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Published: March 26th 2009
Feeling like we hadn't travelled anywhere for a while, we headed out one Saturday morning for a quick 1000km trip up to
Nelson and back, driving anti-clockwise, up the coast, along the north coast of South Island and then back down through the mountains.
After heading up SH1 with just a few quick stops (of course, that includes visiting the seals off the Kaikoura coast!) we drove along the Sounds and across to
Havelock. After a walk on the Sounds we set off to cross the innocent-sounding
Mount Richmond Forest Park...
Here comes the interesting (fun) part...and I blame
Top Gear!
Upon leaving Havelock and driving past the last petrol station until our destination, we both glanced at the fuel gauge. It was just below a-quarter-tank and normally we would have tanked up before venturing out into the unknown. However, on this occassion, we had a 10c off per litre voucher for Shell (which is quite rare these days, most of the supermarket vouchers are 4c) so we were determined to let the needle sink as low as possible before filling up...
Unfortunately though, the determining factor was that we had just watched the
Top Gear episode
where the three presenters attempted to drive from Switzerland to Blackpool on a single tank. The result was that the cars indicated that they had run out of fuel a long time before they actually did, and against all odds they made it to Blackpool, when they shouldn't have made it past Birmingham...or London in Jeremy's case (just near his house)...
Another factor that we hadn't fully considered was that the road from Havelock to Nelson is extremely bendy and climbs and drops a lot. The warning light came on very quickly, but the needle was still above empty. Next, the needle went below empty and indeed had no further to fall. After a quick look at the map, which revealed that we were about halfway there and going back would be just as risky as carrying on (just like
Macbeth's predicament), we put our hearts in our mouths...
At this point, Emma was driving (we didn't dare waste momentum by stopping and swapping, even though, as you'd expect, clearly I am much better at driving), and as a result she was expertly instructed not to use the brakes, calculate approaches through bends, not to accelerate unless absolutely
Kaikoura stop
Our favourite leg-stretch locationnecessary and drive efficiently using engine braking, the terrain, the grace of God and an advanced knowledge of physics. We turned off the aircon and radio, shut the air vents, made sure the windows were tight, considered throwing anything not tied down overboard, took turns in breathing the oxygen etc. We even considered the possibilty of free-wheeling out of there...NOT a good idea with power-steering and power-assisted brakes... that idea was abandonned...
Looking at the map, we were headed to a very small settlement...
...It was extremely unlikely that they had a fuel stop, and even if they did, it wasn't certain that it would be open on a Saturday evening...
An excrutiating twenty minutes passed...
Then, as we approached said settlement, we saw an old-style petrol station complete with 1950s pumps and a shack...
...BUT IT WAS OPEN...
...AND IT LOOKED LIKE THE PUMPS WERE WORKING...
"Shall we stop?" said Emma, still trying not to brake unecessarily.
I won't report my answer, suffice to say that it was a very emphatic affirmative, with a good deal of adrenaline-fuelled linguistic colour thrown in for good measure.
Nerves shot, we had an uneventful drive for the rest of the day, stayed overnight in Nelson and went out for a Chinese meal in town.
The next day, full to the brim with petrol, we set off on the drive through the
Kahurangi National Park. We stopped at some stunning lookouts (with some amazing long-drop toilets), drove through
Clark Valley, bought lunch in
Murchison and took it to
Maruia Falls (where we saw a Weka) after passing through such places as
Minehaha and
Shenandoah.
At the very impressive falls, we watched a couple of sport kayakers, paddling off the falls with apparent near-suicidal intent, but they didn't impress us that much. If they wanted to try adrendline sport they should try driving a mountain pass with a empty fuel tank!
Finally, we crossed the Southern Alps through the spectacular
Lewis Pass and were back in Christchurch by early evening.
It's probably time to buy that spare fuel carrier that we have talked about in the past!
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Natalie
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Lovely, but where's the photie of Clark Valley??