Road Trip

Von Gruff

Von Gruff

KNIFE MAKER
Day one 250km/156 mile

Prequel

It was the first stage of our road trip today but it was different to what all the following days will be in that it was a round trip to the southern most city to catch up with a friend and visit the Custom Gunshop for a conversation on my knives and when I laid them all out for the owners inspection he put a proposition to me that if I was to bring a selection of all the hunting knives down when we come home and leave them with him for a couple of weeks, he will do a series of advertisments in the area over a two week period for all interested hunters and collectors to come in and handle the knives which is far better than any website visit and he expects to generate quite a few orders from that enterprise for me.
This is the 46 knives I have to take on the road.
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To keep everyone up to speed on the places we visit this is where is all starts from Lawrence in South Otago.
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So todays drive was down to Balclutha to visit with our personal banking advisor who is leaving her position at the bank after being our advisor for the last 20 years. I left her a gift of a little olivewood handled pareing knife magnet mounted on a wallnutbackboard. Then it was on to Invercargil and the gunshop, lunch with a hunting buddy where we organised the deer hunt for when I get home from the road trip then a stop off in Gore to see more friend before getting home after 5 oclock.
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Tomorrow will see everything needed being loaded into the truck and th sleeping pod before leaving on the road trip propper on the wed(our wed that is) providing Lynette is able to get all her "needed" things sorted and packed in time.
 
Keep us informed Von Gruff and take pics along the way so I can see thru your eyes what I will never see thru mine!

Oh, by the way the knives say you have been very busy as of late!! :)
 
We got off to a reminder to drive carefully yesterday as 15mile from home there was a head on road crash just in front of us with 2 fatalities. Stopped at the Riverstone Gardens where there is a home built as a castle large garden complex and a heritage style gift and antique alley. I can't attach photos from my ph so it will have to be a big download when I get home. We stopped at Ashburton for the night with 390 km on the clock for the day. Had a really comfortable night in the sleeping pod so even with outside temps getting down to frost point we were warm and cosy although having a heater that I could get going for an hour made all the difference during the evening and again this morning. We're serenaded all avenging and into the night then again this morning by the red stags roaring as it is hard into the rut now. Will head on up the road to the first of the outlets that I will take my knives into.
 
My granddaughter lived in NZ for two years. Worked in a restaurant. She got tired of eating sheep every meal of the day.
Other than that she loved the place.
 
emtore said:
My granddaughter lived in NZ for two years. Worked in a restaurant. She got tired of eating sheep every meal of the day.
Other than that she loved the place.
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Don't know where she worked but I don't know anyone who eats sheep meat that often.
 
Yesterday we went over the 1500ft hill that guards the small coastal township of Akaroa. The hill has dozens of 10 to 15 mph corners as it rises to its height in a very short distance but it is a nice drive. The hill was the only bit of road that wasn't dead flat like the coastal highway we were on for two days. Today we got back into some hill country with a short 225 km hop to Hanmer and tomorrow we will head onto the Lewis pass that goes over the Southern Alps so expect a little snow may be about.
 
I didn't post last night as it was a long day with a slow drive over the southern Alps with dozens of 55km or 40mph corners on the way up and down the alpine pass. I took a bit of video of the last bit of the pass going down the far side but I should have got some toward the top as it was much slower with single lanes at times and down to, 10mph corners. Have some really nice pics to share when I get home and back to my computer. Have had two very positive results for my knives from the main outlets I wanted to get into here in the south Island. Having a day of ease today after yesterday's big effort and after Lynette spends some time tomorrow in the area her gg grand parents came to in the 1860s we will head to the boat ferry to get over to the north island so will update again after we get over there.
 
Been following your trip, sounds like fun. New Zealand has always called to me, but being it's on the other side of the world I've not made it. You mountain driving reminds me of my Mom 'n Dad's first trip to the Smokey Mountains here in USA. While they're not so high, they do have some crooked roads. My Mom says "those curves were so steep you could see your taillights as you went around curve"...... my open mouthed wife says "really? You could???" That girl was pretty gullible sometimes.

Enjoy the trip and do drive careful.
 
Yesterday was quite a long one as we drove over the steep range of hills into the largest wine growing area in the country. One road was about 15 miles of vineyards as far as we could see on both sides of the road. We got to the ferry and had a two hr wait for the sailing so $316 later we boarded for the 4hr sailing out through the sounds and into the straight between the islands. The warf on the north is in the capital city so there was 4 lanes doing about 5mph for over a half hour as we edged our way toward the rural hinterland where we kept going till we found a camp ground for the night. Was near 8pm so it was early to bed after a meal and clean up.
This morning started of with a hic up as I had a bit of sunstroke added to a little confusion as to where we were going and had a slight collision with another vehicle. We carried on after sorting the insurance details with my vehicle only having the front fender edging damaged. Just a few miles further on we got to where I get all my knife making steel from so it was good to put faces to the voices on the phone when ordering steel. I bought a good supply of 1084 for the majority of hunters, 1095 for the fighters and 1075 for more Bowies which have been ordered for the Nelson gunshop. Another 45 mile further on was the town where the Scary Sharp system is being made and so I spent a couple of hours talking knives and sharpening with him. I did show him my sample bag and he bought a buffalo handled field scalpel. Lynette had be patiently waiting in the truck reading so by this time it was after 5.30 so we parked up in the camping grounds for the night. In the morning I have another gunshop where I have been told it may be good to visit so will see how that pans out.
 
Sounds like a great trip so far Garry! Keep up on the water drinking...I always forget to drink enough water when road tripping!
 
opaul said:
Great adventure story!
“Slight collision with another vehicle”. Hmmm
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Sunstroke was a typo, it should have been sunstrike where the early morning sun was low in the sky and caused vision difficulty but I didn't clearly identify that the way was clear and the miniature car coming round the roundabout had right of way so insurance wise it was my fault. $400 excess I have to pay with the insurance picking up the rest. The other car had more damage but mine will wait for repair till we get home.
 
Smallshop said:
Sounds like a great trip so far Garry! Keep up on the water drinking...I always forget to drink enough water when road tripping!
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With you on that one Ted. I
We have a water bottle between the seat so that is getting used on a regular basis and our travel cups are larger that regular cups so our liquid intake is keeping about the same as at home.
 
First stop yesterday was the Magnum Gunshop in Stratford where there was a very positive response to my knives and the immediate reaction was for the husband wife owners to decide in which of their display cabinets would be best to feature the knives. Then it was down to choosing which ones to start with and the wife picking two to be her personal knives outside of the group the bought to start the promotion they will do throughout the area. That will give me an outlet at both ends of the south Island and one in the Central North Island so with that should be enough to keep a sense of exclusivity for each of them with a wide enough sales area to provide an ongoing demand.
After that we headed over the Forgotten world Highway that is one that not many would repeat as it is very steep winding country with continuous switchbacks so that 60 mile took us over 3 hours. We had a really nice open steak sandwich at a place called Whangamomana pronounced as fong a mom on a. Some of that highway was gravel so we were pleased to get back on to decent highway roading and arrive at Mangakino where we stayed the night with a very good friend of Lyne who had been our neighbour years ago. I headed of to bed about 9.30 and left them to their girl talk that carried on long into the night.
 
After arriving at the brother in laws at Murapara and a good catch up we all headed off to bed and then yesterday we all went in his vehicle over to Waikarimoana Lake for a picnic. This is not your ordinary trip as it goes back into the tribal lands over steep windy Hill country on mostly gravel roads but the more unusual aspect of the trip was the number of feel horses that wander the roads all through the area. We must have passed well over a hundred of them on the way in the 60 odd miles of road. Got some good photos of a really nice waterfall and river pools, and old swing bridge, and some interesting rock formations and a local marai which is the moari meeting house or town hall where everything of importance to them is held.
Today was a rest day with more family joining us so it was a day of intense yarning while the rain fell heavily all day. Tomorrow we will head up to Wangerai for the last but one stop where I am to meet the magazine editor the following day and have been given another gunshop address to call in on.
 
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