The Great Trip

The Perilous Circle and Other Driving Foes

Do you realize they drive on the wrong, well unusual, side of the road here in NZ? We were sent out on the road for this new adventure with a pat on a back and a hearty “Good on ya mate” (Translation: Good for you, have a great time.) from the rental agent and no warnings about the basic rules of the road and how they might differ from driving back home in the USA with the sole exception of; “Oh ya mate, member ta staye ta the lef out there”. I realized very quickly that driving was going to be the first real adrenaline pumping experience and it wasn’t even in the brochure.

The first great test of my driving abilities came not more than 30 minutes after we left the rental office. My fateful navigator and loving wife notified me that I was to make a right turn at the round-a-about to head to the quaint seaside town of Devonport. In my quiet panic I repeated the words round-a-bout in my head while a constant look of the archetypal American-on-a-round-a-bout played in my head; Clark Griswold in European Vacation. If time and/or good taste has prevented you from seeing that movie let me attempt to describe the scene; picture in your minds eye four lanes of cars, circling like hungry sharks around a fifty foot monolith with Queen Victoria atop, then notice that all the lanes of traffic appear to be traveling in a clockwise direction with seven streets spiking off the circle at regular intervals and no visible traffic controls. Upon entering the round-a-bout, Clark discovers as he is being sucked to the innermost lanes that gravity, second only to a black-hole, will keep him driving in the circle until well after sunset. Anissa, being an excellent navigator, notified me of our impending fate with enough time for me to play this scene no less than 23 times before the circle of my greatest fear came in to view. If Anissa hadn’t been talking about visiting this quaint little sea village for the last two days I would have most likely suggested that we make a u-turn, only slightly less scary, and head to someplace not requiring a round-a-bout in transit.

As we approached, my heart began to pound in my head. Thump thump. Thump thump. Then to my great relief, there was no statue of Queen Vic, no dizzying array of street options and only one lane traveling in a circle. Then the moment of truth: fighting every fiber of my being screaming at me to turn right, even into the oncoming traffic, I strained both muscle and mind to turn left following the road clockwise and again turning left off the circle to make a right turn into Devonport. I wiped a small bead of sweat from my brow and breathed a sigh of relief. Until that moment I had no clue how much of my driving was done completely by routine, and furthermore, relied on me being on the left hand side of the car.

This was most evidenced by the fact that for the first few days of the journey I couldn’t use my center rearview mirror at all. Not that the mirror didn’t function, but each time I would look up to check the traffic behind me I would find myself staring into the trees across the right-side of the road. Then, while I was dazed wondering why I was looking at the trees I would be jolted back to reality by the feel of the wheels bouncing on the shoulder, never getting to see what was happening behind me (in case you were wondering: left-shoulder, not right. Thank God).

In all honesty, driving on the left side of the road is not such an uncomfortable thing to do. Anybody who has ever driven down a one-way street has most likely driven on the left side of the road without any discomfort or perhaps even noticing. What really shakes you to the bone is doing it from the other side of the car and seeing traffic coming at you from the lane you feel, with every fiber of you being, you are supposed to be traveling in. Even after my comfort level had begun to approach that of normal driving, when driving at night I would see the headlights of an oncoming truck appear from around a blind corner coming at me from the right side, and there was a moment of panic that the truck was on the wrong side of the road and I was going to die. Now. Then after a quick checklist I would feel comfortable that we were both in our proper lanes and death was not immanent. Such relief you can not imagine easily.

I am now such good driver on the other side of the road that I expect to have to retrain myself once I get back to states. We have many more stories to share and I will try to get them posted before a month goes by again.

Cheers for NZ 

posted by Rion and Anissa @ 10:00 PM 0 comments links to this post   

Living in a Van down by the river!!!!

I have now had fulfilled my biggest adolescent fantasy! Like many of you I grew up in the 70’s with such role models and Jack, Larry, and Mr. Roper. There was also the inspiring freedom and discovery of Mork with Mindy. Lest we forget the most cool of them all, Fred and the Gang in their Mystery Machine. As a child it was quite a mystery to me what a guy would be doing with an apartment on wheels, eating Scooby Snacks and solving ghost stories. However, there is a magical moment in a young man’s journey to adulthood when he realizes what Jack and Larry were doing at the Regal Beagle, that Mork and Mindy were more than just roommates, and what makes a Scooby Snack that yummy.

Then, just like a clapper turning on a disco-ball in your head you realize the possibilities of having a bed in the back of a van. Once you pass that magic moment your boyhood is over and your journey to chest-hair and gold medallion necklaces is almost complete. Ladies, if you are still reading, and gentleman, hormone bags if you will, I am now in possession of such a van, complete with a bed in the back! Yes, it is that cool. Mr. Roper, eat your heart out!

I would be remiss if I did not point out that there are some keen differences in this reality that were completely unforeseen as a boy aged sixteen. Firstly, being happily married does somewhat curtail the desire to cruise to The Regal Beagle. Also, I had pictured a late 70’s Chevy van with a pair of bubble windows on the back sides, not a late 90’s Toyota Mommy-Van with a bubble top like a blue Jiffy Pop package about to blow. In my wildest fantasies I had never pictured a kitchen next to the bed; my fantasies didn’t require cooked food. In all reality this is really more than just a love-palace-on-wheels; this is our new home. We are now living in a spacious 38 sq. ft. of all purpose living space.

Our rental car company took a small fleet of mid-nineties Toyota HIACE mini-vans to a boat builder who ripped out everything rear of the driver’s area and replaced it with two molded plastic bench seats and a kitchenette. The kitchenette consists of a 3- cubic foot refrigerator, two portable propane burners bolted to the plastic, and a small cold water sink fed by a 5-gallon water container strapped directly under the sink; the sink drains out a pipe next to the exhaust pipe. This is a far cry from the all stainless-steel kitchen with double ovens that we used to cook in, but we have been able to prepare some comfort food meals like Ramen, Spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, and our most ambitious meal attempted – beef tacos with homemade guacamole, chips and salsa. Not too bad for van camping.

Now, about that bed I mentioned: it’s our favorite superhero right now. By day, a mild mannered bench seat with storage-a-plenty; after the sun sets our hero changes, with planks of wood sliding from hidden slots and a flurry of cushions tumbling into place like pieces of a puzzle, then presto-chango we have a bed. Once again, our current sleeping arrangements are a far, far cry from the pleasant mattress that we had back in a former life. The bed itself is more comfortable than I had expected when we are parked on a level surface – not possible as often as one would hope.

The inverted row boat that serves as the roof of the car allows for a few bonus comforts, like standing erect when the bed is not in use and room for a microwave, which only works when we are plugged into a power spike at a Holiday Park, a.k.a. RV Park. We have designated the primary use of the microwave to be dry goods storage, lacking a pantry as it were. We have done our best and succeeded in making this little van our love-palace-on-wheels as we tramp and traipse around this amazing country, fulfilling our dreams and challenging ourselves to new adventures.

Tune in next time when I reveal that the most conspicuously absent of all the items from our new love-palace-on-wheels appears to be a steering-wheel and peddles on the left side of the car.

Cheers from NZ

Rion and Anissa 

posted by Rion and Anissa @ 9:57 PM 0 comments links to this post