Fast Marina Magazine

This will take me a wee while to compose - so I shall do it in several steps.
It is an interesting (I hope..) story - but is also a great culmination of various learnings I have been subject to over the last few years. A little Zen - yes.

We had not been away for quite a few months - so we decided it was time, and despite it being mid-winter, we would go south to the bits on New Zealand that are closest to the Antarctic. Not so close you need snomobiles of course - but closer nonetheless. Here's the map - heading down the middle to Alexandra via the lakes for our first stop - a great bike track along the river between Alexandra and Clyde.





Our choice of vehicle was to be determined by fate. The blue estate is off the road having necessary attention, and as we wanted to include the mountain bikes - under cover - it had to be an estate. The 'Red Rebel' was the only other choice. I have been using it for work since the blue one has been out of action - but that constitutes mostly short-haul work - so this car has not really been out on the open road for some years. We considered taking kayaks as well - but if the weather was really crap, that would mean doubling the fuel bill for no gain - so that was canned.

Sunday 19th July was lift-off. I spent the wee hours of Saturday night doing last minute stuff. Interior light replacement - number plate light replacement - adjust rear brakes - fit radiator shroud - a plastic shield that blanked off the lower half of the radiator, to elicit a little more warmth for the motor and us..! Sunday by 10am we had managed to fit everything in, and we're ready for the off. Cool...





Progress was very much as planned - cruising at an easy 110kph, the 2 litre O series feeling quite relaxed and loads of pedal left. Temp gauge at about 1/3 scale, and plenty heat around the legs - sweet. We stopped for lunch as the first snow began to approach the highway..





Nice spot near Fairlie for a picnic - we brought our own food for most of the trip, and this was our first raid on the pantry. Perishables first.! Looks like there's quite a lot of snow on them thar hills...





Pressed on down past lakes Tekapo and Pukaki - we right in the Southern Alps now..





The road is quite clear of any treachery, but only just..





Down through Omarama, we reach the Lindis Pass in the mid-afternoon. The temp has been rising slowly but surely, and even though the outside air temp seems crisp enough to make a salad, as we climb the pass it becomes obvious that we are really overheating. We stop for 15 minutes halfway up, and let things settle a bit. I'm thinking that the shield is doing too good a job, so up with the bonnet and out it comes. We'll give it a few more minutes then continue. Still pretty hot as we complete the climb, but over the top and heading down it immediately begins dropping. Back on the gas and its creeping up again almost straight away. What the.? Seems the thermostat must have lost its marbles. As we drop into the Lindis Valley, I find a small metal side road, and we pull off the highway. Seeing its an O series, I will whip the thermostat out with the few tools I have brought with us...





In the background is the St Bathans range - we are still at some altitude here. The signpost says "Tarras 16Km" to the right - our current heading. Nothing much at Tarras - especially on a Sunday arvo, but we are ok. After things have cooled a bit, I remove the cap from the thermostat housing. I have tried to remove these things before and found them to be somewhat reluctant. How will this one be.? I get a good grip on it with the polygrips, and find it moves a little. Great. I work it to and fro a bit, and finally it lets go with a rush. It comes clear, and as it does, a small piece of the housing breaks away. Damn.! I refit the cap - but its obvious there is quite a gap. My only remedy onboard is some electrical insulation tape. I make a small wad and pack it in the jagged edge, forcing the cap back on over the top. Start the motor - fluid all over the place. Jeez - quite a bit of pressure from that pump.! I make several (about 34..) further attempts to seal it, but have to admit it is useless. It is now getting dark. It is also getting very cold. I get back in the car, and we have a council. Sue has been sharing my learnings of late, and we know that everything is as it is meant to be - we are here because we are meant to be - we have attracted these circumstances. What to do.? I consider spending the night in the car. Probably not clever. Its going to get extremely cold up here, and we can't run the motor. Besides that - we need an engineering solution, or a Marina thermostat housing - we will find neither here. I had noticed a farmhouse about a mile back - we decided to head there. We donned various thermal bits, jackets, scarves, gloves, grabbed the torch and set out along the highway.

..

Some excellent scenery there, looking forward to the next installment.

ali thermostate housings can be a real problem when siezed on. My MK1 was corroded in to one piece and took a long time to remove from the head and ended up damaging it.
I was not to worried as I had a new one!
Also not up a mountain so I hope you get it fixed OK

Kilroy, your tales are wasted on these forums. This should be on television, perfect documentary fodder, especially with all that scenery. Don't tell me, the guy at the farm house had another Mk3 tucked away in his barn and sold it to you for 10 dollars. You finished your expedition towing the estate along behind. Seriously, look forward to the next instalment.

Excellent stuff as always Kilroy, enjoying this immensely, wish i had gone to the South island when i was there in `78 :mrgreen: , keep it up mate!

come on don't keep us in suspenders when's the next chapter I love this the highs and lows of marina ownership even in a different hemisphere

I was just getting into that Kilroy. I had it pictured in my head and everything lol

Sounds like an excellent trip m8 but a bloody cold one. Our winters here in Scotland freeze the baws off you and are usually wet (winter's wet not yer baws)

Sean

Beckett Bros "to be continued..."

Come on Kilroy,

How did you save the day? House down the road really an old Leyland garage? Two tubes of plastic metal? Flag down passing MGB and steal engine?

I'm going to have to keep checking this string now.

A lovely part of the country, and glorious driver's roads. 8)

Drove through falling snow between Tekapo and Mt Cook last Christmas (mid summer! :shock: ).

You're a great story teller, Kilroy. Take Marcus Lush along for the ride next time - would make a fascinating doco in the "Off the Rails" mould.

Kilroy, Hurry up and tell us what happened. I will be on sleeping tablets and anti depressants until I know!!!!

We walked along the highway - there was no moon, but a faint light from the stars and the snow meant we could conserve the torch battery - no way of knowing how long this night would be. It was dead quiet apart from the sound of the occasional oncoming car, and I flashed the torch on the ground so they would give us a bit of space as they passed. We did not look up at the cars - no point in stopping anyone, as we did not wish to travel too far from our car.
I knew I had seen a farmhouse not long before we stopped, but now I could not remember how far it might have been. Fortunately, it was only about half a mile, and we glimpsed a light somewhere off the road to our left. We reached an entrance, so we trudged up the metal drive, and eventually came to a house with an outside light on. I knocked at the door, but there were no signs of life. After waiting a few minutes, we walked back into the driveway, and saw another light further into the farm. Headed there - an old cottage - presumably a workers house - but again - no sign of anyone about.
Back to the highway. There was a light way off to the right. Nothing for it but to head that way. We crossed a bridge and came to a side road, so there we went. A few hundred yards later, we approached a small house and could hear voices. A vehicle started and came our way. We waved and it stopped next to us. We greeted the driver and mentioned briefly our situation. He explained that he and a friend were staying in this place while they were cutting trees for the local firewood market. His family owned the place, and his mate was inside - he would come back in and introduce us. We all trooped inside, and in the light were able to meet our rescuers. Bede was heading back to Wanaka for the night as his wife was there, but he offered us a bed for the night, and suggested we could look at matters in the morning when he returned. Great.! 'Pup' was the mate - he had designs on a bourbon or three, and we were invited to assist. We didn't need asking twice. He proceeded to tell us what they were up to in this place, and we began to get to know each other.
One of my business ventures is in marketing some cutting edge scientific health products - not many people have heard of the company as they do not advertise, but pay associates like me to advertise for them. I got up to head for the kitchen, and all but tripped over the largest carton of our companies products I had ever seen. Holy sh*t.! Pup asked if I knew about them. Turned out we both worked for the same company. His business partner was a friend of mine who I see several times a week.! We phoned him there and then, and all had a good laugh.
Sue and I smiled at each other. Everything has a purpose. Seems we broke down in this place to get to this meeting. Cool.
After a random number of bourbons, Pup got ready to leave - he had to deliver the truckload of wood to Wanaka for an early delivery tomorrow. He would be back pretty late - we were welcome to use anything. As he would be heading back past where our car was, we decided to get a lift there to uplift a few things we did not feel happy about leaving in the car overnight. He assured us it would be fine there, and it was not visible to passing cars where we left it - but we chose to do it anyway.
He dropped us by the side road, and disappeared into the night. I had a sudden thought. It was freezing. The car still had virtually all of its coolant - having only lost what I squirted out during my various repair attempts. I thought that if I removed the fanbelt, we could drive the mile or two back to the farm before it overheated. It was a plan. Sue held the torch while I undid things by braille. We jumped in, fired it up, and headed back to safety. Despite the cold, the temp gauge was up to three quarters by the time we shut down outside the house. Brilliant. I would not have to fret now the car was with us again.
We broke out our own bourbon and relaxed.





We were asleep before anyone returned, and woke to a pretty good frost, a good sign we would have a clear day. The farm looked amazing in the light of day, and we immediately felt like exploring.




However, we needed to get some plan for repairs sorted first, so my first job was to remove the broken housing. It had chipped about 1/4" away just where there was a gap for the cap to engage - so at its weakest point. It had ragged edges, and my initial thought was to maybe find some sort of epoxy resin, and bond the whole thing together with the cap on.
Pup arose and offered to drive us to Tarras where he knew the local Engineer. We did that, and soon I was being introduced to Matt. He knew just the thing. Its called 'knead-it'.





This stuff looks like a licorice roll - but its a two-part resin, that you mix by kneading the inner and outer layers together. It sets hard enough to file in 1 hour, and is especially good with water leaks. I thanked him and gave him a fiver. We headed home and began the repair. Matt advised us to boil the housing in some water to clean it, so we did that, and filed it a bit to remove the pointy bits..





As stated, an hour later - after Bede had returned, and Sue had cooked us all bacon and eggs from our supplies - it was hard enough to file, so I shaped it carefully so it would seal against the cap. I did not leave a gap for the edge of the cap, as I could fit this side first, then drop the other side into its gap - thus making it as strong as was possible.






Wanting to give the repair every chance to harden properly, as it was still very cold up here, we decided to take the mountain bikes up the back of the farm for a look, and Bede gave us directions. 'Merivale Station' is a pretty extensive piece of the planet, and we headed way up some frozen valleys, past trampers huts, before climbing a rather respectable hill from which we could gaze out over the entire valley. The farmhouse is half a mile beyond the pine plantations you can see in the distance...





We got back down as the sun was dropping behind the ranges, and watched Bede charging about moving logs where they had all their machinery. "Playing in the sandpit.." was how he described it. We said farewell, as we intended to pack up and see if we could make it to Alexandra tonight. He wished us luck and assured us we had a bed if things did not go well. I felt grateful to have just made his acquaintance.
We returned to the house and I started the car. Not a drop from the housing. Packed all our gear back aboard and hit the road. Just as we reached the sideroad where we had come to rest, Pup went by on his way back from delivering another load of wood. We waved and gave him the thumbs-up. Big grin.
Alexandra was only 30 miles away, and after a couple of brief stops to reassure myself we were still watertight, we cruised into town as the sun set. Found the local motor camp and rented a rather spacious and well-equipped cabin for the night. Showers, tv and red wine had us feeling very much on holiday again, and as we transferred all our photos onto the laptop we laughed over and over at how amazingly things had turned out.
Our impromptu breakdown had resulted in several chance encounters with some really good people - a free night in an amazing location - a brilliant ride in a place tourists couldn't get to - and a totally successful repair for a fiver.!
If we attracted all that - we are surely on the right path.!
Tomorrow we will get up before dawn and ride the river track - my bet is its going to be bl**dy cold...

..

Absolutely brilliant Kilroy.

Sean

Beckett Bros "pass me a hanky luv..."

Excellent stuff. 8) :mrgreen:

Great story mate, there is a plan even if you don't realise it.

Just like life...


.. there is more to come..