A Car Crash in Takaka, NZ
In the South Island of New Zealand, just down from the northern most tip, and right next to the stunning nature of Abel Tasman National Park, there is a small town called Takaka.
I would often here people say:
“Oh yeah I went to Takaka and I kinda got stuck there. Was only planning to spend a day or two and ended up spending 3months!”
…I, however, did not share this experience and I’ll tell you exactly why…
Travelling along in my trusty Subaru estate named Sunny, I was leaving Nelson to go on a little journey northwards to visit Takaka.
From what I’d heard from fellow travellers, it was a bit of a hippie place. I was happy with that though because I’m a little bit hippie myself. I’m not so keen on smoking weed, just on occasion, if someone invites me to join them, but I’ll walk barefoot and I’m definitely a tree hugger.
Anyway, I was looking forward to visiting this small secluded, hippie town in the countryside. The plan was to sleep in my car in a camp site just outside the town.
After almost 2 hours drive north from Nelson, with the last half of the journey spent spiralling up and down the windy mountain pass, I had made it to Takaka…
I drove through the small town just to check it out first, before returning to the camp site I’d passed on the way in.
The town was indeed small with only a few shops on the main street; some restaurant’s and cafe’s, clothing shops, odds and ends shops, a bunch of hostels, a couple of gas stations and a library.
I could see just from my short drive through that this was the type of small town where the local folk all knew each other, and had a lot of time to spare, chatting away in the street to all passersby. I liked this slower pace of life.
Making general chit chat with locals I often find interesting. Not just for the interaction itself, to see what the people are like but also because you can get great advise for things to do or what not to do in the area.
Driving back out to the camp site Sunny and I pulled up between a few other campers chilling in front of their vehicles, passing a joint around and admiring the crystal clear river which was flowing close by.
I spoke a brief welcome to some guys and gals with dread locks. I wasn’t in the mood to join them though this time, so I decided on a quiet one instead. I cooked up some vege pasta with my trusty double hob gas cooker and read my book.
Apart from the merciless attack of the mosquitoes, keeping me awake as I tried to search and destroy the ones that had snuck into my car with me, it was a truly uneventful evening…
Especially compared to what I had in store for the following day!! Little did I know…
Early next morning, I woke up atop my makeshift bed in the back of Sunny. As usual, with the very limited headspace I had, it was a bit of a mission.
I would shuffle around to awkwardly put my clothes on, and then I had a piece of string I had engineered to pull on the boot lever, so I could escape out the back.
I headed over with my towel and fresh clothes to the enticingly clear but potentially, very cold river.
Dipping my feet down at the edge, it was as I suspected… icy cold. But I couldn’t resist! Focusing on my breathing I took a few moments before the plunge to prepare my body for the drastic change in temperature before… 3,2,1, and I was in.
I’m sure everyone has had this feeling. The effect of cold water really brings us to life. A surge of energy
After that invigorating swim, I was full of energy for the day ahead. Tucking into some breakfast, I didn’t hang around the campsite but packed up my car to move onto the next destination, where apparently, just up the road from camp, was a special springs that the Maori held in high spiritual and cultural regard.
The name: Te Waikoropupū Springs. See pictures below
As I parked up and started the walk around the reserve I could see why the Maori treasured this place because the water was like nothing I’d ever seen before. It was so absolutely clear that you could watch the flow of water coming out from right at the bottom of the deep pool.
From the information on the signboards it said the water’s visibility was so clear you could see as far down as 63metres!!
I left Te Waikoropupū Springs feeling the peaceful serenity of the sacred water and made my way down the road leading into town. I noticed a parking space available along the street, nice and close to the shops and restaurants, so I pulled into the space between two other cars and ambled down the main street seeing what there was to see.
Dangerous Kitchen, this restaurant/cafe caught my attention, as you can see from the picture, it was pretty hard to miss. I wondered in and saw some delightful looking fresh food in the display cabinet.
There was also a laid back, welcoming atmosphere to the place so I decided to order a couple of things on display and have a seat out the back.
Shortly after I’d sat down at the last available table outside, two fellow travellers, an English guy and an American girl, maybe a couple of years older than me, came out to where I was sitting and asked if it was cool if they could join my table.
I said “of course!” and we started chatting: where we were from, what we were up to, travelling history and plans etc. and they were super friendly and I really enjoyed their company while I tucked into some tasty, fresh, organic food. We exchanged contact details upon finishing our meals and wished each other farewell, saying how nice it was to have met and had lunch together. Then I headed back along the main road towards Sunny.
As I strolled merrily down the street having had such a brilliant day so far, I looked up ahead of me to see an ominous looking scene…
from where I was stood I could see an ambulance, a fire engine and several police cars, all surrounding the place where I’d parked…
Walking closer to the cause of the drama I cautiously entered the scene. An older, very skinny woman who looked completely out of it, was lying down, wrapped up in a blanket, being seen to by one of the paramedics. I stood a few moments waiting at the side to see what was happening before walking past them, around to the back of the parked cars.
The first thing I saw as I came into view was two totally wrecked cars and a third one pretty knocked up, sat right next to my dear Sunny…
At first it seemed Sunny had pulled a miracle and not been involved in this disastrous crash but a moment later, I walked around to the left side of her and I saw to may dismay that in fact, Sunny had received quite a whallop…
The policeman came over to me asking what I was doing there and I explained that this was my car. He gave me an overview of what had happened in his thick Kiwi accent.
He said the passers by had witnessed this woman driving insanely dangerously, speeding into the small town at 100kms an hour, driving over the mini roundabout, losing all control and careering into a bunch of parked cars!!
He asked if I had insurance for the vehicle, and I had to admit that, I hadn’t. But after he’d asked that he said:
“Look, I’ll be honest with you eh, I know this lady, and you won’t be seeing any money from this. Sorry eh, you know, we’ve had things happen with this lady, many times now, and I can safely say, you won’t be seeing any money from this bro.”
At that moment, I wasn’t too concerned about receiving money anyway, just because I figured I should be alright getting the car fixed up without it being too majorly expensive.
Though she looked a mess, I only needed to make her road worthy, the job didn’t need to be perfect. She meant a great deal to me because she wasn’t just my transport but my home as well. So I really needed her.
He went on to say:
“There’s a mechanic down the road eh, you better head over and see what they can do about your car.”
30 seconds drive in the direction the policeman pointed was a rusty looking car garage, and my poor Sunny and I parked up while a mechanic came out to have a look at her.
He was a kindly, down to earth, auburn haired guy in blue, oil covered overalls with a name badge on it: Tim.
He took a look at the damage and calmly said he could fix it up for me to drive it again but he was fully booked that day so I should come back tomorrow. I thanked him and accepted an appointment for 1pm the following day.
Considering my options as I was sat in the car, I felt that I didn’t want to stay in Takaka any longer;
“I could”, I thought “go back to Nelson and see another mechanic about Sunny.”
So I set off on the journey back to Nelson with a couple of smashed rear lights and a torn off side bumper and thankfully, I didn’t run into any further police cars.
Coming back into the city following google maps on my phone, I found a car garage and went in to describe what had just happened.
The manager came out with me to assess the situation, took one look at it and said “Ahh it’s a right off. That’ll take more money than the price of the car to get that fixed.”
:0
It felt like I had just eaten a particularly heavy stone and it had dropped to the bottom of my stomach.
I was really not expecting him to say that and when I thought that Sunny wasn’t just my transport but also my home, a wave of concern hit me leaving me with an empty, sinking feeling.
He went on to explain the car had sustained a significant indent and structural damage at the back left side and to be able to totally fix it and punch the frame back out, it would be a huge and costly job.
I went away from the garage just as the manager was shutting up shop, and with his words still ringing in my ears “it’s a right off… it’s a right off” I returned to the campsite that I had stayed at before departing from Nelson to visit Takaka, a place I knew and liked because it was right next to the ocean and you could just hear the soft lapping of the waves on the shore as you drifted off to sleep; a place in which I could find some solace while I had to deal with this uncomfortable situation.
The next morning I slid out of bed and was confronted again with the sight of disrepair of my dear old ’97 Subaru.
After a dip in the sea and a breakfast which I can’t remember because my attention was else where, I decided to go back to Takaka and go to the appointment at the small car garage with Tim the mechanic, which, before I came back to Nelson, was thinking of just cancelling.
So back I went!
Pulling up at the garage in Takaka with Tim once again walking over to greet me, he says I can leave the car with him and come back in a couple of hours. It sounded promising that he was still willing to have a go at it so I walked into town and bought myself an icecream while I waited and prayed for Sunny’s recovery.
A couple of hours later, I’m walking back into the small car garage and see Tim is still working on her. I should mention here that the atmosphere of the garage was very much not like your usual Qwik Fit or AA garage, where the men are in the sort of ‘working zone’ and you’re not strictly allowed to go into that area; it was totally laid back, very much in keeping with the general spirit of Takaka.
Another thing to mention is the difference between Kiwi’s and English with regards to job roles. English people quite often have quite a strict job role and hierachical persona where, a person doing a certain job is expected to act a certain way. This was certainly in our history though it is changing nowadays.
For example, a manager might act superior to their team workers as they have the power of responsibility, but this can go to their head, and they believe they are better, not on the same level but a higher level, and treat the staff accordingly – with little respect.
Kiwi’s on the other hand, seemed to have no sense of job roles and treated everyone as though they were all on the same level; no airs or graces, no bullshit, just telling it how it is and not taking their role so seriously.
This was really interesting to see and I felt their approach to work was more like how I would like it to be. So I walked over to the mechanic and even gave him a hand in securing the spare bumper off of another Subaru, onto the back of Sunny.
The funny thing was, he was loosely using some sort of super glue on the bumper… a real patch job. I didn’t mind this though, as long as it held for a few more months, I just needed her looking roadworthy.
He then ran out of glue… I realised at this moment I had a new mini box of super glue that I’d bought from a 99c store in Nelson and had kept in case of emergency in the pull down draw in the front of my car.
I used all of the mini bottles on the spare bumper, just enough in the right places to hold it on. After pushing and holding the bumper firmly in position, giving the super glue time to stick the two together, the mechanic opened the boot which showed me one of the planks of wood used for the legs of my bed had been taken off.
At first I was a little shocked to see my bed was now also broken but then it made sense that the leg he took out was blocking the way into plugging in the lights. I thought it wouldn’t be hard to fix it anyway, I could do that later, but then the mechanic set about fixing it himself! What a cool guy.
The picture below shows his (and my) handiwork:
I couldn’t tell him how happy I was once he’d finished. He had rescued me.
I didn’t have much money; I had come to Nelson in the hope of securing a job and I hadn’t been able to find one yet. Sunny was my main life line and now she was road worthy again, my dreams of working and travelling the rest of New Zealand looked a whole lot brighter.
And to top it all off, the dude comes back from the office to hand me a bill for just over $100!!!
So I’ve gotta say: Thank you Takaka for this Crash Course in Life and thank you Tim for fixing up my car and my home 🙂
N.B. A few months down the line, after I’d found a hostel to live in and work for accommodation (Paradiso!), while earning some money working for an English pub in town, my dear old Sunny had a small problem that needed fixing.
This one particular mechanic in Nelson was recommended to me by the receptionist in the hostel and I went to this guy’s place and he sorted the fault out for me then and there… for free.
Not only that, he also gave me some great advise. He told me my Warrant of Fitness for the car was almost up for renewal and he recommended that I go to a small independent garage rather than one of the main centres.
This was because he obviously noticed the damage to the back of the car and was sure the people at the smaller garage wouldn’t be so strict and so Sunny would have a better chance at passing the WoF.
Sure enough, I did take it to the garage he’d mentioned, and Sunny passed the test!! Making her road worthy for another 6months 🙂 This gifted me a whole host of incredible experiences.
To name just a few:
- Travelling from Nelson to Tauranga with my friend Alessandra (Short Story COMING SOON)
- Meeting my girlfriend Hana in Rotorua
- Driving up to meet her at an organic farm North of Auckland
- Travelling with her to the North tip of New Zealand, Cape Reinga, where we slept most nights tucked up nice and cosy on my makeshift bed in the back of the car (Short Story COMING SOON)
- Using the car to go to and from work in Te Puke, at the Kiwi fruit orchards (a job which allowed us to be together, which is what we both really wanted)
