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Kia Ora Cuz

August 2018 - May 2024
A short hop across the ditch to visit the rellies Read more
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  • KartmanKia Ora Cuz
    Day 1

    It takes balls

    August 16, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    We are off on a New Zealand adventure to visit Kelly, Aaron, Claire and Ritchie in Cromwell, a small town about one hour from Queenstown. Well it would be one hour except the three co-drivers insisted driving no faster than a glacier moves.

    The holiday actually started a day earlier taking Riley to his holiday home. He was so sad to see us go that he could barely stop his tail wagging and only the thought of daily swims and playing with other dogs could console him.

    Unfortunately we fell foul of NZ's Border Patrol. I admitted I was carrying hiking boots and that took two people armed with tweezers and wire brushes twenty minutes to remove all traces of Riley's hair from them. But they were on to me, I was probably using the boots as a decoy and trying to import contraband into NZ, so to protect their borders they x-rayed all our luggage and they discovered my stash. Three round objects, were they apples, drugs, no something considerably worse, juggling balls!! The balls got a separate run through the X-ray machine and if I was unable to do a proper three ball cascade then the rubber gloves were coming out.

    Having survived that oversight we now faced a short wait in the airport lounge for Caroline to arrive from Auckland. Meanwhile Ann spotted an Icebreaker clothing shop, a Nick Nack shop and a lolly shop, hurry up Caroline. We made it out with just a few kilos of sugary treats and our credit rating intact.

    Next adventure was our rental car, after the great budget fiasco Ann wanted to thoroughly check the car for dings and scratches, well actually since it was cold and raining she wanted me to check it all out. Just needed the paperwork which she assured me was in the boot. Five minutes later I was back in the car sans paperwork so Ann sent me out again to unload the whole car. Still no luck so I got Ann to check under her feet and there it was! But it wasn't that bad we had to wait 20 minutes for the windscreen to defrost and that gave me enough time to get some feeling back into my fingers.

    The drive was picturesque if not slow and we made it to Cromwell just on dusk, 4 pm, and settled in front of a nice warm fire, they certainly know how to have winter over here.    Read more

  • KartmanKia Ora Cuz
    Day 2

    A gossip of Grandma's

    August 17, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    What do you call a collective of Grandmothers? Is it a nattering of Nannas or a gossip of Grandmothers? Either way that's what we had today. Kelly and Aaron were off to work and leaving the two experience Grandmothers (Caroline and Denise) and Ann and I in charge of three year old Claire and one year old Ritchie, how hard could it be.......... All we had to do was take them to the cafe for lunch and do some grocery shopping.

    What I didn't realise was that the logistic nightmare rivalled a Royal visit, there were snacks planned, routes discussed ( which considering there was just one road into town a little over kill in my mind) and clothing to be considered.

    After overstaying our welcome in the cafe we headed for the shops, my job push Ritchie around in the trolley. Cool I was zooming up and down the isles dodging old ladies until someone told me the idea was to get him to sleep, maybe that should have come out in the pre-trip briefing notes. Once I had the mission parameters set I achieved my goal, meanwhile Caroline put Claire to sleep just by talking to her, mmmmmmm maybe Grandma needs to work on her conversation skills.

    Being a 'Watson' holiday conversations turned to dinner and since fish and chups didn't appeal I decided to head to Invercargill in preparation for tomorrow's racing. I was a little concerned on the three hour drive as Google kept leading me into the backwoods where the sounds of banjos filled the valleys, but I made it there safely and another big surprise waited me. When I booked the hotel I had to pay a premium as it was the last room available, I suspect the reception lady may have been lying either that or there were a dozen or so cancellations.....

    I headed up town and decided on a traditional NZ lamb shank, Thai curry lamb shank that was, delicious.    Read more

  • KartmanKia Ora Cuz
    Day 3

    Hot Wheels, cold track

    August 18, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    Today I am at Southlands Kart track in Invercargill for day one of their southern series. Meanwhile the rest of the clan is back in Cromwell, playing tourist, walking beside pristine lakes near snow covered mountains, blah blah blah lets go racing!

    First order of the day getting to the track, it looked like there was water on the windscreen but when I started the wipers I discovered it was about a centimetre of ice. Luckily I found a friendly local who knew how to deal with ice. Finding the track proved to be easy just follow all the kart trailers. I met up with John Keast and Rachael who had arranged everything for me. John and I did a seat fitting, which sounds all F1ish but really was just putting the kart on the ground and seeing if my butt fitted! Then it was off for entry checks.

    Usually I don't bring my own gear because I have discovered that overseas standards are usually different but I thought everything would be the same between Australia and NZ, nope my race suit didn't have the right numbers. John found me a new suit which I considered buying until I realised it was fleece lined, great here not so good in the tropics.

    I attended drivers brief which like usual was a lot of officials talking and not many drivers listening, except for me of course. But I did like their attitude, everyone is here to win, so race hard but be considerate of your competitors.

    There was one six minute practise session and as the sun was still struggling to get up and I had new tyres it was going to be challenging. Three spins and a few exertions on e grass and I was ready for racing, not. At least I suppose the Briggs and Stratton is at home on the grass, first heat is going to be interesting.

    The meeting is over two days at two different tracks with 5 heats today and 3 more and a final tomorrow at Dunedin a few hours up the road. All the heats were random draws and fortunately I was towards the back of my class for the first few heats, time to learn the track before I started off pole.

    Throughout the day John and I kept tweaking the kart and I got faster and faster, relatively speaking, it was a four stroke after all... My best result of the day was starting and finishing second, although that was thanks to a few agricultural passes from one of the front runners. I tried one of those sorts of passes in the later heats which really impressed the driver in front as he held a fInger up to tell me I was number 1. Just doing my bit for Trans-Tasman relations.

    I had the option of racing on day two but Ann seemed pretty excited about going to the snow so at the end of the day I headed back to Cromwell and got back in time for a late dinner and a movie. As has been my experience racing overseas is always fun, the people are always welcoming, well the ones you don't punt and again I was very lucky to pit with John and his crew.    Read more

  • KartmanKia Ora Cuz
    Day 4

    Crusty Nannas

    August 19, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    It's snow day! We are off to the aptly named Snow Farm for frolicking in the snow, but to be honest driving up it doesn't look like there will be much snow, that was till we crested the mounting and there it was snow as far as you could see.

    Snow Farm is set up for cross country skiing, snow shoeing, dog sledding and frolicking. We found a warm spot for lunch where we could overlook the cross country skiers having fun. But soon enough it was our turn in the snow.

    There was a gently groomed slope for tobaggoning and tubing. Ann started half way down and when she was ready I joined her at the top of the slope which suddenly looked a lot steeper, still I was committed and there were no brakes on the tubes. At the bottom you had to get out of the way quickly before you get bowled over by the next group down the slope.

    Claire and Ritchie gave it a go as well and that just left the Nannas. Ann convinced them to start half way and since they survived that it was up to the top. Denise was happy to get in the tube but not so happy once she started moving, but there was no way to stop. Fortunately Caroline's giggles drowned out everything and they all safely made it to the bottom. It must have been good because they all went again, and again.

    Kelly and I tried the toboggan which had brakes and steering options, very optional. They sort of worked until you needed to stop or steer, but it was ok the fence stopped you, eventually.

    We had to quickly exit the car park of the Snow Farm after Ann's little faux pas. There were a group of disabled skiers receiving a safety lecture from their instructor before hitting the snow. Ann squeezed through and as she turned around her backpack pushed the instructor into one of the wheelchair skiers, it was like dominos on ice.

    On the way home and to put the media off our trail we stopped at an antique shop full of not so old stuff and some very modern prices.    Read more

  • KartmanKia Ora Cuz
    Day 5

    Its a tree

    August 20, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌫 7 °C

    Today we headed to Wanaka about 40 minutes up the road. Kelly is house shopping and I am hoping to find someone to fix my laptop which decided the cold was too much and called it quits. So while we were there we checked out the local park, which much to Claire's delight still has the dinosaur slippery slide and the ladybird seasaw. The park is on the foreshore of the lake with views to the snow covered mountains. Bit lost on Claire when there is a playground to be explored.

    After lunch we headed to the Wanaka Tree one of the most photographed trees in NZ. I must have caught it on a bad day, maybe it hadn't done its leaves properly, as it just looked just like a tree in the water, Tinaroo is selling itself short by comparison. Still it was very popular so maybe I am the one who is wrong.

    My job tonight was dinner and wine. We wanted a local red and none of the local wineries advertised whether they sold red or whites so we headed to the bottle shop. Denise and I picked a local red but they lady at the counter offers us an alternate selection and I expect her experience with wines exceeded ours, so we went with her choice partially because it was called 'sassy madam'. Turned out a great choice and with a mid night run to the shops for dessert topped off a relaxed day.    Read more

  • KartmanKia Ora Cuz
    Day 6

    Taking a sickie!

    August 21, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Not much happened today. Ann was feeling a bit under the weather so made it her duty to flatten out the couch.

    Five episodes of Broadchurch and two naps later Ann was feeling a little better. Meanwhile I went shopping where I met a lady from the Sunshine Coast who was impressed / amused I was wearing jandels.Read more

  • KartmanKia Ora Cuz
    1
    Day 7

    Something old, something new

    August 22, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Ann et al were feeling a bit better today so we headed out to Highlands for morning tea. Highlands is a Motorsport complex built on the outskirts of Cromwell, just my sort of tourist attraction. There is a kart track, nah done that already, a race track with hot laps plus the National Motor Museum.

    Claire and Ann were very excited by the motor museum, well maybe it was the kids dinosaur playground but at least I enjoyed the museum, lots of race cars from all different types and eras. Ann's favourite was the Riley flyer!

    Everyone else was underwhelmed so I skipped the hot laps and we headed to old Cromwell town. When the dam was built in 1993 they moved a lot of the historic buildings out of where the lake would end up. There were lots of arty shops as well as a cafe and we took a walk to the lookout over lake Dunstan.

    Tonight we are heading out to one of the only resturants in Cromwell and this time I tried a more traditional lamb......    Read more

  • KartmanKia Ora Cuz
    1
    Day 8

    Mush Mush

    August 23, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌫 5 °C

    Today we head back to Snow Farm for some dog sledding. Although first step was a side tour to Highlands to plan tomorrow's hot lap.

    We had to borrow Kelly and Aaron's car today as we need to carry snow chains to drive up to Snow Farm. Kel gave me snow chain fitting lessons which seemed like a lot of rolling in the snow. Half way up it started raining and the snow chain signs were out, but the thought of crawling around in the snow didn't appeal so I drove on. One section of Snow Farm is the SHPG, the Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground, where Audi, Ferrari etc come to rest their cars so if I got pulled over I was just going to tell them snow chains are for amateurs. Luckily we made it to the top without incident well excluding a lot of worrying from Ann and suggesting I stopped and fitted chains.

    The rain morphed into snow and it remained snowing till the start of our sledding although our guide was complaining it was a hot day and the dogs kept rolling in the snow to cool off, I mean it was a balmy minus something.

    First order of the day meet the dogs who are all either retired racers or young dogs in training. Since it is so hot one pat of the dog resulted in a handful of malted hair. We then learnt how to control the sleds and then met the dogs that would form our team. Two lead dogs and two pullers, funnily enough the pullers were the leaner dogs and the lead dogs appeared to be the bigger stronger dogs.

    The guides were about 100m ahead of us and we were left to control our team. Once you let the break off the dogs just wanted to go and as I was at the rear I regularly had to slow my team up because Blocker and Sky just wanted to run past everyone else. With a small team of only four dogs you had to help out up the hills but the more you pushed the harder the dogs worked. They loved running and started howling with joy the moment they were off the chains and on the run. Every time we stopped they rolled around in the snow or tried to get tangled up with the other dogs.

    All too soon the run was over and we gave our dogs their treats and met some new puppies then headed back inside, with one last catch. Remember after days ago when Ann bowled over some disabled skiers? Well they were part of the Japanese Olympic team here to train for the biathlon, which is cross country skiing and shooting. We met them at the door, they were heading out for target practice as we were heading in. There was a brief glacé of recognition but before they had a chance to load their weapons Ann and I were off down the hill and heading home.    Read more

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