'It's a sunshiny day ' - for a short while, anyway

    

   

The sun decided to come out for a couple of days - just when the rally is coming to a close. It didn't last, obviously, and normal order was restored today; the cold returned and it was grey, wet and miserable. 

    

Spectacular scenery unfolded in the sunshine as we crossed bleak, beautiful mountain passes.  A complete days route book had been replaced by Kim who had discovered some great gravel roads, some very steep and slippery with big drops, making for a slightly hair raising experience. We got a little warm going up but not to the point of overheating. Adrian had a little check under the bonnet at the top and all was well. Car 10 now weighs considerably more with all the dust it has gathered. 

   

   

   

   

   

We stopped at the cosy Dansey Pass Hotel, unnervingly remote, where we were warmly greeted and very well fed. The vivacious owner hold me that they were busy for most of the year but can get cut off for up to a month in the snow. I cannot imagine that. A few 'hygge' days with a roaring fire and soup sounds rather lovely. Anything beyond that and I think I'd lose my mind. 

It was still sunny yesterday for a visit to yet another Motorsport Park.   We were scheduled to be there for the full morning, not something I was interested in so I went and had a pedicure. We did go to the park where some people bought time in racing cars and let rip around the track. It turned out yo be fortuitous, in the end, that we did have spare time there. 

I'm sorry to gave to tell you but car 10 had developed a little fault; a small fuel leak.  Now it gets a bit technical and I may not have all the facts right. There was a tiny bit of debris in one of the carburettors causing it to flood. It looked like a tiny bit of metal. We had the fuel filler cap changed recently, mainly because it was such a pig to open, and the thought is that it was swarf from when the work was done. Charlie took all 3 carburettors apart, cleaned them all out and swiftly put everything back together again. We were ready to go at the appointed time so nothing was lost. 

We went passed the ethereally blue lake that should have Mount Cook as its backdrop. Alas, as is often the case, we hear, it remained hidden in a cloud. 

Today the weather has been very gloomy. The gravel sections were very slippery in places and the views non existent, sadly. We're staying a huge sprawling golf course just a short distance from Christchurch where the rally ends tomorrow. Please let the sun shine for us.