Ben Sellers
Well-Known Member
Great pictures. I enjoyed following your trip as it progressed. I like that you held a communion in the outdoors. Thanks for including us on this adventure.
Road Trip
- Thread starter Von Gruff
- Start date
Uconnhuskies
Well-Known Member
Yes thank you for posting the pictures. Wonderful country to view. I had a friend who performed missionary work there 30 years ago and he advised of how pretty it was. But this is the first real pictures i have seen. Tremendous.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Thanks Ted. There are lots more pics to post but will do it every couple of days as it takes some time to load them to the hosting site and then onto here.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
We stayed in the Maitai camping grounds in Nelson for two days and I cought up with friend of about 15 years that I hadn't met in person so that was an enjoyable evening. I had cast up about 350 400gn 404J bullets for him as he has a nice original factory 10.75x68 that came from Africa and converted to 404J.
The little country motor camp at Maitai and you can just see the blue of the trailor above the white style
With the nice little creek that runs behind it
We spent a pleasant afternoon at the Mapua warf with a coffee over lunch and listened as there were some impromptu and casual tunes played on the piano.
This is the gunshop in Brightwater just a few miles south of Nelson that is going to carry my knives for the top half of the south island (I am busy making his order along with the others from the trip and some from AH members at the moment)
The little country motor camp at Maitai and you can just see the blue of the trailor above the white style
With the nice little creek that runs behind it
We spent a pleasant afternoon at the Mapua warf with a coffee over lunch and listened as there were some impromptu and casual tunes played on the piano.
This is the gunshop in Brightwater just a few miles south of Nelson that is going to carry my knives for the top half of the south island (I am busy making his order along with the others from the trip and some from AH members at the moment)
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Leaving Nelson we headed for Picton where the interisland ferries leave for the north island. These are really sea going ships and the blue bridge we went over on had three car and truck decks. I have quite a few videos but when I go to upload a file only the still pics show and I dont want to put them on youtube so may not be able to post them which is a shame as there is some good footage here and at other places on the trip
Safely aboard
Looking back at Picton and the two ferry warves
The other ferry got away about 20 minutes befor ours did
Heading out into the Marlborough Sounds
And after catching up, we passed the other ferry and were in Wellington a good half hour before them. Looking away accross the Pacific toward South America.
Safely aboard
Looking back at Picton and the two ferry warves
The other ferry got away about 20 minutes befor ours did
Heading out into the Marlborough Sounds
And after catching up, we passed the other ferry and were in Wellington a good half hour before them. Looking away accross the Pacific toward South America.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
With the crossing of the Cook Strait we moved up country to Masterton where Gameco has its NZ branch. Gameco is where I get most of my knife steel from so it was good to meet in person with Kerry who I have dealt with on the phone.
While it may not look big in terms of US business's but there are not that many knifemakers here in NZ. There is an imediate supply of the commonly used steels with a lot of other components as well including forge and grinder needs but they have a shipment come from the parent company in Australia every week so there is never any hold up should something be needed that is not on the shelves.
Once out of there I needed to make calls to the insurance co to start claims for the light collision with a little suzuki city car who did sustain a fully crumpled front wing where there was hardly any damage to my vehicle.
Leaving Masterton we passed through a town called Bulls so I had to get a picture of the town entrance and one of the exit displays.
Then it was on to Stratford where I had expected the Magnum Sports shop to be the last gunshop to see on the trip so instead of just taking orders so I could maintain my sample supply I sold him the knives he wanted and took orders for others as he wanted more than one of some models.
While it may not look big in terms of US business's but there are not that many knifemakers here in NZ. There is an imediate supply of the commonly used steels with a lot of other components as well including forge and grinder needs but they have a shipment come from the parent company in Australia every week so there is never any hold up should something be needed that is not on the shelves.
Once out of there I needed to make calls to the insurance co to start claims for the light collision with a little suzuki city car who did sustain a fully crumpled front wing where there was hardly any damage to my vehicle.
Leaving Masterton we passed through a town called Bulls so I had to get a picture of the town entrance and one of the exit displays.
Then it was on to Stratford where I had expected the Magnum Sports shop to be the last gunshop to see on the trip so instead of just taking orders so I could maintain my sample supply I sold him the knives he wanted and took orders for others as he wanted more than one of some models.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Most of these towns are from colonial times and many retain a lot of the early to mid last century buildings
Uconnhuskies
Well-Known Member
thanks again for sharing the pictures. They are super enjoyable. Great historic towns, and beautiful country.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Tonights upload will show a very different part of the country as we went over the forgotten world highway where the word highway is a compliment to the road but the hill country is well worth the trip to see.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
The forgotten world highway passes through this country. I still cant post video so this is the few stills I took.
The trip has a nice eatery at the Whangamomona hotel which is the most remote country hotel in the country. A really good open steak sandwich made for a filling and tasty lunch
There is a quite spectacular old hand cut tunnel on the road that is single lane and 180 meters long.
There was a sence of reief when we were almost at the end of this "highway and back onto regional roads again. It was a long drive even though it was not so much in miles but very slow with about 8 mile still gravel surface.
There was a lot of wild goat on the roads and paddocks as they grazed out of the scrub where they live. This was only one of the little mobs we saw. There were about a dozen on the hillside.
The trip has a nice eatery at the Whangamomona hotel which is the most remote country hotel in the country. A really good open steak sandwich made for a filling and tasty lunch
There is a quite spectacular old hand cut tunnel on the road that is single lane and 180 meters long.
There was a sence of reief when we were almost at the end of this "highway and back onto regional roads again. It was a long drive even though it was not so much in miles but very slow with about 8 mile still gravel surface.
There was a lot of wild goat on the roads and paddocks as they grazed out of the scrub where they live. This was only one of the little mobs we saw. There were about a dozen on the hillside.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
We spent a few days at Murapara with a couple of day trips as Lynettes brother showed us a hidden pond with a delightful waterfall that had a lot of visitors in the summer. You will have to excuse all the selfies as it was a new thing to try and was a bit of a novelty so was undoubtably overused.
On a drive into the tribal area of the Tuhoe in the Ureweras country there were hundreds of wild horses roaming the roads and townships.
This was a in interesting rock formation that showed the rapid layering of a massive ammount of silt as would have been produced in the biblical flood
Old swing bridges made for great views on the rivers
This was one of the more traditional Marae or meeting house which is the center of these communities.
On a drive into the tribal area of the Tuhoe in the Ureweras country there were hundreds of wild horses roaming the roads and townships.
This was a in interesting rock formation that showed the rapid layering of a massive ammount of silt as would have been produced in the biblical flood
Old swing bridges made for great views on the rivers
This was one of the more traditional Marae or meeting house which is the center of these communities.
runningbear4741
Member
A really wonderful trip and such great pictures along with the story of your trip, thanks so much for taking the time to share t it with us knifedog forum members.