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All
the engine problems were sorted and our 1968
Volvo Amazon
was ready for the big test, a trip to the South Island of New
Zealand. We live in the Bay of Plenty area on the North Island.
The idea was a camping holiday to keep the cost down a little,
so we removed the rear seat, packed the car with a small tent,
foam mattresses, blankets, gas cookers, and all the other usual
stuff for a holiday. The Amazon is actually a very practical
car, plenty of space for two people to go on a trip. The Cook
Strait Ferry was
booked a week earlier so the only worry was to have fine weather
because it can be very rough in Cook Strait, we had booked the
Lynx, the fast ferry, which only takes two hours for the
crossing.
Our friend and Volvo enthusiast Hans accompanied us in his Volvo
PV544
to
Hastings in Hawke‘s Bay on the east coast of the north island
where he had some business to do. The first coffee stop was Taupo
one
of the most popular tourist centres in NZ in the centre of the
north island, we found a nice spot on the shore of Lake Taupo
where we watched the speed boat races. We arrived early
afternoon in Napier,
a city famous of its Art-Deco style buildings built after the
1931 earthquake that demolished all buildings and where 256
people were killed.
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Two Volvos, Napier
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Molesworth
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Molesworth
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Molesworth
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Next
day via the Wairarapa, Dannevirke, Masterton to Wellington to
catch the 3:30 pm Ferry to Picton on the South Island.
This crossing
is one of the most beautiful crossings in the world which
includes a scenic cruise through the Marlborough Sounds, however
on the open sea it can be rough with up to 8 meter swells ! We
were lucky it was a very smooth sailing.
Next day we drove via Blenheim through New Zealand's largest
farm, Molesworth
Station in
Marlborough. The Molesworth Road, which runs through the
180,000ha high country station managed by DOC, is open for 6
weeks every year in the summer. The road did not open last
summer because of a high fire risk, but wet spring weather this
year has lowered the risk. People driving on it are advised to
have a full tank of petrol and carry a spare tyre and a spare
fan belt. Camping is permitted at the Molesworth and Acheron
homesteads. It was a fantastic journey over gravel roads which
ended at Hanmer
in
Canterbury. Almost all cars we saw were 4-wheel drives, but we
didn’t have any problems in our Amazon, although it is
lowered. A number of passes had to be crossed, also many fords,
some quite deep and during one crossing the exhaust was damaged
as we later found out. One of the two downpipes just under the
manifold was completely broken off the flange. In Christchurch
we found a muffler repair shop to weld everything back together
again for $50.
Overlooking Akaroa |
Akaroa Bank |
Exhaust Repairs |
Hanmer Springs |
Hanmer’s
fame as a holiday spot goes back to 1859 when hot springs were
found. The water temperature varies between 30-40 degrees C.
As well as thermal pools to laze about we also used some
of the nice walking tracks.
Next place we stayed for
a couple of days was Akaroa
on Banks Peninsula, a very interesting place started by French
settlers in 1835 and a good basis for boot trips (swim with the
dolphins) and walks.
New Zealand really has improved facilities for tourists over the
last 10 years, and is more service orientated, plenty of good
cafes, restaurants and motels wherever you go. Shops are packed
with food from all over the world. A great selection of
excellent NZ wines are available from most supermarkets, 7 days
a week.
The
idea was to make this a camping holiday but we found that a tent
site for two persons was on average $20 and a basic standard
cabin (bring your own linen) was around $32 a night, so we
decided not to use the tent at all during our holiday. Cabins
are available on most motor camps and a very convenient way to
travel at low cost, common facilities, such as toilet shower and
kitchens on the motor camps had to be used.
Ruapuna Chch |
Brabham BT18 |
Lola T70 |
Campervan bus |
One
of the main purposes of our trip was to see the PDL classic car races at Ruapuna (Christchurch) racetrack. This
is an annual event organised by the Canterbury Car Club. These
races always attract a great line-up of competitors from
overseas with some very special cars. It was a fantastic warm
day, good close racing and watched by a good crowd.
Christchurch,
also known as The Garden City , has a lot to offer to tourists
and Hagley Park offer delightful walks in all seasons. We also
visited Fazazz,
a classic motoring bookshop car sales, some very interesting
cars and model cars were on sale.
We
visiting friends in Rangiora, who let me take their campervan
for a 100km round trip in the area. This was a Toyota bus,
imported second hand from Japan, and converted by themselves
into a campervan. We quite liked the idea, very easy to drive
with auto transmission. Our next coffee stop was on the beach at
Kaikoura. We visited the seals colony there and there were
plenty of seals baking in the sun on the rocks along the road to
Blenheim. Our next stop was Nelson in Marlborough for 2 days.
Nelson is well sheltered from mountain ranges and combined with
the high sunshine hours is a very popular residential area. The
area between Nelson
and Motueka has the ideal climate and soils for growing fruit,
grapes, hops and tabacco.
Amazon encounter |
Lorna's 122S Wagon |
Lorna's Parts Cars |
Collingwood |
As
the registrar of the Volvo 120 series, I know where most of them
are in NZ. Our next visit was to surprise a Volvo lady owner in
the Takaka area with our visit. She really enjoyed our visit and
we checked out her three Volvo Amazon station wagons. One, a
1967 model 122S is used as a daily driver, the other two spare
cars, loaded with parts, are not worth keeping in my opinion.
Restoration is not an option, but some parts are usable. Before
we arrived she was considering selling the lot, but after
admiring my restored Amazon, when we left she had changed her
mind and she is now going to restore her daily driver, which she
has owned for 17 years. Good on her doing so!
We continued our trip in this very remote but beautiful area to
the most northerly point of the South Island, Cape Farewell and
Farewell Spit. Not many visitors make this trip to this remote
corner of the country but it’s well worth it.
Cape Farewell |
View Takaka Hill |
Typical Cabin |
"Wind Song" |
Slowly
but surely our holiday was coming to an end and we had to make
our way to Picton for our return ferry trip to Wellington, which
was pre-booked. The Marlborough Sounds is a spectacular area of
coastal scenery between Tasman Bay and Cook Strait. Following
the last ice age, the sea level rose, flooding these former
valleys to produce a
complex system of waterways separated by numerous islands and
high peninsulas. This intricate 600km of coastline presents
limitless opportunities for boaties and campers, a real
playground.
The return trip was fine within the sounds, but as soon as we
came to open sea, the swell was high and many people were sick
during the actual 50 minutes that we were not in sheltered
areas. Days earlier the sailings were cancelled for more than a
day because of storms and they were just clearing the backlog of
traffic.
   
Picton
Panorama, Marlborough Sounds, South Island |
Wellington,
the capital of NZ is worth a visit, many things to do and see,
however we didn’t stop this time, a short visit to the Southward
Car Museum at Paraparaumu, half an hours drive north of
Wellington was made. This is the largest and most varied
collection of motor vehicles in the Southern Hemisphere, cars
like a Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing, a 1936 Tatra Saloon, a 1950
Gangster Cadillac, and varies racing cars are part of the
collection. No Volvos on display though.
Our Volvo created lots of interest wherever we stopped, at the
motor camps in particular it was always a point of discussion. A
Dutch tourist gave me a Dutch classic car magazine, which I can
read, because I was born in Holland, it had a great story about
a 1969 Amazon which was parked in a corner of a large warehouse
area in 1975 because the owner thought the car was a bit dated
for driver training school. The Amazon was recently removed from
storage and sold. It took the new owner a week to clean the
interior and exterior of the 122, it also required a couple of
new hoses and tyres but the Amazon started straight away.
Mileage was only 44,000kms.
Seals, Kaikoura |
Seal |
Southwards |
Desert Road, N.I. |
We
ended up that night in Taihape of all places, not far from the
start of “Desert
Road” in a nice cabin. Next day via the 1000m high Desert
Road, Lake Taupo (370m) back to home in Omokoroa (Tauranga).
This was an excellent classic motoring holiday with a classic
Volvo which performed the 4000kms very well. I even had an
opportunity to test performance on a quiet South Island road. I
was pleasantly surprised.
Jim Hekker
Project Amazon |
