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Published: December 25th 2010
Day 25
The weather was not looking good for birthday girl Claire. It started raining and only ever got worse. Alex decided to take us up towards Milford Sound with stops along the way to look at and photograph rivers and waterfalls which were getting fuller or more violent by the minute. Magnificent to watch but a little bit scary due to the force of nature. Stopped at The Chasm just outside MS after coming through a downhill tunnel at the top of the pass. The car didn’t like the climb up and there was the first smell of burning asbestos from the groaning clutch. At The Chasm we had our first up close sight of the Kea bird as two were scavenging in the car park. Our 10 minute walk to see the torrent left us absolutely soaked through. Used the car’s heater to dry out a little. On into MS for a coffee stop to warm us up and then the plan was to return to Te Anau for birthday dinner.
Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. The car just didn’t like the climb back up from the other side and quickly started to both smell awful and
lose gears. The clutch had gone completely! We were able to turn round and coast back to The Chasm car park. We all realised that the game was up and we had to start thinking hard about the consequences and what our options were. There was no mobile phone signal so Alex set off walking in pouring rain back three miles to MS. We were stuck at the car park for over 4 hours altogether and didn’t see Alex for two of those. He had to walk the whole way as no one would give him a lift – probably because they didn’t want their seats wet! He made a call on landline to the AA and then got a lift back to the car park from some young men. He had the presence of mind to buy some snack foods, which eventually became birthday tea. The AA man finally arrived at 7.25 pm and then began a tow back to Te Anau with Claire having to sit for 100kms on Richard’s knee! Not the best journey in the world. We were glad to get away from the car park though.
The car was a write off so what
could we do next? A great act of kindness from the AA man saved us from an even later night as he gave us the keys to a 4x4 and said keep it for a couple of days! So no need for taxis, if they even existed, or more delay. Can’t imagine anyone would do that in the UK. Back at the cottage by 10pm and too tired and emotional to do more than have a very restless sleep. Reflected on the fact that all three of our children had, in one way or another, managed to do away with their cars within a month of one another.
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Sarah Mullen
non-member comment
Eulogy for the cars
RIP the peugeot, rover and audi! Sorry it was such a rubbish birthday, but memorable if nothing else and well done Alex for the long walk in the rain. NZ people are so much nicer than Brits - we were the recipients of several similar acts of kindness.