Christchurch Monthly Drives

October
The weatherman said it would be rainy, but the gods smiled upon us anyway and we received sun, sun, and more sun. Six MR2s set off for a scenic round the bays run, ending up in Port Levy. The brave souls were: (MkI cars:) Deb and Rex, Mike, Nick, Blair, Ben and Vanessa, and in the only MkII, Craig and Raewyn.

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People standing in grass in front of cars: Ben, Vanessa, Craig, Raewyn, Mike, Nick, Blair. Cars: Craig & Raewyn’s, Vanessa’s, Mike’s, Deb’s, Nick’s, Blair’s. Lunch and a yak at Port Levy

Heading for the hills, we had the little NA MkI (mine) leading the way. Unfortunately, somehow the MkII managed to turbo blast past us in a dangerously idiotic manoeuvre! (It wasn’t actually, but you gotta make the only MkII the bad guy, right?) Well, we couldn’t have that. Fortunately, a little bit of the old fake indicating routine got that MkII back in its rightful position in the rear, where he stayed. Actually, I suppose you could just say it was Rex getting confused and indicating wrong, and Craig seeing it in his rear-view and following, but it sounds so much better the other way :)

So, with Rex back in front, and enjoying the hell out of his sporty little race car, we went flying over the pass into the harbour, and the general comment later was along the lines of “I don’t think anyone would have wanted to go any faster”. Somehow Craig in his MkII never quite managed to catch up, even, so I would hazard a guess that Rex was driving about as fast as that particular road really allows.

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Lineup: Mike, Craig, Nick, Blair, Deb, Vanessa. Stopping for a rest break between Port Levy and Sumner.

After getting past some confusing AA signs (thank god someone knew where to go), five MkIs arrived in the camping ground at Port Levy. About five minutes later the MkII showed up. Obligatory photos and playing on the swing followed, and then about two hours of idle chatter! And this on the supposedly “short drive” because Bathurst was on!

Anyways, as one might expect, the girls got together to yak and the boys got together to yak. Somewhat also as one might expect, the girls talked about life, ethics, death, religion, and politics, while the boys talked about cars. Oh well, they’re only men!

The route back was slightly different, with a detour out to Sumner, where some of the MkIs gathered on the roadside to say farewell. We certainly attracted some attention! The driver of virtually every single car that drove past, if he were a young male, turned to look. I was starting to think we might cause an accident! Oh well, it’s great to have such an attention-getting car, ain’t it? :)

Eventually we took off again and drove off our separate ways. It was definitely one of the better drives we’ve had in Christchurch.

November
Well, this time it really did rain. It was only fairly light, but it damn sure made it uncomfortable standing around chatting, waiting for any latecomers to turn up. So maybe we didn’t wait as long. Sorry if you missed us. Those of us that did go were me, Mike, Nick, and Richard in a newly imported bright yellow MkII turbo.

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Nick’s MkI SC, Mike’s MkI SC, Richard’s MkII T, Deb’s MkI NA. Blair’s car had yet to arrive. Stopping for lunch at Spagalimi’s Pizza!

The dismal weather wasn’t really all that great for driving so we settled for the next best alternative - food! One very short drive later, we stopped at Spagalimis Pizza, and were caught up by Blair in his MkI. After eating, we stood out by the cars for a bit and chatted, enjoying the attention we were getting (the rain had stopped). But that didn’t last too long, as most of us had things to do, and we eventually split up.

Deb

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