.. and others.
I was going to post this on the "What did you do to your Marina today..?" thread, but then I thought that maybe nobody would notice it.
So here we are with a brand new thread.
Whoopee.
Today I completed a 1000K weekend. In my maroon saloon - now that should get the juices flowing...
From the Canterbury plains - where stupendous earthquakes were recently experienced - it is only a mere 240K to the other coast - the West Coast - where rainfall is extreme, native bush is abundant, and the past is still tangible and evident.
My best friend and partner Sue - who loves driving in Marinas, and loves riding on my Trident - is working in Greymouth as part of her degree, so this weekend I drove over to stay a few nights so we could explore a bit.
That usually means drinking a few bourbons while having fun with the locals and finding new places to experience and photograph - brilliant.!
The road crosses the Southern Alps via Arthurs Pass, is quite extreme in scenery and weather, and can be completed in 3 hours in a Marina.
Probably 3 hours 15 minutes in anything else.
We enjoyed lovely springtime weather and decided to make the most of it by walking the Pt Elizabeth Walking Track, which follows the coastline north from Cobden to Rapahoe.
The town of Greymouth is the largest on the West Coast of the South Island, and is nestled between native bush covered ranges and the often moody Tasman Sea. We were blessed with an unusually fair version of the Tasman this weekend.
The bush here borders on subtropical due to the warm climate and extreme rainfall - so you could be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere much more tropical...
A lookout point towards the far end of the walk gave us a terrific view of the coast heading north...
Funnily enough, if you see the descending piece of road to the left of the photo - here is another photo we took from there looking back this way a few years ago...
Could this be vanishing point..?
Anyway, we took some photos of the sunset from the river at the end of the walk..
I do not think this photo could be of anywhere other than New Zealand...
That was yesterday.
This morning we drove to another place nearby, where we came across this lot...
I have never seen so many A40 Somersets in my life...
As I mentioned - the past is still alive on the West Coast...
So that was brilliant.
About my choice of Marinas for this trip.
When I bought this car, it had had gazillions spent on it.
Unfortunately, the work was done by idiots, and I had to do much of it again.
It looks pretty good...
.. but the motor is a bit tired and in standard form - although I think it has been balanced - as it is the smoothest O series I have ever experienced.
The speed limit here is 100K on the open road, but they do not issue tickets unless you exceed 110K - so needless to say, I do 110K everywhere.!
I managed to dispatch every car I came across on both crossings of the island, and although I do not possess a lot of acceleration - I simply do not slow down anywhere.
The Superlites assist handling immensely, so often I am able to trounce more powerful vehicles simply by timing my exit from a bend to catch them at their slowest while I am still at cruising speed.
It can go wrong if something is coming the other way at that precise moment, but the brakes are very good on this car, and the tyres help there too.
Otherwise, I am past before they can do anything about it, and a few corners later they have given up and I am well clear.
I might add that whilst I use all of my side of the road, I never cross the centreline under any circumstances - yet I see lots of other traffic doing so frequently. And at speeds where it is totally unnecessary - I think the cops should be pulling them - not the fast drivers.
For all its apparent beauty - this car is now sprouting rust down the front quarters - not yet visible in this photo - but definitely so today - and that is just another example of the poor preparation that went into the restoration of this car.
I guess I shall attend to whatever befalls it - as it is definitely one of my most pretty cars - but I now feel tempted to give it a few more horsepower too.
Anything looking this good should be able to back it up with performance...
Cheers y'all,
Kilroy
Sitting here on a very wet and windy Sunday morning Kilroy and reading your thread makes me wish i was back in NZ ! what a fantastic trip on what looks like decent roads (unlike the IOW`s worst roads in the UK-official!) fantastic scenery , decent weather and open roads in a Marina...what more could you ask for mate 
but didn't see any graffitti saying "Kilroy was here" lol 
What a fantastic sight that will be Kilroy i am very jealous 
