Getting settled..
Discussion
Been here (Christchurch) since friday. Loving every min so far, crappy weather today tho, brrr.
Found a house in sumner were renting and pick up a subaru forester tomorrow, decent workhorse car I think, shame its not a turbo but that leaves more money for a weekend toy :) Plus its cheaper to run and more reliable I hope...
Anyone else in christchurch then?
Found a house in sumner were renting and pick up a subaru forester tomorrow, decent workhorse car I think, shame its not a turbo but that leaves more money for a weekend toy :) Plus its cheaper to run and more reliable I hope...
Anyone else in christchurch then?
Christchurch is LOVELY, my fave big city in NZ (big by NZ standards)
Weather there is great... the crap we have at the moment is just a countrywide crap spell we're having, should be lvoely there by October's end and stay that way until March
Sumner is LOVELY, nice and quiet, yet close enough to christchurch to be accessible and you're a literal stonesthrow from FANTASTIC PHEsque drives in the porthills!
Izza USED to be in Christchurch but he and his wife have just moved to Timaru, but he spends most of his weekends in Christchurch so he's around all the time... and also Dejoux now lives in chch as well... both are enthusiastic young PHers who I can imagine will only be too keen to share a pint with you and show you around.
One place you MUST go when you have a couple free hours is Fazzaz on Lichfield Street... trust me on this one... just trust me.
Weather there is great... the crap we have at the moment is just a countrywide crap spell we're having, should be lvoely there by October's end and stay that way until March
Sumner is LOVELY, nice and quiet, yet close enough to christchurch to be accessible and you're a literal stonesthrow from FANTASTIC PHEsque drives in the porthills!
Izza USED to be in Christchurch but he and his wife have just moved to Timaru, but he spends most of his weekends in Christchurch so he's around all the time... and also Dejoux now lives in chch as well... both are enthusiastic young PHers who I can imagine will only be too keen to share a pint with you and show you around.
One place you MUST go when you have a couple free hours is Fazzaz on Lichfield Street... trust me on this one... just trust me.
Christchurch is preety quiet as far as pistonheads things go. If you want to have a meet with two cars 
Ill be keen though
Yep Fazzaz is definately worth checking out. Last time I was in there standout cars were the owners F40 and a very nice Lotus 23B replica. Cars change all the time but theyre always interesting
Ill be keen though Yep Fazzaz is definately worth checking out. Last time I was in there standout cars were the owners F40 and a very nice Lotus 23B replica. Cars change all the time but theyre always interesting
gtivr4 said:
Is Fazzazz the place right across from the main bus station? I could spend SO much money there!
Yup that's it... used to be an amost weekly visit for me there as a student... never was able to spend much money... but have bought a few books and things off them over the years
Sumner's just around the corner from where my engine lives! It's a very nice little spot, my wife and I spent our 'honeymoon' there dropping off my TVR to have it's first engine upgrade (rebuild etc) the day after our wedding.
There's a suprising amount of exotica in Christchurch but in my opinion the people aren't as showy with it. Perhaps it's just that there are great driving roads on your doorstep and a Ferrari/Lambo etc is more fun out on the road than in front of a cafe!
There's a suprising amount of exotica in Christchurch but in my opinion the people aren't as showy with it. Perhaps it's just that there are great driving roads on your doorstep and a Ferrari/Lambo etc is more fun out on the road than in front of a cafe!
jamieheasman said:
There's a suprising amount of exotica in Christchurch but in my opinion the people aren't as showy with it. Perhaps it's just that there are great driving roads on your doorstep and a Ferrari/Lambo etc is more fun out on the road than in front of a cafe!
Agreed... there's a LOT of stuff there thet you wouldn't expect.... on a sunny day if you drive out to Akaroa and back it's not often you'll do the entire trip without seeing a couple of ferraris, lambos or the odd TVR
Esprit said:
Agreed... there's a LOT of stuff there thet you wouldn't expect.... on a sunny day if you drive out to Akaroa and back it's not often you'll do the entire trip without seeing a couple of ferraris, lambos or the odd TVR
Havnt done the Akaroa trip yet, mean to drive up to mt hutt today but by the time we got the car it was to late and clouding over, next few days weather is supposed to be a bit pants but then again so was today.
Seen a few nice motors around so far, and bags of ol american stuff too.
A wussy Aucklander's view:
Christchurch is all very well if you want to travel to the other side of the world to live somewhere that pretends to be England (stripy blazers? PUNTS??) (this'll be why George likes it-DIG DIG!!!).
Sumner is a great spot(if you own a wetsuit) . You'll have more stamina than me, no doubt, but after one winter in Christchurch I came running back to warmer, wetter, bushier Auckland.
I saw a website recently of recent pom-migrants comparing the weather in the UK with that of Nz and the ONLY new arrival who felt that it was COLDER here than where he lived in Uk (and he maintained that he lived in SCOTLAND before!) was in CHCH.
(It's also one of the friendliest places I've lived and the most redneck conservative)
Christchurch is all very well if you want to travel to the other side of the world to live somewhere that pretends to be England (stripy blazers? PUNTS??) (this'll be why George likes it-DIG DIG!!!).
Sumner is a great spot(if you own a wetsuit) . You'll have more stamina than me, no doubt, but after one winter in Christchurch I came running back to warmer, wetter, bushier Auckland.
I saw a website recently of recent pom-migrants comparing the weather in the UK with that of Nz and the ONLY new arrival who felt that it was COLDER here than where he lived in Uk (and he maintained that he lived in SCOTLAND before!) was in CHCH.
(It's also one of the friendliest places I've lived and the most redneck conservative)
roger A said:
Christchurch is all very well if you want to travel to the other side of the world to live somewhere that pretends to be England (stripy blazers? PUNTS??) (this'll be why George likes it-DIG DIG!!!).
Dig away, it's very true.
I'll also go along with you about the pople being "nice" down there, and more conservative... you could go out for a 20km run in the hills and every cyclist/runner/walker etc would wave, smile and say hi.... in Auckland you consider yourself lucky if they don't stab you (exaggeration, but people up here generally only acknowledge friendly strangers with a grunt).
I do love it there... it was the home of my student days and it's somewhere I'd love to live again.... and I will
It's also possibly THE BEST petrolhead city in the world... plenty of parking around the city, wide roads etc with EXCELLENT driving roads EVERYWHERE and only 5 minutes from the city centre
My experience is not exactly up-to-the-minute, George.
I was there in 1985, a time of srikingly adversarial demarcations, viz: woolly liberals (me at the time) versus rugby-at-all-costs types -generally bigger and more pissed than me. And the cops were scary too.
We got batten-charged out of a pub, I remember. (what happened to "time, gentlemen, please"?)
I do have fond memories though (sigh!)-overtaking a local black T-shirt in his 5.0 litre Commy down the Port hills on my racing bike was highly amusing.(he didn't think so)
I was there in 1985, a time of srikingly adversarial demarcations, viz: woolly liberals (me at the time) versus rugby-at-all-costs types -generally bigger and more pissed than me. And the cops were scary too.
We got batten-charged out of a pub, I remember. (what happened to "time, gentlemen, please"?)
I do have fond memories though (sigh!)-overtaking a local black T-shirt in his 5.0 litre Commy down the Port hills on my racing bike was highly amusing.(he didn't think so)
Esprit said:
Christchurch is LOVELY, my fave big city in NZ (big by NZ standards)
One place you MUST go when you have a couple free hours is Fazzaz on Lichfield Street... trust me on this one... just trust me.
Passed there today, opposite the bus station? couldnt see much in as I passed but a sign outside proudly proclaims there the local Authorised TVR dealer , tho just what they deal from blackpool I'm yet to find out..
RobDickinson said:
Passed there today, opposite the bus station? couldnt see much in as I passed but a sign outside proudly proclaims there the local Authorised TVR dealer , tho just what they deal from blackpool I'm yet to find out..
That's the place, they're the SI (South Island) TVR and Morgan dealers..... well at least they WERE the SI TVR dealers before the law change that made TVRs illegal... I think they've kept the business going even though they've been rendered useless.... you can still buy official TVR merchandise through them etc... I'd imagine if the law ever relaxes its' anti-TVR stance they'll be back in the TVR-selling business.
Esprit said:
. . . I'd imagine if the law ever relaxes its' anti-TVR stance they'll be back in the TVR-selling business.
Well the first month or two of a new Minister or new Government is always the best time to try to influence minor policy or regulatory change. They like to achieve something small early while setting up more substantive policy programmes.
So who's going to draft the briefing paper on changing the low-volume rules ?
The last time I spoke with the guys at Fazzaz they were quite bitter about the whole TVR thing and I suspect it would take a big effort to get them interested again.
There have been rumours of regulation changes for the last couple of years to sort out the mix-up on the low volume type approval, i.e. 200 of each model not 200 total production as it was originally intended.
There have been rumours of regulation changes for the last couple of years to sort out the mix-up on the low volume type approval, i.e. 200 of each model not 200 total production as it was originally intended.
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