family gathering, every funeral, and wedding, the boxing day races, in the searing Canterbury heat.

I hated Christchurch this Christmas visit, with its horrible soulless shopping malls, and small-mindedness, but you just made me homesick.

So we've now had one of those, the Snipe and both the Morris and Austin versions of the Landcrab 1800.
Is this the big-assed British motor thread?

There was a mention of the big D Citroen, which somehow avoided the landcrab nick despite its traction avant propulsion. While it may?

mention of the big D Citroen, which somehow avoided the landcrab nick despite its traction avant propulsion.

Ah! Le Citroen diabolique. Mine was a 1966 ID which was superb cruising down curvy hills with the suspension low. Power steering too.

The stories that car could tell...

The stories that car could tell...

This is one of my earliest memories, and possibly fallacious... but I think there was a tv series in the seventies when that very car could fly thanks to nifty retractable wings. So anyway a family friend had one and during a holiday together?

Is this the big-assed British motor thread?

Our family had a Snipe. It ended it's days in a demolition derby. Victory over all comers.

Our?

It could have been Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Found it! It was actually Fantomas contre Scotland Yard, 1964. And this is the image that so impressed my young mind.

Found it! It was actually Fantomas contre Scotland Yard, 1964. And this is the image that so impressed my young mind.

Yep, that's the one, same colour too! If I remember rightly, it had a dome shaped button for a brake instead of a pedal. I bellied it once, on?

Oh yes! That transition is great. We did that drive a few times as we drove friends from NZ around CA. And yes the drive back down the hill into the smog of Sacramento is not the most pleasing :).

But when we came from Texas we came over?

Found it! It was actually Fantomas contre Scotland Yard, 1964. And this is the image that so impressed my young mind.

Now that is industrial-strength cool. While Fantomas may not have risen to quite the glorious heights of Diabolik, most vintage Eurovillains were seriously cool because they were portrayed as?

industrial-strength cool

Reckon!

industrial-strength cool

To which my dad can attest – during his time at Auckland City Council (late 1970s/early 1980s) he accidentally ran a superior's borrowed Austin into the back of a Citroen DS. The Austin was totalled, but the Citroen's curvy rear was largely undamaged.

Citroen DS – it's the?

Is this the big-assed British motor thread?

Hmmm...most of the long trips I recall as a kid were to A & P Shows, where Dad was either judging cattle or taking part.

Earliest vehicle was a 1956 Ford Consul, which I think is more 'industrial strength un-cool' – this car?

It had a car radio!

Haha, I remember when we got the abovementioned Civic I was stoked that we finally had a car with a radio. Even if it was only two FM presets.

Even if it was only two FM presets.

FM??

LOOXURY!

I might add the Velox was acquired in the mid-70s when there was no FM radio: the powers-that-be having decided it was a silly frivolous thing NZers could do without.

It was replaced by a 1966 Vauxhall Velox
not dissimilar to this.

I can dimly remember, when I was really young, the family having an old 50s Vauxhall Velox saloon like this.

Its kind of like if a car were a hippopotamus.

Its kind of like if a car were a hippopotamus.

Except a hippopotamus probably had a smaller turning circle. One sexy refinement shared by the Velox and its close rival the Mk. 2 Zephyr was electric wipers. General Motors still fitted primitive vacuum wipers to the Holdens of that era,?

Pure American hubris scaled down to meet British stiff-upper-lip standards.

British compared to American

My first car was a 1946 Austin-8 (made?

But we did the SH1 route?

to this day cannot see that kind of hat without smelling puke in a hot car.

Puke in a hot car is one of those smells of childhood, like squashed marmite sandwiches, half melted crayons, and wet raincoats and widdle in the new entrants' cloakroom...

I only hurled once on?

First car owned was a 62 Anglia, apparently a?

he just put his foot down and I just about dislocated my neck as this land whale surged forward like it was being chased by a japanese scientist

My brother and I shared an FD Vauxhall Victor called "The Beast" while at uni. With a 3.3L six under the hood,?

I then had quite a run of 1100s and a Maxi which put me off English cars for life, always dripping oil and blowing heads

That's one of the the oldest I.T. jokes...

Q: Why didn't the British invent the personal computer?

A: Because they couldn't figure out how to?

No power steering, no power steering, no syncromesh and 5 tonnes. Ouch!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ferguson_TEF(1955).JPG

No power steering, no safety bar, and the brakes tended not to work in winter because they got full of mud.

The best way to stop it was to drop the hydraulics quickly?

He was an engineer, by trade and inclination, and during the period of petrol rationing had built a contraption onto the back of his vehicle which he called a "gas producer" or some such.?

His system was to start?

Wood gas was of course the big replacement fuel in Europe when petrol was scarce during the war – any period film set at the time will likely include?

Apart from the car, I found Emma, you writing about the house and the other stationary symbols of the childhood journey, evocative, also.

My sister and I both used to get horribly car-sick, so my parents used to stick a couple of old icecream containers in the back so we could throw up with a minimum of mess.

Still do. Nothing quite delightful as a download of recently picked raspberries, half-way through the?

wet raincoats and widdle in the new entrants' cloakroom

So that's what that smell was. Rob unlocks another of life's liddle mysteries.

happily devour more of your mother's travel stories, should you feel inclined to share more

The next PAS book project, perhaps? I'd say talk with Haywood, but you may need a graceful agent..

happily devour more of your mother's travel stories, should you feel inclined to share more

The next PAS book project, perhaps? I'd say talk with Haywood, but you may need a graceful agent..

Heh, I'd been thinking, what would be cool would be a book of stories focusing on ordinary?

We used to call it Hercules, and it could get up our steep snow-covered Taihape driveway no worries.

Probably a vanguard standard, my guess, did it run of kero?

We couldn't find any photos of the Orari house, but this is the house on Cone Road, at Waitohi. My grandfather?

And that looks like my bike at left.

Why, were you wondering where you had left it?

Why, were you wondering where you had left it?<|quote>

The Triptographer was overheating, on the day.

The Triptographer

Oooohhh... excellent!

Probably a vanguard standard, my guess, did it run of kero?

Doesn't sound quite right. But I tell you what, you guys tell me, here it is. This is actually driving my mother crazy now I've brought it up.

Did I mention how my daughter and I went to Taihapi and hired a B&B Grandma and Granddad, last time it snowed a lot.

OK, I'll be a guy. My best guess.

That does indeed look like the beast, Joe, thanks.

From your story, though, I suspect it might have been a tad gruntier model than the one in the link above.

Hood and Moncrieff were two New Zealand aviators who attempted to be the first people to cross the Tasman by plane in 1928. My mother recalls the event which happened while she was staying with her Christchurch grandparents?

What I really wanted to say was, it is still a?

We called into Taihape a couple of days ago en route to Ohingaiti...

Ohingaiti survived the credit crunch. The heavily graffitied ex-teahouse just north of the rail tracks, has a true 1/4 acer section. I was considering starting up a kinetic coffee shop and having an old house from upper?

Whereas I've come to the conclusion that Auckland doesn't exist. Aside from the motorway and the airport. And the skytower, which is probably made of painted balsa wood anyhow.

And Point Chev and the Viaduct Basin, but otherwise your theory intrigues me.

Plus I hear?

Whereas I've come to the conclusion that Auckland doesn't exist. Aside from the motorway and the airport. And the skytower, which is probably made of painted balsa wood anyhow.

Brigadorkland?

The first time I flew across the Tasman was when we went to Melbourne in 1962. We went by TEAL?

From my childhood memories Ohingaiti (pronounced "oh-nightie" in those less-enlightened days) was only ever a place passed through and never a destination in its own right.

I recall a (dangerous) railway?

I've been trying to visit it for ten years, but to no avail ....

Today would have been a good day to visit. It is simply gorgeous outside.

While I have not been arguing the merits of overthrowing capitalism with you, I have had a vigorous morning bike ride (up?

I like it here today.

Not to enter into a competition about the weather, but Wellington is similarly gorgeous today. Took the kids for a scooter ride and a swing, no water for us today. But life's good, even under the crushing yoke of capitalism.

Not to enter into a competition about the weather, but Wellington is similarly gorgeous today.

You can stick Chch. We peaked at 40, it's still 35, and the next person to say 'hot enough for ya' or 'least it's a dry heat' is getting a serious slapping.

the route of?

The guy looked like a frantic version of Neil from the Young Ones – imagine maybe a combo of Neil and Rik.

Its one of the small places I've got stuck,?

Speaking of Taihape, the old Taihape-Napier road is a good rally drive, unless they've sealed it (horrors!). Some good camping, fishing & swimming spots?

I haven't ventured in on trips south, so dunno if it's as good as Taihape.

I have, been to that brown sugar, south of Otaki. It's reasonable, specially if the devonshire style, is your cup of tea.

Speaking of Taihape, the old Taihape-Napier road is a good rally drive, unless?

is getting a serious slapping

that's exceedingly generous of you?

ice vintage Napier-Taupo highway post

Duh, sorry, Taihape-Napier.

Brown Sugar- that's the one.

We were driving through Taihape in about 2000, and stopped off there. After about five minutes, my wife quietly told me that the staff were taking turns to sidle out of the kitchen and stare at me. I'm not a particularly unusual looking bloke, but?

This is the first time I've done the trip with dogs, so while previously it was a case of finding good playgrounds?

finding good playgrounds (Ashburton has a great one at the domain)

Seconded. The Ashburton Domain playground is just the best.Our kids have outgrown it now, which is a bit sad.

Also fun this time last year was travelling with a newly toilet-trained?

BTW anyone have any good recommendations for cafes around Taupo or Opotiki? Wheelchair accessible preferably.

Having just spent Xmas with the folks near Opotiki, there are two good cafes there.

One is upstairs above the florists in the Rostgard's building (and I'm not sure of the spelling of the building?

We stay overnight in the places?

In Dunedin, if?

At least it was (and still is) bigger than Otaio, a few km up the road, where I came from.

The Rosendale Winery just west/south of Chch does a beautiful outdoor summer lunch and their Reisling?

I went to varsity in Dunedin but that was back in the 70's so I'll be checking out memory-lane as well as finding new stuff that will be of some interest to my better-half.

The Moeraki boulders is already on our mental to-do?

I'm sure others will disagree but I've never seen the point of visiting Akaroa.?

I'm sure others will disagree but I've never seen the point of visiting Akaroa.

Cheese.

Also there's an old French cemetery over there which is lovely if you like old cemeteries which personally I can be a bit obsessive about. And a Dissenters cemetery for the naughty people.

Cheese is good. Might get some to take to my mate in Makikihi. Haven't seen him since September 1978.

Another thanks for?

a seaside village pretty like any other

Perhaps it was just the day I went, which was amazing, but I thought Akaroa was stunningly beautiful. I had a swim at their little beach and took a boat ride to look at the caves around the peninsula... it was lovely.

And the Speights Tour in Dunedin is reasonably good, particularly if you like tasting beer afterwards.