Driving in New Zealand
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@Crucial said in Driving in New Zealand:
However, myself included, I think we have a very competitive streak in our driving in NZ. If someone is in front of you, they should be behind you (unless it is night and they are doing a good speed which makes life easy following them).
The thing that pisses me off in NZ is the arbitrary speed limits. A straight smooth good road has the same limit as a piece of narrow single track.What infuriates me the most is dual-lane divided highways like the Hume have almost the same speed limit as the old Princes Highway when people were driving on cross-ply tyres and had drum brakes.
@Chris-B. said in Driving in New Zealand:
@Crucial said in Driving in New Zealand:
Speed is by far the easiest thing the cops can put a limit on and control, and they do so to the extent of ignoring slow drivers and idiots that follow too closely or don't get out of my way.
Tail gating is a chronic problem. There are fuckwits who seemingly think they can follow at "round town" distances on the open road.
Welcome to the ACT where most people appear perfectly happy sitting 1-2 car lengths off your arse at 100km/h
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@Chris-B. nah you should be right, alot of the H & S things dont apply to weekend warriors around the home.
I nabbed a traffic cone last time they did some works out at my place, we are on an 80km stretch, but vehicles go down 100+ cos its a straight of about a km, so if I am dealing to the flax by the roadside drain, I put the cone in the middle of the road, works a treat
Yeah the NZ habit of needing to be the car at the front of the line...not knowing how to use round abouts, not aware that someone slowing, leaving a big fucking gap and flashing thier lights is letting you into the flow of traffic.
Problem in WHangarei is people still think there are the same number of cars on the road as there was 20 years back...newsflash asshole, the city is prety much twice the size it was, with pretty much twice the number of cars plus visitors
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Recently went up to Raglan via Taupo. There is a piece of road that takes you to Te Awamutu via Poihipi / Waipapa Rd, which I hadn't been on in decades. Typical Waikato countryside, but I'll tell you what, whoever built that piece of road knew what they were doing. A very satisfying drive
Next dry weekend I'm going to do it again just because.
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I love that stretch of road, Waipapa Road then down the western access to Tokaanu, then the desert road, makes even a trip to Taihape pretty reasonable.
The Napier Taupo is now a really nice drive - they've done well improving the pieces which hold you up.
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@JC said in Driving in New Zealand:
Recently went up to Raglan via Taupo. There is a piece of road that takes you to Te Awamutu via Poihipi / Waipapa Rd, which I hadn't been on in decades. Typical Waikato countryside, but I'll tell you what, whoever built that piece of road knew what they were doing. A very satisfying drive
Next dry weekend I'm going to do it again just because.
Whoever designed the Kapiti expressway put a lot of thought into the landscaping, planting and ponds everywhere. It's a bit disorienting driving the first time though.
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@canefan said in Driving in New Zealand:
@broughie said in Driving in New Zealand:
What is 50kpm? I would not know how to drive that speed any more.
It's a suggestion, not a hard and fast rule
Backed up by speed cameras and radar? Last time I was back in NZ I rented a car and every time you went faster than around 60 (100 kph) it would start beeping. The radio blaring did not drown it out either.
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Driving in NZ is fucking great, especially after driving in North Queensland.
The other year when we stayed up in Northland i had one of my mates from here with us. The drive between the Bay of Islands and Taipa was fucking awesome. Great road quality, good camber, plenty to look at, no traffic and no cops. We fucking honked, and the North Queenslander couldn't believe how much fun it was to drive.
Here? The roads are appallingly bad (seriously, the Bruce highway is fucked). The countryside is fucking boring, the roads are boring, there aren't enough overtaking lanes (because everything is straight i guess) but that just leads to lines of traffic. When we drove to Brisbane the other year it just sucked.
The only thing about NZ is that 50km speed limit through town. When you are used to 60k, speed cameras can be an absolute bitch (fuck you Katikati)
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@mariner4life ha, locals moan about roads here all the time...when we have people visit from overseas I say that is the best and worst thing about NZ< is you pretty much have to drive everywhere!
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Add me to the list of those bemused by the iconic reputation of the Great Ocean Road. Its not great - most of it is nowhere near an Ocean but it is a road, of sorts, just not much fun to drive.
We do a lot of long weekends away either in my car or fly drive and NZ has some amazing drives - for scenery and driving pleasure. Too many to list. In fact apart from the area between Auckland and Taupo almost everywhere is good.
Drivers not so though. I'm an appalling passenger mainly due to seeing so many lame brained maneuvers on the road. Not an open road thing but add running red lights to our list of bad driving habits.
As for Taupo - Napier - great fucking drive. One of the few places in North Island where you can really open up with little concern as there is usually very little traffic. I've just this afternoon bought a nearly new Audi S5 so looking forward to getting onto that road and seeing if I can beat my PB
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@mariner4life said in Driving in New Zealand:
Here? The roads are appallingly bad (seriously, the Bruce highway is fucked). The countryside is fucking boring, the roads are boring, there aren't enough overtaking lanes (because everything is straight i guess) but that just leads to lines of traffic. When we drove to Brisbane the other year it just sucked.
Holiday traffic on the Pacific Highway:
@dogmeat said in Driving in New Zealand:
dd me to the list of those bemused by the iconic reputation of the Great Ocean Road. Its not great - most of it is nowhere near an Ocean but it is a road, of sorts, just not much fun to drive.
It's just different to most other roads in Oz:
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Apparently the speed limit on the Great Ocean Rd is now 80km/h which makes even more disappointing.
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@dogmeat said in Driving in New Zealand:
We do a lot of long weekends away either in my car or fly drive and NZ has some amazing drives - for scenery and driving pleasure. Too many to list. In fact apart from the area between Auckland and Taupo almost everywhere is good.
My Hatiest drive is between Sanson and Paekakareke. Those long dull straights and then having to go through Otaki and Levin is just a pain.
In saying that, I think it is as bad as the Auckland to Tokoroa drive. (I don't mind from Tok to Taupo) Once they finish the expressway bypassing Hamilton and Huntly, that drive will seem a doddle