Well, no. 1 was getting the flat tyre before getting to Pinders Pond, but little did we realise that, as we headed to Gore, more was yet to come.
We proceeded very cautiously along the highway to Gore, stopping in Millers Flat for a coffee and to check the wheel nuts. We had to pull over often to allow traffic to pass as we were going so slowly. The landscape around us changed rapidly from dry rocky desolation to prosperous green farm land. We were meeting Kay and Richard in Gore, but they were about half an hour behind us. In the meantime we made a callout to the Carters Tyre people. Bruce felt we needed to get the spare tyre transferred to the original wheel rim. They agreed to meet us as the depot so we drove there and parked up. Their technician arrived a few minutes later and asked us if we had told them the correct wheel, pointing out the driver’s side back wheel was flat. That meant we had two flat tyres and only one spare! Needless to say they did not have the tyres we wanted on the shelf. As he was trying to call their Invercargill depot, Kay and Richard arrived. We had visions of them having to drive us back to Invercargill to collect some tyres, or at worst case, a rental car! Thank goodness we weren’t having to deal with dogs as well as all this!
Invercargill were not answering the phone, so this wonderful technician found a second hand tyre that would see us through until we got back from Te Anau, and put the spare tyre on the original wheel rim, and we were sorted for now. I did not dare ask the price, because whatever it was, it was worth paying. He was going to order us two new tyres which we would come back and have fitted on Friday.
The second flat tyre could not be fixed either. It had also delaminated and was disintigrating inside the tyre.
To say that Bruce is less than impressed that 4 out of the 8 Hancook tyres we have purchased have failed so dramatically would be an understatement. However, we were very lucky again that the second tyre failed in the tyre yard or we would have been well and truly stranded.
After getting the wheels sorted we made our way to the A&P showgrounds to park up. It is a great setting here – on grass underneath trees, and with power and other amenities if you want them. We had a lovely happy hour catch up with Kay and Richard and then headed across the road to the Town and Country Club for a lovely dinner of blue cod and chips.
The evening was peaceful, but the next morning we received a text from Kay – Richard has tested positive for Covid! We had just been saying at dinner last night how grateful we were that none of us had caught it – well, the run of luck is over. Fortunately, Richard is not feeling too bad, but I guess it will be inevitable that we will get it also, having been in such close contact yesterday. We wait and see.
In the meantime, it is Easter, and Tuesday is Southland Anniversary Day, so all chemists and Drs are shut. Fortunately, Kay has a GP friend here so she was able to get them the antiviral medications etc, and we should be able to access some first thing Wednesday morning if we need them.
Away From Home NZ 