Random Welly Roadtrip
Me and Nick are trademe whores. What can I say.
I wake up about 6pm after my last nightshift and find a text from him asking if I wanted to go on a roadtrip the next day. I said yeah sweet and texted the people I was buying my motox boots and helmet from and told them not to post them cos I was coming down country.
So I went for a drink with Becky and B-rad up at the trig. Sitting on the back of the utes watching the sunset over the Waitoki valley drinking beer is fucking mean (if you replace beer with something tastier anyway).
Then me and Brad cruised down to Nicks to see what he was up to, and we decided to go that night instead and drive the 8 hours or so down in the dark. Since I had just come off nightshift I could drive and not fall asleep while Nick slept in the back. With my quad. We thought we’d take the quad too and stop on the way down and back for a blat.
Brad had work so he left about 9pm. “Drive safe, if you get sleepy, just pull over and buy a big bag of crack!” he said as he got in his car. Crack up… lol.
I went for a blat up the road before chucking my quad in nicks van and went home, got a few things and came back, parked my van up and we left about 10:30 pm.
Nick drove until Papakura BP (bout 2230hrs) and then we bought some supplies and dinner (for myself) and I took over. He jumped in the back and slept on some beanbags on the vanbox between my quad and the front seats.
We got to Taupo somewhere around 0230hrs and after filling up the van and bike at BP headed onto the Desert Road. There was some roadworks and we were escorted through the “three sisters” by a roadworks vehicle – to keep our speed down I suppose.
Got to the “end” of the Desert Road at about 0330hrs. Just after you go down a big hill into the valley but before you get into Waiouru. Pulled over in a big gravel pit next to the road and pulled the quad out, got geared up. Nick reckoned I would need a Swani so I put one on but it ended up being too hot.
Did a few donuts and stuff around the gravel pit, cars and trucks driving past like “WTF is that?!” then went down a track into the “army land” till we got to like, a river thing but didn’t want to cross it cos it looked quite strong. Did some donuts on some sand stuff, did a bit of exploring, then went back to the gravel pit and had turns drifting around the van, and then around each other. That thing drifts so good.
Then we loaded it back up and drove onwards. Nick went back to sleep in the back. Got into Porirua at about 8 and went and picked up my helmet, and Nick started driving. Then went to see Nicks mate in the Upper Hutt motorbike shop, hung around there for a while until the guy with the exhaust system texted nick. Said goodbye, then Nick showed me where he used to live. Went to McDonalds for breakfast and saw Nicks other mate drive past on the way there.
I climbed into the back and tried to sleep while we drove to Miramar, told Skinny we’d come see him at work at like 930… then it was 1030, then it was 11. Got to the exhaust guys house, he was at work and Nick had already paid him for the exhaust so we just loaded it into the van. But the Surf it came out of was sitting there along with the engine and gearbox already removed and sitting on the ground. Nick texted him and asked if he wanted to sell them. Got the gearbox for $100 but the engine was already sold. Loaded the gearbox in as well and went to see Skinny.
I couldn’t be fucked sleeping at this point. Got to Skinny’s work at about 1130. Showed him my quad, gave him the US Office Series and his playstation which I had borrowed. Then we left. I texted the lady who had my boots and tried to organise a pickup from New Plymouth but looking at the map it was too far out of the way.
Then she said she needed to go to Wanganui and could meet us there. We needed to go to Horopito to a vintage car parts place and Wanganui was perfect. We stopped and went for a ride at Tangimoana. Had a play on the beach and dunes. Was pretty mean. Unloading and loading the quad was a bit of a mission with all the other stuff we had loaded in the van though.
Got to Wanganui and had subway. Must have looked funny to a bunch of prissy schoolgirls in there. No sleep, barefoot, sweaty, smelly, quad in the back. Had to wait for the lady for a while but eventually she turned up at about 5 and we got the boots and took off up State Highway 4 to Horopito. The start of which is an awesome road, with some nice scenic views.
We left a little too quickly however. About 40k’s away from Ratehi the empty light came on. We forgot to gas up at Wanganui. We were eying up diggers and farm equipment wondering if we could steal a bit of diesel if we needed to, to get to the next gassy. State Highway 4 is scenic, but its a bit back country and far from anywhere *cue deliverance banjo*.
But after 20 minutes of not talking in aticipation of wondering whether we were gonna make it we pulled into the 24 hour Caltex at Ratehi at about 7pm and filled up. I jumped back in the back and tried to sleep again while Nick stopped to try get into the vintage car parts place but it was shut.
Took SH4 around the west side of the mountains, and got back on SH1 at Turangi. Stopped at Taupo for Burger King (I ate so much junk food that trip 
). Then carried on. I tried to sleep again but couldn’t.
Nick was getting pretty tired driving and we pulled over at Tokoroa at about 1130pm and got some energy drink and chocolate. Gotta feed the brain with glucose to keep it awake. Then I jumped in the drivers seat so Nick decided to sleep. I jumped back on the highway and followed a B train all the way back to the Bombays. It was wierd I was falling asleep in my seat when I wasn’t driving, but I got behind the wheel after having the sugarfix and I was buzzing, focused as.
Got into Auckland about 1, but got detoured at Papakura, thought we were gonna get mugged at some lights while driving through there. Then got detoured again at Northcote. By this time I was starting to get tired but finally got back to Nicks, parked up and then I drove home in my van.
By end I had been awake for 31 hours with 1 hour sleep, Nick was more than that cos he didn’t sleep very well.
Ended up being 26 hours of straight driving with breaks of no more than an hour. What a mission!
Tags: beach, Becky, Brad, brochanics, gearbox, Nick, Porirua, Quad, Ratehi, roadtrip, Skinny, Tangimoana, Taupo, Tokoroa, Trademe, trig, Upper Hutt, van, Wanganui, Wellington