David & Judy Kerr – Kiwi Adventure

Words & Pictures by New Zealand Members David & Judy Kerr

Our Figaro is named ‘Minty’

Judy and I, along with friends Jim and Colleen recently had a weekend in Blenheim, which is in our South Island at the top, and decided to extend it a couple of days and drive up further to a little beach community called French Pass, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. This was our first time there and what a beautiful place it is.

A short stop was called for at the Makana Chocolate Factory, just outside Blenheim, then coffee at Havelock before heading to the Rai Valley. After turning off the main road it was a short 25kms to Okiwi Bay for petrol and an ice cream. Okiwi Bay is at the bottom of Croisilles Harbour and is a holiday fishing spot.

From Okiwi Bay it was on up to French Pass which is mostly done over a gravel road, 20ks of great gravel road that the Figaro took in its stride. French Pass separates D’Urville Island from the mainland. It’s a short distance but the water gets almost rapids-like at times. After two days of R&R it was back to Picton to catch the Ferry back to Wellington.

Another four days touring in the Figaro, that our granddaughters have named Minty, without any issues.

We bought our Figaro from a family in Nelson NZ, who had owned it for 8 yrs, but due to family size were not using it very much. I flew down from Wellington and picked it up: it had its issues around hard starting, shrunk and cracked soft top and the usual dirty interior so at first glance nothing too bad.

On the way back to Picton she went well until I got to the chocolate factory then she wouldn’t start; whilst checking fluid levels I found she was just about out of water so topped her up and whammo she started. Once I knew to keep her topped up I had no further issues getting on the ferry and home.

We spent the next few months repairing bad repair jobs (wrong head gasket fitted), fitting new water hoses and other parts under the hood known to give issues, fitting a new roof and completely stripping out the interior and giving it a real good scrub before reinstalling, oh we also had the seats re-padded.

After all this we decided to take her on her first road trip. Initially I had planned a circuit of our North Island over four days but upon reflection thought it too much for the little car so settled on a more suitable route; here it is.

No it’s not a Kiwi it’s a Weka!

We headed out early from our home in Upper Hutt aiming to get to a friend’s house in Hastings by mid-afternoon; but we were going to get there by as many back roads (off main roads) as we could: first stop coffee in Masterton then it was off to Mauriceville, Alfredton and Kaitawa before coming out at Dannevirke for another stop. We stopped again in Waipukurau for lunch before heading out to Patangata then into Hastings where we we staying with an old friend for the night. Day one completed without a hitch.

Day two started early with us leaving at 7.00am to allow us plenty of time to get to friends in New Plymouth; this was to be our longest day. To get to New Plymouth we went via Napier, Taupo, Whakamaru (where there is a hydro electric generation plant and dam), through the Pureora Forest to our lunch stop at Benneydale. From Benneydale it was out to SH 4 then SH 3 down through the Awakino Gorge where we had a brief stop at Mokau before heading over Mt Messenger and on into New Plymouth; our second overnight stop.

Day three was a littler harder to get going due to a late night/early morning at the light festival and chewing the fat whilst having a few drinks with friends, but it did start with a great cooked breakfast and coffee on the deck before more friends turned up. For Judy and I it was a pleasant amble back down the Island for home, via the back roads around Mt Taranaki, stopping in Whanganui for gas and a bite to eat.

Over the weekend Minty covered around 1100kms without one issue: it was rather nice to be ticking along at 90kph, way less stressful and very enjoyable.

Published on 8th April 2020

David & Judy Kerr – Kiwi Adventure

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