Babs’ travels -The Peking to Paris Rally and other driving adventures.

I woke up this morning to find several messages asking if we were alright. I was perplexed. Then, of course, I found out about the huge earthquake that had occurred, here on South Island. It was centred on Hanmer Springs, where we had stayed just a couple of days ago.  The town of Koukaria, where we had gone for whale watching, is totally cut off as highway 1 - the only road in and out - is completely blocked. Around 2,000 residents have no water, sewage, communications or way out. It is desperate for them. A road tunnel that runs right along the shoreline, that we had driven through, is blocked by a huge land slip.  It has been the third strongest earthquake to hit this geologically turbulent country in the last 100 years. Already today, there have been over 250 after shocks, many of them substantial.  Our hotel in Nelson was evacuated in the night, and as far north as Wellington, there is substantial damage. We were in Franz Josef, south of the epicentre, in an earthqua...

The day started wet, grey and miserable. Not that we are ever miserable though, we rallyists are made of sterner stuff. The rain was relentless for the first part of the day and then, a miracle happened. The sun came out 🌞. Thank you New Zealand. Immediately the world changed and had a new complexion. The drive today was around 300kms. If you looked at a map of South Island and saw the area that we have covered so far, it would look like very little driving indeed. But, on a rally, the obvious route is never taken. We've been all over the place to cover not much ground. It really is the very best way of seeing a country.  There was plenty of gravel this morning, the usual twists and turns, NZ's oldest pub (not open and not very old), up hill, down dale, all driven in driving rain and cold. Then, it brightened. Hurrah!  Slivers of blue sky appeared, then we hit the coast and all was sparkly and magical.  What a spectacular bit of coastline we have been along today. The Gr...

It's getting to the stage in the rally when our elderly cars are starting to get a few niggles. Brakes need adjusting, oil needs changing, sumps are repaired (on a certain Mercedes anyway) nuts and bolts need tightening after some rough roads and some general fettling is required. I am, however, pleased to tell you that car 10 is running like a dream - so far  well, that's not intirely true, we have had a little tragedy. The minute hand has fallen off the beautiful, fully functioning clock on the dash. It must be inside the dash somewhere and so, hopefully, it can be repaired. Also, the driver's door needed a one minute adjustment form Charle.  Actually, that's not strictly true. What Charlie actually had to do was instruct me on the exact amount of strength to use when shutting it in order to make it close properly. Apart from those two 'problems' not a thing has needed doing - she said, fingers crossed.  Our dear friends Gerd and Birgit had a slip on the grave...

Everyone was very excited to be going whale watching today. It was around 130kms to the coastal village where we were up pick up the boat. It was the usual scenic route empty of traffic.  Alas, things didn't quite work out to plan. The sailing we were booked on was cancelled as the whales had moved too far out to sea and it was too rough to make the sailing possible. All was not lost, however, and we were offered a closer to shore sailing with a chance to see dolphins and fur seals. It was a glorious sunny day and, closeto the shore, the sea seemed very calm and it was a blue more associated with the Caribbean. Off we set and it was need very rough. I love a good swell on a boat as, fortunately, I have never been seasick and I find the rolling good fun. For many, however, it proved too much.  What a trip it turned out to be though.  We saw dozens of Dusky Dolphins dancing around the boat, including one that had a batman fin! It was such a sight to see. Then, a real highli...

Our first full days driving on South Island was nothing short of spectacular. The route was billed as around 250kms with a large portion of that on gravel - that's always exciting.  Car 10 decided to set off well ahead of the pack as we are not competing and therefore did not want to be continually overtaken and chewing on everyone's dust. Also, getting showered with gravel lacked appeal. We like to stop often to take photographs too.  We started off towards the Ataware Valley on a sealed road passing many wineries with familiar names like 'Oyster Bay' these soon gave way to more rugged terrain, no habitation and the gravel roads. The road was well graded, although there were many lengths of washboard. It was huge fun.  We were on a public road, that's only open through the summer months and where it can snow at any time of the year. It wasn't exactly busy. We may have seen 3 other vehicles for the whole journey. It did not disappoint. We went through part of Mo...

Wellington is much smaller than Auckland and has a totally different feel. It's beautifully situated in a large bay and surrounded by hills. A highlight was the quite marvellous Te Papa museum.  Peter Jackson is an absolute genius, of which there is no doubt.  We saw more evidence of this in both Wellington and Omaka in the south. More about that later.  His special exhibition on Gallipoli in the Te Papa museum is the most powerful war display I have ever seen. It stuns from the minute you go behind the curtain when all you see is a 2.4 times life size perfectly life like model of a soldier aiming his gun and screaming. The detail is extraordinary. The exhibition continued in that dramatic vein and was sobering and deeply moving.  As it was November 5th, we were treated to a short, but tremendous firework display in the harbour, just across from the rally hotel.  Waking early for our crossing to South Island, we were greeted by dark clouds and a strong wind. We ...

Almost everywhere in this country looks like a film set. Green, jagged, interesting fauna and, so far - more cows than sheep. What it lacks is culture really. There is little sense of any history as we drive around. The first settlers did not arrive in any numbers until mid 19th century and the population is still only around 4.5 million. Maori's make up less than 15% of that total, to compare, Asian's make up almost 12% of the whole.  This makes the Maori culture not as pervasive as one might imagine. It's everywhere in the names of places but anything else has to be sought out.  Waking up in Rotarua was interesting. They placed some snow covered volcanoes  there overnight. It was quite a shock to see them in the morning, with the sun glistening on them. We were lucky as they are seldom visible. The geothermal activity around Rotorua is quite a sight. Yellowstone Park has fantastic geysers but there they are more spread out. Here, it looks as if they have been all placed...