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Regional Ramblings Christchurch

   

Mount Cook Run, November 2, 2003

Mount Cook for lunch!  That was the name of the game and that therefore meant an 8:00am start.  To my surprise seven cars arrived at Firestone and only one was not an MR2 Trevor & Maryanne arrived in their freshly bodykitted series II SW20, so everybody had to have a good look and see John Foxton�s latest creation (Foxton Reinforced Plastics � Aerotech).   The weather report wasn�t that flash for Mount Cook, but we had organised to gather people on the way so off we set.  It seemed it was a good day for club runs. The normally speedy trip to Ashburton took a lot longer than planned, as there were a series of mobile chicanes normally referred to as vintage cars.  There also seemed to be an almost endless stream of motorbikes heading north, so that made passing all the more interesting.  After a regroup at Ashburton we made a further stop at Geraldine for a bite of morning tea and a chance for Toni to stock up her jam cupboard from the Barkers� shop.

We saw a little rain between Geraldine and Fairlie, just enough to make the road a little greasy.  At Fairlie we met Carol Turner from Timaru and Colin & Gail from Oamaru; they had been waiting an hour for us to turn up (oops).  The next section of the trip was quite pleasant except for the slight detour that I lead everybody on.  Toni was looking at the map, and it looked like the canal road was a good shortcut.  Upon turning down the canal road (which was actually called something else), we thought we were in the wrong road as it was labelled as a private road.  So we turned around and carried on down the main road.  This came as a surprise to everybody else judging by a series of puzzled looks. But as it turned out we would have lost John Moore if we went down the canal road.  He was playing catch-up in the diesel turbo Camry, I think it had something to do with corners and passengers drinking milkshakes on the trip. 

The next stop was Lake Pukaki, where we traded Colin & Gail (who had to go to work) with Nigel Atkinson in his Supra.  As the sun was shining again and the lake was an awesome light blue, we decided it was a good spot for a photo session.  After dragging a couple of people from under the bonnet of Nigel�s car (I think they were trying to see if they thought the engine would fit into an AW11) we were off again.

The closer we came to the Mount Cook village the more the wind picked up and the darker the clouds became. When we reached the village the cloud was very low, so we headed into the Old Mountaineers Caf� for lunch.  Over lunch Trevor and Maryanne announced that by the time we see them next they will be man and wife, congratulations!

When we left the Caf� the rain that had been falling during lunch had reduced to fine drizzle and you could vaguely see some of the lower parts of the mountains that surround Mount Cook.  We took some quick photos to prove that we had been there and headed for the Salmon farm on that canal road mentioned earlier.  Most of us went and had a look at the Salmon swimming happily in their netted enclosure and who almost leaped out of the water when food was thrown to them.  The bigger ones were heading towards 5-6kg, which would make many an angler happy! 

After some product was purchased we said goodbye to Nigel and headed back to Tekapo for a petrol stop.  I let Toni drive back to Christchurch as I figured that after three months she must be missing �MR2GAL�. I only had to remind her once what that stick to her left and the third pedal was for.

At Fairlie we waved goodbye to Carol and made one more stop at Geraldine for ice cream and headed home.

Richard Henderson
Yellow 1990 GT "T0YMAD"
Christchurch Area Coordinator