Antipodean shitespotting with 320T - SOUTH ISLAND UNLOCKED30/09

[320touring]

Anyway, enough culture*

 

Time for the shite.

 

Spot of the day - BOWA (Big Optimistic Wing Alert)

Wittle vwaaannn

Hyundai we don't see many of back home

It's an Isuzu, doncha know?

If the Japanese built Volvo s40s

These vanlyfe yo sorts are all over the place. 

Loved the dazzle camo disguised as mountains and trees

 

Off out for dinner shortly, hopefully spy some more.

The billet for the next 2 days is a bit more spacious than last night...

[320touring]

Napier has provided a stellar haul!

 

Behold!I recognise a few of them but many more left me non plussed. Especially the silver "AI Peugeot 406" with the red ford Mazda thing

 

Anyone able to shed some light?

 

[Knotty Ash Towers]

Really great photos!

The red one is a Ford Telstar and the silver one is a Toyota Carina T210. 

[320touring]

5 hours ago, Knotty Ash Towers said:

Really great photos!

The red one is a Ford Telstar and the silver one is a Toyota Carina T210. 

Brilliant thanks!

[320touring]

Slightly abridged shite spottery, sobering Palmerston North and New Plymouth.

Palmerston North Yielded Cumbernauld-esque levels of brutalism. Not too sure on the name of the Indian either...

 

New Plymouth at lead had some shite. Though, to be fair we've mainly been touristing.

[hairnet]

On 27/09/2025 at 09:32, 320touring said:

Napier

TLDR

 

wagons oof

[High Jetter]

Guest house my parents bought was Napier house - then I learned  about the cars (I was 8). 

[320touring]

A final spot from New Plymouth 

Then a run up to Waitomo via some lovely* traffic

 

Final accommodation for the North island is something special - an off grid hut way out In The sticks..

 

There is a wood powered bath which I got fired right up

 

BUT BEST OF ALL! A GENUINE SHITE EXPERIENCE!!1!

the last 1k of the track to the hut is far to rough for hire cars, so the owners provide a Holden Captiva

[hairnet]

the heap they gave me the last time i was in usa is the facelift of that only yank

[Dyslexic Viking]

I think I have heard some call those Craptivas as they are shit.

[Knotty Ash Towers]

Love the white Mitsubishi Debonair! Such a shame New Zealand & Australia are in the southern hemisphere, if only we could swap them with mainland Europe, or Trumpland & Canada 

[320touring]

Today has been pretty hectic.

Left the accommodation at about 945am, and stopped 800m up the road at a 'natural bridge'

It's part of the same Timescale landscape and caves system that forms Waitomo and it's caves. As a saddo for the old geology and that, ai was proper pleased to see it.

Thereafter, it was a schelp to Auckland Airport.

We managed a coffee stop and two shite spots😁

Final scores on the doors for the corolla Touring

That's 1946km done. Or 1210miles.

Total fuel used 129litres (28.4gal)

Giving an average MPG of 42.6. pretty piss poor. The old CVT saps a lot of efficiency.

 

Next up was to get on a plane

Admire the view

Then get the bus

Big posh hotel achieved.

 

We have 2 nights here before we pick up the next car - hoping for some decent walks and sight/shite seeing.

[colino]

The last time I was in Napier it was incredibly quiet (apart from the gang of bikers waiting outside the court for their mates) when it visibly began to fill up. Within an hour it was ram packed: a gigantic cruise liner had stopped off and it's horde of ant like passengers were buying and photographing anything they could see.  I think the locals avoid town on port days. 

Can't wait to go back to NZ. 

[320touring]

52 minutes ago, colino said:

The last time I was in Napier it was incredibly quiet (apart from the gang of bikers waiting outside the court for their mates) when it visibly began to fill up. Within an hour it was ram packed: a gigantic cruise liner had stopped off and it's horde of ant like passengers were buying and photographing anything they could see.  I think the locals avoid town on port days. 

Can't wait to go back to NZ. 

Based on my limited experience of NZ to date, I think Napier is the town I'd choose to live in, if I were unable to settle out in the sticks

[colino]

I think Bay of Islands would be mine.