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Spirit
30-03-2004, 07:52 AM
First update for you from our leader:

"Finally! After all that trucking about we managed to find enough time to sit down to write some emails, and offcourse an update... Its been great so far, we've done loads, seen loads and driven loads. Barry's got himself a new hobby: extreme campervanning. Betty's done the filming so wait till we're back for that. After flying from Manchester to Kuala Lumpur, Brisbane, Auckland and Christchurch we found ourselves missing a day... Divvies downunder!!! So Margaret and Barry had been waiting in Christchurch for us on the 24th, and we only arrived on the 25th. DOH! But we were still very welcome in the Murray/van Beurten household and spend two days in lovely Christchurch.

So on saturday afternoon we went off to Akaora and went dolphin watching. From there we drove down to Lake Pukaki and spend an evening under the stars with a cold beer. Nice! Next morning we woke up to the most amazing view of Mt Cook. From there it was off to Queenstown. We walked up Queen's hill for another amazing view of mountain ranges, lakes & snow etc... See the pics later.

Did a quick tour of Arrowtown (not Arrow/Anchorhead for all you SWG fans out there... Barry'll explain later...) and the Chinese mining settlement. Spend the night at a caravan park as Betty was getting desperate for a shower by now... So today we drove across to the Westcoast through Wanaka and Mount Aspiring National Park. As we've only just reached the Fox Glacier now we've decided to have a look at the Glowworm cave now and have a looky at Franz Josef Glacier tomorrow. Right, that's us off for a look at worms... I told Barry not to eat that bit of meat! More detailed account of the mystery men of KL, divvies downunder, the thing that happened to Barry..., extreme campervanning AND MORE later!!!!!! See yas"

KiwiTT
30-03-2004, 08:49 AM
Sounds like he is really enjoying NZ ... Like the reast of US here. :D

BraindG
30-03-2004, 09:19 PM
NZ is an amazing place.
"Extreme Campervaning" Rocks!! :rolleyes5 :-b :D

we've arrived in Wellington now, after a mad assed dash from franz josef to picton... 525km's in 6hrs 30mins.. :rolleyes5 we can finallyrelax, destress and catch up with my mates before the wedding..

one thing i have noticed however is the roads, and more precisly the fact you know how tight the up coming bend is, they have signs here with numbers depicting the tightness of the bend... most handy!... the amount of times i thought how cool it would be to be in a vr4 is countless...

not seen that many vr4's though, only about 5/6 :undecided

so for all you nz'rs if you see some skinny white person waving, flashing lights (from an apollo campervan) and/or jumping out into the middle of the road, you know its me :D

ok, need to update our travel log..
/waves

enigma
30-03-2004, 10:19 PM
NZ is an amazing place.
"Extreme Campervaning" Rocks!! :rolleyes5 :-b :D


Was in NZ a couple of years ago and did pretty much all the stuff you have said and more! Extreme Campervaning.............driving a VR4 just doesn't compare! However, extreme Bungee Jumping is much much more of a thrill!

See Here (1.5Mb) (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.hidle/images/Daves%20Jump.wmv)

Yes, that really is me!!

Spirit
30-03-2004, 10:42 PM
:lolz: nice one Dave ;)

SGHOM
30-03-2004, 10:45 PM
you're mad !!! totally mad !! :lolz: & I thought white water rafting was scary !! :$

enigma
30-03-2004, 10:54 PM
Helen would like to point out that you appear to have gone backwards compared to us! Also she would like to say that the Picton to Wellington ferry is the most scared she has ever been, at least only one truck fell over and the waves only came 3/4 of the way up the side!

Another thing, she is scared of heights and will not walk across bridges.........
But, when in NZ....well you gotta!

Click Me (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.hidle/images/Helens%20Jump.wmv)

Spirit
30-03-2004, 10:57 PM
Well done Helen, particularly being scared of heights too ;)

SGHOM
30-03-2004, 11:04 PM
Helens trousers were white when she jumped !!! :$ :$

Pete M
31-03-2004, 04:42 AM
NZ is an amazing place.
"Extreme Campervaning" Rocks!! :rolleyes5 :-b :D

snip

one thing i have noticed however is the roads, and more precisly the fact you know how tight the up coming bend is, they have signs here with numbers depicting the tightness of the bend... most handy!... the amount of times i thought how cool it would be to be in a vr4 is countless...

snip

/waves
Another thing that you may find useful at night, is that the side marker posts are spaced at 100m (approx 100 yards). On the left side of the road they have a white reflective marker. You can see them going around a right hand bend. If you can see lots of them, it's a gentle bend. If you can only see one or two it's tighter! If you come to a left hand bend the posts on the right hand side have a yellow reflective marker on them. Same principle applies. After some practice, you can drive at night with a pretty good idea of where the road is going. Remember, in NZ there are no cat's eyes outside the cities, so the marker posts fulfil the same function. The posts used to be made of wood, but they've been replaced with a sort of shallow plastic U-channel, which won't hurt you if you :stunned: hit it. Lots of them have marks on them where someone has done this :drunk: . You can usually add on quite a lot to the corner advisory speed in a VR-4, but perhaps not in a camper van. Serious Note: Watch out round scenic lay-bys and rest areas, as tourists used to driving on the right often set off and forget about our quaint habit of driving on the left. :gun1: . A number of fatal accidents every year because of this.
Enjoy the rest of your driving, I hope you see some more VR-4s!

Regards
Pete

KiwiTT
01-04-2004, 10:01 PM
NZ is an amazing place.
one thing i have noticed however is the roads, and more precisly the fact you know how tight the up coming bend is, they have signs here with numbers depicting the tightness of the bend... most handy!... the amount of times i thought how cool it would be to be in a vr4 is countless...



I know. This country is made for VR-4s :D

In my last car, I tried to go round these at plus 20-30% the speed indicated, now I try for plus 40-60% the speed indicated.

BraindG
02-04-2004, 12:03 AM
but hey.. the campervan has never been so abused! :wow: :-D

were in Palmerston North now.. quick visit to internet cafe, a shop for wedding present... and of up to wanganui...

then north up to taupo/auckland..