3 hours ago, Last Indian said:

As far as the Prius; come to the US & drive one on the freeway here! When you finally stop & get you will kiss the ground! Also save all the money you can because they break a lot & cost a ton to fix! 

You know I was thinking similar thoughts as I was smugly motoring about - there's a lot of witchcraft & wizardry going on down there that must be horrendously complex and a nightmare to have to diagnose & repair, but we managed 600km to 30 litres of fuel: that's 47 miles per US gallon for a car the size of a Camry and with lots of hilly terrain. Not bad.

Oh you wanted THIS speights ! 

Well I know a pub that’s got it ! 
see ya soon 

Good to hear you guys met up and didn’t cause destruction of all of New Zealand… yet. 😂

2 hours ago, Ringo64 said:

Good to hear you guys met up and didn’t cause destruction of all of New Zealand… yet. 😂

It's early yet Ringo. After all - there is free beer involved here (at least from Fitzy's perspective). 

Enough beer and the Hellcat should get Fitzy peeing uncontrollably and screaming like a school girl finding a spider in no time!  

10 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Well, here we are at Taupo. Rain, wind, grey skies, weird locals...

Caught up with Kiwi & "The Boss." He made me go outside with him in the searing icy blasts of wind and made me admire all his toys - see attached pics as proof that we actually made it. In all seriousness, lovely people, beautiful house & property and a killer collection of cars, including his projects. We are going out for dinner tonight and I WILL NOT be drinking that zero alcohol abomination that he showcased. If I had known, I would have brought along a bible for us to study. In fact, with the way the weather is we mightn't even get a chance to go for a blast in one of fhe toys, but we'll see.

You know how you chat to people online and you form a mental picture of what they might look like? Well as usual, he is nowhere near what I expected. I was expecting a dishevelled creature dressed in rags, one eye, no teeth, hunchback scarpering out of an old caravan weilding a shotgun - been living on possums for the last 10 years so as to afford all that shiny metal. But nothing like that...although there were no possums to be seen, so you never know.

To break tradition we had already agreed to post a pic of us so that you may all bathe in our collective good looks. I'm the better looking tall dark handsome one on the right. No, the RIGHT.

Now there’s a handsome pair! Oh you thought I meant Kiwi & Fitzy! No, no the caddy & Plymouth, what else! Great to see you guys together. I suspect there may be a few more pot holes in Taupo before that trip is over.

So Kiwi & Boss came and picked us up for dinner last night...in the Caddy! Awesome fun. You can see why Cadillacs were so aspirational - big smooth flamboyant cruisers that just make you feel good. Theirs has a nice rumbly exhaust note, sits low enough and looks shit hot.

Pontiac parts handover ceremony will occur later this afternoon. 

Always cool to meet up with PONTIAC friends you've made online. Where have I seen these guys before??? Oh YEA

Now he's on the left.....yea left.

Edited September 13, 20223 yr by JUSTA6

Lurch and Fester !!!!! LOL!  Good one Justa! 

8 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Lurch and Fester !!!!! LOL!  Good one Justa! 

Let's go crash the trains with Gomez.

Edited September 13, 20223 yr by JUSTA6

3 hours ago, JUSTA6 said:

Always cool to meet up with PONTIAC friends you've made online. Where have I seen these guys before??? Oh YEA

/cdn-cgi/mirage/d525a92cbcf1c27c02aea80571c1cbef4d876ac4-1663113521-1800/1280/https://foreverpontiac.com/uploads/monthly_2022_09/image.png.d305512f584eee534f7875e743204d58.png/cdn-cgi/mirage/d525a92cbcf1c27c02aea80571c1cbef4d876ac4-1663113521-1800/1280/https://foreverpontiac.com/uploads/monthly_2022_09/image.png.3be6ed986c5edb993dd98cd9dd2d0c72.png

Now he's on the left.....yea left.

Oh your a crack up justA ! 
guess that makes me lurch 😜

3 hours ago, Fitzy said:

So Kiwi & Boss came and picked us up for dinner last night...in the Caddy! Awesome fun. You can see why Cadillacs were so aspirational - big smooth flamboyant cruisers that just make you feel good. Theirs has a nice rumbly exhaust note, sits low enough and looks shit hot.

Pontiac parts handover ceremony will occur later this afternoon. 

Yip mate !

chris’s caddy taxi service 

but in this town we can only park where you can fit trucks !!! 
haha 

like where we parked last night to go to the pub 

The cruelty on this forum is unparalleled. To even suggest a likeness between Kiwi & me and Lurch & Uncle Fester is a pain that I will probably never get over.

Pain has gone now.

Today we took NZ State Highway 5 (aka Death Race 2000) from Taupo to Napier on the east coast. Speed limit is posted at 80km/h. I was doing 100 and every car overtook me as if their life depended on it. This is in rain on a windy mountain road mixing it up with B double semis with a sheer drop on one side and a rock wall on the other. Whatever - we all made it.

Napier was devastated by an earthquake in 1931 and when they rebuilt it was when art deco was the 'in' thing, so the town is a living art deco display. It's all original, not a tarted up facade and they have even painted everything in pastel colours and it looks neat. We wandered about, checked out the lookout and then had good old fashioned fish and chips in a place recommended by Kiwi, and then put on our kevlar battle suits and strapped in for the drive back to Taupo.

I solemnly handed over a cache of Pontiac parts for Kiwi and he very graciously handed me a Taupo Rod & Custom Club plaque - I am humbled and just like the Frosty Memorial Tacho, it shall take up a special place back home. My only regret was that I couldn't spend more time with him - I'll visit on my own next time.

Expand the pic and check out the amount of timber stored in the Napier port area and what's loaded on that ship.

Cruelty???  I'll have you know these characters have been HERO's going all the way back to my childhood.  My only quip with the Addams Family, was that they didn't have Hotrod's like the Munsters.   Beautiful pic's and sure looks like your enjoying everything NZ has to offer. Thankz for sharing.

Edited September 14, 20223 yr by JUSTA6

Great Pictures mate

All those logs are heading to China to be made into paper products and sold back to us! hahaha something horribly wrongway with that !☹️

Pete i want to thank you so much for the treasures and like the other parts that have gone onto the 64 that have a story behind them, i thank you for adding to my cars story 

It was a pleasure to finnaly meet you and your boss, enjoy the rest of your trip, my boss and i will be over to drink your home brew next year

ps. keep the pictures coming! i am enjoying your propective on our little island home 👍

Edited September 14, 20223 yr by 64 kiwi boni

Safe trip Pete! Godspeed!

5 hours ago, Last Indian said:

Safe trip Pete! Godspeed!

Gary - God does NOT drive a Prius, so the concept of me getting anywhere at speed is a misnomer! However, I appreciate the sentiment.

And to Kiwi and Da Boss, you better come over. Pack a hat, shorts, flipflops and a T shirt - even then you'll be overdressed. We had a great time in Taupo, a big chunk of that was thanks to you guys.

It was a bright & sunny 7°C (about 46°F)  this morning when we left Taupo and we trotted off to the Wairakei Thermal Pools - adults only (calm down - it just means nobody under 14) where you can hire towels and soak in a choice of 3 geothermal fed hot pools, of varying heat. Needless to say, we spent most of our time in the hottest (40°C/104°F) and being something I had never experienced before, I had to be coerced to get out and leave. It was glorious - any aches & pains disappear and it was unparalleled luxury. If you've never done it and you have the opportunity,  do it. In this particular place, they had gone to a lot of trouble to line each pool with concrete and the place was tastefully landscaped and if you go early enough, you have the place practically to yourself. When we finally got back to the carpark (me being dragged unceremoniously by the staff with my fingernails digging into the asphalt) it was almost full, so we timed it right.

We then drove to Rotorua (that majestic looking building is a museum) and then to Tauranga and that's where we're staying tonight. There's a ritzy part of Tauranga where the hoi polloi live & play and I saw all manner of fancy high end exotic cars. Wankers, all of them.

The drivers are becoming less polite and more idiotic as we progress further north, which is unfortunate but why should New Zealand be any different? The Prius (I just KNOW you're interested) has done over 500km on about 20 litres. When you guys in the States start paying US$10 a gallon (NZ is about NZ$2.60 - 2.90 a litre) for unleaded, the pushbikes will be dusted off and you'll be wobbling down to the shops for bread & milk, OR you'll be considering something economical.

Edited September 15, 20223 yr by Fitzy
Can't see properly

mate ! great pictures 

The first picture you took is Huka falls, and way off in the distance ( in the upper right corner of the picture) is Huka lodge, check out the link ... this is where the super rich stay, including the royals.

https://hukalodge.com/

 i thought you would like the hot pools ! Wairakei is wayyy nicer than deBretts pools 

 Hope you didnt stick your head under aye! the bactreia will not be your freinds! geothermal water is great to bath in, but no good for your organs ...... internal organs that is !!!

 hay !!! did you see Wairakei geothermal power station we talked about ?, you would have driven the ev thing straight over the bridge of the steam pipes that feed to the turbines !

now your in Tauranga, it will be wayyyyy warmer !

Edited September 15, 20223 yr by 64 kiwi boni

Pools were great - take your Boss there when she needs a break. We were warned (again) about not getting water in our cranial orifices and so we dutifully obeyed.

Yep, drove past the geothermal power station - very impressive. Tauranga has alternated between warm sunshine and tiny squalls of rain, but overall considerably warmer.

8 hours ago, Fitzy said:

It was a bright & sunny 7°C (about 46°F)  this morning when we left Taupo and we trotted off to the Wairakei Thermal Pools - adults only (calm down - it just means nobody under 14) where you can hire towels and soak in a choice of 3 geothermal fed hot pools, of varying heat. Needless to say, we spent most of our time in the hottest (40°C/104°F) and being something I had never experienced before, I had to be coerced to get out and leave. It was glorious - any aches & pains disappear and it was unparalleled luxury. If you've never done it and you have the opportunity,  do it. In this particular place, they had gone to a lot of trouble to line each pool with concrete and the place was tastefully landscaped and if you go early enough, you have the place practically to yourself. When we finally got back to the carpark (me being dragged unceremoniously by the staff with my fingernails digging into the asphalt) it was almost full, so we timed it right.

So the locals were making Fitzy soup!  I bet it had the essence of roasted something! 

Well it wasn't stewed brains, that's for sure.

We drove through Auckland and stayed with rellos in a little place called Stanmore Bay last night. I couldn't get their modem to work hence no email yesterday. For a city of about 2 million people, I reckon every single one of them was sitting in a car on that damn 'expressway' yesterday. Horrendous traffic - choked for 3 or 4 lanes in both directions in the middle of the day. Apparently, this was business as usual. The rellos are pretty old (in their 80s) and it was a minor ordeal organising ourselves but a few beers, wines and a coupla sherries brought calm into play.

Today was a bit of a drive but eventually the traffic petered out and we had most of the roads largely to ourselves, with only the occasional unhinged maniac busting their arse to get past us, even though I was already exceeding the posted speed limit. We drove through a kauri rainforest and took a minute to gawk at this massive tree - estimated to be about 2000 years old. It's girth was almost 14 metres. The attached pics cannot do it justice and I struggled to find stuff to post today, but it'll have to do.

Prius achieved 22.3 km per litre/52.45 miles per US gallon on it's last tank. Come on - you gotta be impressed. You won't pick up chicks in it and you'll never impress anyone at the lights BUT in a world of insane fuel prices, it makes sense. Remember, the dinosaur can come out and roar over the weekend.

I keep meaning to post these - there are a selection of uniquely New Zealand road signs about the place. Here is a small selection - they are file photos because it just wasn't possible to pull up and take a pic with 100 cars behind me. Believe me - they are genuine. The 'steam' one refers to the possible escape of steam, as you pass a geothermal power station.

The 'Frosty' one I giggled at when I first saw it. It says to me: When you drive like Frosty, you need to do drifties! A driftie is a barely controlled power slide, usually performed after one beer too many.

The 'railway crossing ahead' one looks like it was designed in 1950 - complete with a staem train.

Fitzy, you have really posted some amazing pictures. We all thank you! It’s almost like taking the trip with you. Very Cool.

 

Just consider me a snarly old man, as you are a young buck! Since you didn’t build the car & I presume you may not know of all the past history of cars on this planet & neither do I, please don’t take offense. No the Prius doesn’t impress me! Part of that comes from the fact that I had projects I worked on with Toyota, so I know the car up close & personal. There have been cars built long long ago that didn’t need a 600 lb. battery to get that kind of mileage. The Crosley for instance! Built from “39”-“52” got 60 mpg @ 50 mph even better around town! Needed, literally 1 tenth the parts that the Prius has. Needed no fuel pump for instance. In the mean time all these tree huggers really aren’t tree huggers. They’re just pushing the populous little by little in incremental steps into something that they won’t be able to change once they get you where they want you.

In the mean time they’ll fly their private jets, their big gas power cars & live in their mansions that consume tons of fossil energy all while you struggle to pay for your green energy.

Edited September 17, 20223 yr by Last Indian

Fitzy , i too laughed when i saw the skidding sign when i first joined fp !

instantly thought of frosty !

If The kauri tree could talk i bet it would have some interesting storeys to tell about the planet !

I am glad you experienced Auckland traffic , i hate it every time i go up there ! And i will be again very soon  to pick up my shipment ! 
but unlike you driving your electric toaster

i will drive my gas guzzling dodge ram and wave at all the glow in the dark ev drivers And enjoy every minute listening to the rumble of my v8 

I won't be swayed. I enjoy motoring through urban areas or where there are people in close proximity (like roadside al fresco dining) or through an enclosed carpark and not producing any emissions. The car is fuel efficient and makes it's own electricity every time you coast, slow down or come to a stop. Looks like we're all gonna constantly disagree over this, so I'll shut up about the Prius.

Right - yesterday we drove from the north shores of Auckland to yet another rello's beautiful property way up north. She lives just outside the tiny settlement of Kohukohu on a parcel of land gifted to her by her son. The pics are the views she wakes up to every day - absolutely beautiful. A dead end dirt road (then a track) lead to her place and there is simply no people, no traffic, no nothing except for some dairy cattle and some sheep. The house is modern & very comfortable and we are in the lap of luxury until we depart tomorrow morning. 

The last 2 pics: one is typical of a rural NZ mailbox set up. This saves the postie from having to travel for miles to each farmhouse. And the other is of the bay where we caught the car ferry in order to get where we are. Just lovely.

3 hours ago, Fitzy said:

I won't be swayed. I enjoy motoring through urban areas or where there are people in close proximity (like roadside al fresco dining) or through an enclosed carpark and not producing any emissions. The car is fuel efficient and makes it's own electricity every time you coast, slow down or come to a stop. Looks like we're all gonna constantly disagree over this, so I'll shut up about the Prius.