Uconnhuskies
Well-Known Member
Thanks for trip updates. Sounds wonderful. Travel safe
Road Trip
- Thread starter Von Gruff
- Start date
Ben Sellers
Well-Known Member
Would love to see the pictures!
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
We are probably going to start the homeward trip middle of this coming week and that should be about four days so then I can start to show some of the pictures.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Arrived at Lynette son place yesterday at Katikati which is as far north as we are going to go and this afternoon we unhitched the sleeping pod and drove back down to Tauranga which is only about 25 mile but the small city or large town is a hive of change with a building boom to take the overflow from the main cities further north. Went into the gunshop address I was given and had a very productive talk with the shop owners with the result of having more orders in the book and a fourth outlet which now gives me one at each end sort of in both the south and the North island so in the morning when I see the magazine editor for a photo session and for him to get the last details for the article he can add the four gunshop outlet details which will widen the exposure. May be busy enough in the coming months to keep up with the new demand.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Thanks OP. I do like to keep busy And I will be making knives so a win win in my book. What this trip has shown me is where the gunshop owners see the NZ public who patronise their shop having an interest as far as my designs go. The order book has field scalpels, light hunters and hunter skinners as the majority with the wapiti hunter, a general purpose knife and the large Bowie being in the mix to a lessor extent.Be prepared to work full time..................you asked for it and hope you get it
Looking forward to the pictures and have really enjoyed reading your journey.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Back home from the meeting with the magazine editor and to say it was a success would be an understatement. A 2 1/2 hour meet with the upshot being a decision to hold back publication till the Christmas competition issue of oct/nov and do a give a way with all the pics included in the issue he took this morning and he wants one or two of me working at my bench so will attend to that when we get home. Will have an advertisment in the trade section for the year to keep the brand in the public eye and being the only knife maker advertising it will give me quite good exposure. Starting on the way home tomorrow very happy with how it has all gone but will go down the desert road so still some good things to see on the way.
Uconnhuskies
Well-Known Member
sounds wonderfully productive all around congrats!! Can't wait till we can see some of the land scale down there. I have traveled around the world but no further south than bogata coLumbia. Safe travels
WeebyWoodWorker
Member
Sounds like fun!
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
I like the idea of an apprentice not so much to have someone to do a lot of the simple but to see a young feller(or not so you if needs be) but more to enjoy seeing some one grow a skill base and to have someone to pass on to all that I have learned an am still learning.
opaul
Well-Known Member
And I think you would be a fine person to pass along those skills !
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
That was a typo in that the MAG editor meeting was in Tauranga and we decided to hold the article and advertising till the Oct Nov edition when they have the Christmas competitions and I will do a couple of give-aways and advertising for the following year. It has been a very successful trip marketing wise so yesterday we started the homeward journey with a stop at Rotorua for a walk in the redwoods treetops and have some good pics to share later from there. Have spent a couple of hours this morning at the NZ national military museum and have a great deal of visual to share when I get home. Will try to get right down to the ferry today and a night sailing to get back to the south Island and home territory again.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Both of us are very tired tonight after about 40 hours on the go. We stayed at the truckstop in Waioiru overnight but the trucks didn't stop so it was a sleepless night and at 6am yesterday morning (fri) we decided to go down to the museam and wait for it to open at 9am and spent the next few hours taking photo's and reading so much of the written textx accompanying the displays so have lots to show you over the next few days as I get things sorted out. We left the museam at bout 11.30am and drove down to Wellington but had to wait till 8pm for the first sailing which got us into Picton at near midnight. We drove to Blenhein thinking to get a camp site for the night but there was nothing going si we tried to get a bit of shuteye in the truck but it was no go so I decided to drive on and finally got into our driveway at 2.30 pm with 1052 more km under the wheels. All up I did 4302kn or 2688mile with 657mile on the trop yesterday and today.Will gte back to this with a photo spread when we recover a bit.
Uconnhuskies
Well-Known Member
Nothing like sleeping in your own bed. Glad to hear the trip concluded safely.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Not only was it good sleeping in our own bed but my comfy lounge chair rocked me off for another few hours this afternoon.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
New
An early warning to drive carefully as this head on crash happened just seconds before we arrived just 15 miles from home
Our first stop was at the Riverstone gardens at Oamaru where the owners private home has been built as a castle but there was also a antique and sales "street" done as an old time town or village street.
So this is some of the pics I woud have liked to post as we progessed on the trip. It will take a while so will do it over several days.
Ready to leave
Our first stop was at the Riverstone gardens at Oamaru where the owners private home has been built as a castle but there was also a antique and sales "street" done as an old time town or village street.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Following a night in Ashburton and a fruitless drive in and out of Christchurch we headed for Akoroa and found a nice roadside picnic area to have lunch.
At one end of the area was a little bridge that was a secondary entrance and lead over to an old church
Then it was on to Akoroa which necessitated a drive over a narrow coastal rim range of about 1500 ft height that had a lot of very tight corners and very nice view down into Akaroa from the top.
There is a really nice war memorial in town.
I a not as energised by coastal areas as Lynette is so after a good look round this French influenced town we headed off toward Hanmer and the lewis Pass over the southern Alps.
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Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Getting away from the coastal plains was a relief as we started up into the southern Alps even though it was a bitingly cold wind and a trial with the first "selfie"
At the entrance to Hamner there is an old bridge that is now the center for a bungy jumping and jet boat business although while I might have been tempted by the second ther was no way that the first was of any interest at all.
And loking upriver toward the Alps
Hamner itself is a small alpine village
With some magnificent trees in the center of town
And then it was onto the Lewis Pass over the Alps with some lovely little creeks to delight the senses.
At the entrance to Hamner there is an old bridge that is now the center for a bungy jumping and jet boat business although while I might have been tempted by the second ther was no way that the first was of any interest at all.
And loking upriver toward the Alps
Hamner itself is a small alpine village
With some magnificent trees in the center of town
And then it was onto the Lewis Pass over the Alps with some lovely little creeks to delight the senses.
Von Gruff
KNIFE MAKER
Once over the pass with its tight corners it was on to Murchison where we had lunch and the first communion service I have held in the outdoors which was very nicely serenaded by a herd of big red stags in the paddock next to the roadside picnic area where we stopped for a break.
The stags have thier antlers taken off in the velvet as it is a valluable commodity into the asian market so there is no visual display of the stag but they were in full voice and probably in the region of 200 animals in this one paddock. It wasn't till later in the trip that I found out how to use the zoom on this new ph camera and as I tried to get closer they started to get nervous and show signs of moving away so this is as close as I dared to get for the pic..
The stags have thier antlers taken off in the velvet as it is a valluable commodity into the asian market so there is no visual display of the stag but they were in full voice and probably in the region of 200 animals in this one paddock. It wasn't till later in the trip that I found out how to use the zoom on this new ph camera and as I tried to get closer they started to get nervous and show signs of moving away so this is as close as I dared to get for the pic..