It's almost as if Stewie was warning us when he failed his W.O.F. (Warrant of Fitness) renewal a week before moving to the South Island...he needed a new ball joint. So $178 later we had a new ball joint, a new W.O.F. and our first big expense spent on Stew.
But we weren't worried; Stewie had been so faithful for the past 5 months,and nothing else could possibly go wrong...then again it's possible that our worries were shadowed by the fact that we got a whole smoked snapper from our mechanic!!
So we set off the next day down South for a little touring around Napier. Unfortunately we were waiting out some bad weather and while at a lookout eating some stinky cheese we had just gotten from a cheese cafe, we happened to get caught in a massive thunderstorm. We decided that it might be a good time to head out of town to our next destination, and so, Jackie turned the key in the ignition and....nothing. Anna braved the storm to ask a neighboring car if they had jumper cables, but no of they didn't. So then we whipped out Jackie's handy dandy AA (equivalent of AAA) card and called up some roadside assistance. Of course, by the time we got off the phone, Stewie had decided that he would start up again.
We headed south to Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island...the trip was uneventful and we made it to the Francis' place just fine. It wasn't till we pulled out later that night and noticed an oil leak on the driveway that we realized Stewie was sick...possibly home sick.
The next day we stopped at a local mechanic to have him check Stewie out for us...what we found out was that his transmission had a crack in one of its seals...and that we would have to go see a transmission specialist. $190 later and Stewie's transmission is crack free, but we are informed that the water pump has a minor leak. Good, Great, Wonderful!!! We decide that this too will need replacement, but we have just planned a weekend trip to Mt. Arthur, and so top Stewie up with water and vow to keep an eye on him until we can make a proper appointment.
The road up the mountain to the Mt.Arthur track is a steep, windy and un-paved one and so upon arrival at the parking lot, steam proceeded to pour from under Stewie's bonnet (hood). We open him up to find our coolant boiling, and so let him sit while we prepare to hike. We safely climb the track at Mt. Arthur, stay a night and climb back out and then head to Tasman National park to camp for the night. The next morning we wake up and start our journey over the mountains to go and visit Farewell Spit. Stewie does a great job and makes it over the mountain just fine...that is until we hit the road out to the spit and he overheats.
Luckily for us, a nice Kiwi gentleman pulled over to help us out, and as we added water to Stewie, and he started spitting it back up at us, the man offered to go get his mechanic friend in town. We ended up topping up with water and coolant, and thus managed to stifle Stewie's fever back to a normal temperature. They said we would be able to make it out to the spit just fine, but to top up the water before we went over the mountain again.
When we checked Stewie's water level before going over the mountain it was where it should be, so we proceeded on our way. Needless to say Stewie did a superb job of climbing that mountain and didn't overheat in the least bit...it was the flat tire at the end of it all that we really weren't expecting.
With yet another dash of luck, we happened to realize the flat tire about 200 metres away from a gas station, and so went to get a jack and put Stewie's spare tire on, and then drive the remaining way home at 60km/hr.
Wrapping up our first week in the South Island, it is easy to see that Stewie has some profound distaste for this island and is for some reason taking it out on his loving owners. Hopefully this is only a phase.
There is a silver lining to this story though; We now know how to check and refill both engine and transmission oil, how to refill coolant, how to refill water, how to un-corrode a battery, and how to change a tire!!
Cheers,
Alissa, Anna & Jackie
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