We love doing road trips. The freedom of the road, the ability to change plans in a heartbeat, visiting interesting places and meeting different people are all part of the attraction.
Of course, sometimes things don’t always go according to plan!
South Island Road Trip
We were in New Zealand for the summer of 22/23. Summer in New Zealand is supposed to be warm and dry. The summer we got featured Cyclone Gabrielle which resulted in torrential rain, flooding, multiple road closures due to landslides and general chaos in the land.
But we had planned a road trip round the South Island and that part of the country had escaped the worst of Gabrielle, so off we went.
Of course, you need a car to do a road trip. My wife is a New Zealander and most of her family still live there. As luck would have it, we arrived at the same time as her niece was about to sell her car. After a quick discussion, we worked out a mutually beneficial rate and we hired the car for the duration.
Now this wasn’t just any old car. It was a whacking huge modern SUV that they had bought second hand to cart all the paraphernalia that accompanies transporting kids from pillar to post when they are young. Apart from the after-market low profile tyres, it was ideal for a camping road trip!
After a quick handover, we headed out. We left Hamilton and spent several days meandering down the West Coast of the North Island. We then hopped on a Bluebridge roll-on roll-off ferry and crossed the Cook Straight from Wellington to Picton.
So far all was going to plan.
Seeking a Bar-Tailed Godwit (yes – really!)
My wife is a dedicated bird watcher with over 650 species sighted so far. She was very keen to see a bar-tailed godwit. It happens to be the bird that undertakes the longest recorded nonstop migration – from New Zealand to Alaska (and back) every year.
There were a few still in pre migration mode on the Farewell Spit which is situated on the Northwest tip of the South Island not far from Collingwood. To get there we had to negotiate Takaka Hill and the Uruwhenua Range pass.
These roads are single lane and twisty. It was rare for us to get up to 80km/hr. This was not low-profile, high performance tyre territory!
Off to Hokitika – Not
Having ticked off the bar-tailed godwit, we packed up and headed out, destination Hokitika. This of course involved us retracing our steps over the Uruwhenua Range and Takaka Hill before turning south on State Highway 6 heading for Greymouth and then Hokitika.
All went well until we got into the Upper Buller Gorge. Then I felt a slight pull on the steering wheel and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. The left front tyre had had enough of being bullied around multiple tight corners and had called time on its career.
It was 3pm……on a Saturday afternoon. But no problem, we just had to unpack the back of the car and put the spare tyre on. Or so we thought.
After all the camping stuff was unpacked, we discovered a collapsed spare wheel (to save space) that needed to be inflated with a compressor. Despite searching high and low, no compressor could be found! It later transpired that Di’s niece had never had a puncture while driving the vehicle and thus had never had cause to look too closely at the spare wheel. She probably bought the vehicle sans compressor.
Out came the mobile phone to phone the roadside assistance call centre. But we were in a very rural area and we could only get a vague signal on our phones by standing on a non-punctured wheel and holding the phone high above your head.
We were contemplating our quandary when along came a car. My wife stuck out her thumb, hitchhiker style, and a local farmer’s wife stopped and gave her a lift 5km up the road to where the signal was better. She also kindly gave her a lift back. We were sorted. A tow truck was to be dispatched from Westport and should be with us within the hour.
Do We Put Up The Tent?
As 6pm rolled around, we contemplated putting our tent up in a nearby field. The tow truck was now 90 minutes overdue, and we had had only seen one other car go past us. But at 6.30pm salvation rolled into view – and drove straight past us!
As soon as we realised the tow truck wasn’t planning on stopping, we took off down the road after it waving our arms and shouting at the top of our shouts. Thankfully he either heard us or looked in his rearview mirror. Either way, much to our relief, he stopped and came back.
As it turned out, he was responding to our SOS, but had been told to look out for a different make and colour of car. Such is the brilliance of call centres the world over.
Our next surprise was that we now couldn’t find the tow hook that was supposed to screw into the front of our vehicle in order for it to be winched onto the flatbed. But it was getting dark, the flat tyre was beyond redemption, so we just drove the car up onto the flatbed and headed for Westport.
Once at the tow truck yard in Westport, we used their in-house compressor and tried to inflate the spare tyre. We discovered that the spare tyre didn’t have a valve fitted. We scratched around amongst a pile of discarded stuff in a corner and found a valve. That didn’t seem to make any difference. We removed the valve.
Eventually, after several more failed attempts and with the compressor working overtime, the fancy “flat” spare tyre eventually popped out and inflated. We breathed a sigh of relief.
No Getting Away When Murphy is on a Roll!
But Murphy’s Law was still very much in play. We now had a functional spare tyre, but our joy was short-lived. We soon found out that the anti-theft wheel nut on each wheel had a 17mm diameter while all the other wheel nuts, and the tyre spanner, were 19mm!
The flat tyre stayed firmly attached to the car. The tow truck fellow kindly dropped us and the car off at the Wesport Camping Ground where we set up camp and waited for Monday when the local tyre shop would open.
And still Murphy wasn’t finished with us!
On Monday morning the car and us were duly picked up again and dropped off at the tyre shop. They took one look at the tyre and advised that they doubted anything like that was available in New Zealand but that they would do their best to find some for us. We would need two in order to balance the front end of the car.
We wandered off into town to find a coffee shop and contemplate our options. An hour later we got a call. They had found some tyres in Christchurch. They would be shipped to Westport overnight and we could pick the car up at 09:00 on Tuesday. We breathed a sigh of relief, celebrated with another coffee, and planned our unexpected sojourn in Westport.
The next day we reported to the shop at 09:00 sharp. The owner looked at us sympathetically and said there was good news and bad news (don’t you love those announcements!)
The good news was that the two tyres had arrived overnight and had been fitted.
The bad news was that while the car was on the hoist, they had discovered that both rear tyres had major cracks in them and probably wouldn’t last another 50km. They had checked with Christchurch and there were two more tyres available which could be shipped overnight to arrive on Wednesday morning.
This time when headed into town we went straight to the nearest pub.
Our Road Trip Resumes
On Wednesday morning we had a car with 4 brand new tyres, an inflated spare wheel shoehorned into the luggage area, and a brand new wheel spanner that fitted both 17 mm and 19mm wheel nuts.
Naturally we didn’t have cause to use the spare tyre or wheel spanner for the rest of the trip!
But all’s well that ends well. Our unplanned detour meant we got to drive along the awesome coastline from Westport to Greymouth – a magnificent scenic drive that we would have missed if everything had gone to plan.
One final surprise. When we got back to Hamilton, I took the car to the original supplier of the marque and enquired about the disparity in size of the lock nut vs the other wheel nuts and the wheel spanner. They went and looked at a similar model
They were amazed to find the same problem. I was amazed that they were unaware of the problem.
Read more about our travels
