Travelling South.... Christchurch

[STUNO]

The last few weeks have been spent travelling round the south island of New Zealand. I will add to this as the pics are uploaded, but here is a taster.

edit...Granada pics fixed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DSCF1983 by stuno602, on Flickr

 

Christchurch Cathedral 2 years after the earthquake

[Shep Shepherd]

That Granada is amazing!

[STUNO]

Right, first day was taken up by travelling South, from Hobbiton to Wellington to catch the ferry to Picton.

 

3 pics of Highway 1 the main north/south road. taken on a Wednesday afternoon to show the traffic

 

 

yes it was a hot day and yes we are having a genuine drought.

 

The cafe at Mangaweka

 

In Wellington at the ferry dock, giving the Suzuki a rest

 

A pleasant spot to wait and watch the harbour

 

 

This was also waiting

 

then on to the ferry

But not this one.This is the Kaitaki, formerly The Pride of Cherbourg formerly the Stena Challenger, formerly the Challenger, formerly the Isle of Innisfree (Holyhead-Dublin and Pembroke Dock-Rosslare)

 

 

This one, the Arahura

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are off. note the double deck ramp, cars/trucks on the top deck and trains on the lower

 

Sheep class , being taken south to better pastures.

 

And one for Trigger, Wellington docks

 

Finally, some of the locals enjoying the evening, Airport behind them.

 

More sometime in the future !

[STUNO]

Day two, and after the the arrival in Picton at 9:30 the previous night, some sleep then off to Nelson.

 

Late evening just after entering Tory Channel, North Island in the distance.

A group of bikers ready to start up about 20 Harleys in the ship..ear-splitting

Picton waterfront next morning

 

At Nelson the first place of interest, the WOW collection

1950 Studebaker

Studebaker Hawk and Plymouth Fury

1958 Buick Special

1934 Fiat Balilla sport spider

the common touch

Auto Union

1929 Cadillac dual cowl phaeton

1929 Packard 7 seat touring, the lower spotlamps turn with the steering.^^^^same

lalique

Maybach living quarters

TR6

Avanti

1913 Krit

Just imagine taking delivery of your new Cord

allday Onion 1913

BMW and Packard

coffee time

[STUNO]

refreshed

The next hall

1924 Alvis boat tailed speedster

Who copied whom, Vauxhall or Dodge !

I am sure this is not the usual Bond front end

Pierce Arrow

Leyland P76

The disease spreads a long way !

Contemporarys

 

After a break for coffee, off to Westport via the Buller Gorge

first look at the Buller river

Through Hawks Crag

 

We got to Westport to find there was no accommodation , so continued south to Charleston

(half a dozen houses,closed down pub, a lovely little Motel and this pizza place)

the evening started to close i quickly as we left

Then a quick visit to Charleston harbour. The ships used to come in through here and

a number did not make it in bad weather!

 

And so to bed, more later.

[Spiny Norman]

Great pics mate, these old Cords are ace, one of the best looking cars of all time IMHO.

[STUNO]

Todays drive South from Charleston through Westport and turn left to climb over the Southern Alps via Arthurs Pass. Then scoot down the eastern side and cross the Canterbury Plains to Ashburton. The climb over the pass was difficult for the little Swift and a stop at the top was a cacaphony of pings and clanks as it cooled off.

the pics..not a car spotting day so not much for the cars only lot.

Mr Hawk, the Cord was Stunning in gleaming bright Yellow.

 

Charleston in the morning at rush hour

on the road again

coast road

A stop at Punukaiki (Pancake) rocks

More coast

Westport wharf crane. This looked to be still in use but must at least be Post-Vintage

and the other one too!

an old Ford

But not just any old Ford!

and its owner fishing the Grey River mouth

successfully !

from the mouth back to the hills, and debris from the last flood

This bus for someone on here

then a stop at Shantytown for a train ride

and some gold panning, everyone gets a bit!

The easy part of crossing the Alps, you can see why not many spots!

up over the pass, that road was steeper than it looks

Fairly high, mid summer snow

[STUNO]

down to the plains

and to the motel in Ashburton

Next day a little air museum, but they had a Harrier there. No pics as camera

wanted a rest from storing pics

As soon as I typed that my computer shut down, but restarted without losing anything, thanks microsoft.

A flying flea

Airtruk, was this the inspiration for the 747 ?

Bedford

Miles Magister ?

 

Then off again to Dunedin to stay with my cousin

 

what the!

PHEW..burning off the wheat stubble

An interesting house being built next door, it is cut back into the hill.

Karitane beach, just north of Dunedin

 

Thats all folks, more again later.

[Negative Creep]

Ay yes, the Flying Flea. It was the aircraft that brought aviation to the man on the street, usually by falling on him

 

Great pictures. Sure wish I was there right now.............

[STUNO]

You could be in Christchurch. They are just about ready to start rebuilding, having spent 2 years clearing up, there will be large numbers of jobs for years, and the demolition is still continuing too. Do you remember seeing a Mini hanging fron the side of a building somewhere round Lichfield st ? It is still there ! Photos when we get there

I will be calling on you to catch up soon too!

[STUNO]

We got to Dunedin and kept going a few Kms South to Mosgiel Where our cousin lives. We had not seen each other since about 1957 so there was a lot of getting to know each other.

He and his wife are Ford addicts, her daily is a Mondeo, the garage contains Mustang, Model A and a ford 10 special open wheeler. they stayed under wraps while I was there so no pics.

This lot will be covering Dunedin and the trip ti Bluff and back northwards to Queenstown, not car rich this time either

 

Port Chalmers Dunedin. note the train for passengers

My cousin the Ford fanatic has a daily driver....this

After those pleasant few days we headed South to find the grave of my

Great grandfather who arrived in NZ in 1861 from Blyth Bridge in Scotland.

It was located in this little cemetary where he is buried with his wife who died

nearly 30 years before him.

And on to he Catlins coast where he lived in a little coastal village

And to the end of the road, just about as far from London as possible !

Looking across Fouveax strait to the 3rd bit, Stewart Island

Heading to Queenstown past Roaring Meg power station

A J Hackett bungy (lost of jumping fools)

Arrowtown

Queenstown

And just so this is not a complete waste, a car, Rambler rebel

 

next issue we view the best collection I have ever seen !!

The Toys and Transport museum.

[michiel]

Great thread! I misread 'pancake rocks'... well, they do rock. And those rocks look a bit like a stack of pancakes side-on.

[hennabm]

Hi

 

A great road trip - loving the pics.

[STUNO]

Off again, Today i wanted to visit the Warbirds Car museum in Wanaka. I had heard a lot about this and it was a "bucket list" one to see, it turned out to be very small and contained probably 15 vehicles. But they were mostly top US cars and perfectly restored bar 1 Packard. The real revelation came as we pulled ot onto the highway later, right next door was a slightly scruffy place I had never heard of, the Toys and Transport Museum. Let's go and see what it's all about....5 minutes later had us wondering who could collect so much stuff. Toys, models, bikes, motorbikes, cars, trucks, buses, fire engines, cranes, mobile cranes, aircraft and anything else that could have been collected, did I mention sewing machines ? It really seemed that if something was for sale this chap bought it!

 

The pics, first the Warbirds cars

thunderbird

cadillac

1956 Lincoln continental

1942 continental, one of only a few made

1938 Packard super eight victoria coupe

1918 Packard semi collapsible landaulette fleetwood (424 cu in. v12 powered)

and their prime exhibit..delivered new to film star Carole Lombard

We would call this stoplight bling today !

 

 

Then to the neighbour's place

 

did I mention the brewery they had ?

bit of a mess!

 

more after a coffee break !

[STUNO]

caffiened up so lets away.

This could have been my Grandfathers !

I didn't know there were any in NZ

Once I had to travel by taxi, then I bought a Minx, then another, then a Californian,

then a Super minx and finally an Avenger. She had to put up with washing her Skoda

[STUNO]

riley according to the engine !

A Gnat, I remember these from about 1960

A Trekka. local take on Landrover, based on 50's skoda Octavia running gear.

Quite a few sold !

early Mitsi Colt

 

We left after only a couple of hours, but that place needed all day as you can see.

but one more spot a few minutes later to finish.

 

thats all for now, more later.

[michiel]

Wow. Blue Colt 1100...

[STUNO]

After recovery time we travelled on...and on

 

over the lonely Lindis pass

with a stop at Benmore dam

 

Whoever owned this was staying in a Hotel

 

Past the Pukaki hydro canal

There is a network of these connecting the lakes in that part of the country with the hydro to

enable re-use of water through multiple generators.

 

then on to see Geraldine who had another lot of tat

1925 Singer junior Roadster

1907 De Dion Buton

Willys, I think this body ended up as the Simca Vedette via another small manufacturer?

The white truck had been fitted with a camper body (photos lost in space)

that last lot was for the tractor nuts on here

 

Next Stop Christchurch.

[STUNO]

After recovery time we travelled on...and on

 

over the lonely Lindis pass

with a stop at Benmore dam

 

Whoever owned this was staying in a Hotel

 

Past the Pukaki hydro canal

There is a network of these connecting the lakes in that part of the country with the hydro to

enable re-use of water through multiple generators.

 

then on to see Geraldine who had another lot of tat

1925 Singer junior Roadster

1907 De Dion Buton

Willys, I think this body ended up as the Simca Vedette via another small manufacturer?

The white truck had been fitted with a camper body (photos lost in space)

that last lot was for the tractor nuts on here

 

Next Stop Christchurch.

[Lord Sterling]

Wow Stu, some brilliant pics there. Whats the deal with that honey of a 2.9 Granada, Rovers and others, are they for sale or something?

[Lord Sterling]

Wow Stu, some brilliant pics there. Whats the deal with that honey of a 2.9 Granada, Rovers and others, are they for sale or something?

[STUNO]

Lord Sterling:

Just part of the collection, maybe for sale but probably not. Granadas were not sold here, this chap had 2 of these, the 3rd a 4th Granadas I have ever seen.

[STUNO]

Lord Sterling:

Just part of the collection, maybe for sale but probably not. Granadas were not sold here, this chap had 2 of these, the 3rd a 4th Granadas I have ever seen.

[vulgalour]

I want to say something, but I am at a loss for adequate vocabulary.

[vulgalour]

I want to say something, but I am at a loss for adequate vocabulary.

[STUNO]

It seems I was wrong about the Willys becoming the Vedette ! According to Wiki the Willys tooling went to Brazil and production continued for some years as the Aero.

[STUNO]

It seems I was wrong about the Willys becoming the Vedette ! According to Wiki the Willys tooling went to Brazil and production continued for some years as the Aero.

[RichardMoss]

Trains, planes and automobiles. Splendid photographs.

[RichardMoss]

Trains, planes and automobiles. Splendid photographs.

[STUNO]

On we went....

finally making Christchurch. Two years ago it was hit by an earthquake, 180 something people died and the city suffered massive damage. It was astounding to see today, there has been 2 years of cleanup done and there is a lot to do. A large chunk of the central city is still cordoned off as it is uninhabitable. But progress is being made and it is slowly coming back to life. Imagine too whole suburbs deserted, partly from damaged homes, but mostly caused by land movement and probably worst of all, the word liquefaction, look that up on you tube ! Travelling most suburban roads is unpleasant as the roads are a mess of waves and drops caused by land movement.

some piccies...

 

Two buildings, so what ? it is not noticeable here but the light coloured one is not vertical, it leans toward the street.

Boken window caused by them banging together

central city from behind the barriers

Colombo st, the main retail area looking south from Cashel st at the crossing.

the dept store (Ballantynes) is open on the corner, the only major retailer left.

Litchfield st from Colombo st. for the info of negative creep, fazzazz was on the right along here

Colombo st looking towards Cathedral sq.

This very old building was the only one on the block to survive

it will probably be repaired

The container mall in Cashel st, built to bring some life back to the city

 

And then into the suburbs abandonment

No-one lives here now

Next day onto a tour bus (not this one) to go into the closed off central city

New Regent st just about ready to re-open, the tall building at the far end of

the street will be demolished.

The containers here are supporting a facade to be preserved. The building on the apex

had a large copper dome which fell into the street, it was gone the next day.

No-one knows how or where it went !

A lot were suprised this mini stayed put !

Cathedral square

The Cathedral with the base of the bell tower on the left

bell tower base

 

Enough of that. back on the road.