a momentary lapse of reason...

My dad has always said that you learn the most from your mistakes...


This past weekend I flew from Dunedin up to Auckland to explore the North Island a bit.

My plan was to drive from Auckland up to Cape Reinga, which is at the top of the North Island, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean.  Unfortunately, I only made it to the purple pin.

The story begins here, at around 1:00 pm NZT.  Notice that there is a road that goes to the beach, just west of Waipapakauri.  That road goes north along the coast until it picks back up on State Highway 1 just south of Pukenui.

At this point I was excited that I could drive on the beach and did not consider any of the following:

• I was by myself
• My cell phone was almost dead
• Rental car companies forbid driving on the beach
• The tide

As I came to the end of the pavement, I looked to my right and was taken back by the fact I could drive onto the beach.  I stopped for a second, looked around and then turned right onto the sand...

...onto the soft part of the sand, and got stuck immediately.  Two fine gentleman (mid 20s, one was quiet, one more a bit talkative, both helpful) came by a few moments later and pushed me out.  I drove out onto the harder part of the sand (because the tide was low) and continued north on the beach (toward the purple pin).  

Looks awesome, right?

I did not see the turn off to get back onto SH 1, and because I was having such a good time cruising along the beach, I didn't notice until I reached the purple pin.  This was about 21 miles from the original turnoff and 10 miles from the imaginary turnoff that I never saw.  I realized that I had gone too far when I saw this island and I couldn't go any further, so I turned around.  I managed to snap a picture of this fisherman, who we will refer to as redneck Shawn Michaels.

As I was traveling south on the beach (roughly 2:00 pm at this point), I noticed the tide was starting to come in.  I had to drive further up the shore to avoid the water, ran into some soft sand, and got stuck again.  Luckily, a few moments later, redneck Shawn Michaels was heading back up the beach and helped me get out.  I headed back down the beach, cruising along, but still had to avoid the incoming tide.  I hit soft sand again...

...and got stuck really good this time.  Notice the tide had come up to the car this time.  I had 6% battery left on my phone and made a call to the police to try and get a tow truck.  I lost service while on the phone with them.  With 2% battery left, I decided to google a tow truck.  I found a number and called it but the woman informed me that they were no longer a tow truck company, but she could get me a number for one.  As she was saying that, my phone died.  At this point I had come to realization that I was going to have to be responsible for totaling this car due to water damage, with respect to the incoming tide.  I got my camera bag out of the car, and started walking south.  

After about a mile, a man and his dog came driving up the beach in a lovely four wheel drive.  He pulled me out of my predicament and to a harder part of the sand, away from the incoming tide.  He took off down the road and reminded me to wait for the tide to go out.  This was about 3:30 pm.  After sitting there for awhile, the tide managed to come all the way up to the car and I was stuck again.  Because the sand was hard, I was able to dig out behind and in front of the wheels and throw some beach grass around the tires to soak up some of the water.  I rocked myself back and forth between first gear and reverse to get myself out and backed up further on the sand away from the tide...

...this was about 4:30 pm.  As I waited for the tide to go out, I did manage to catch the sun sizzling into the ocean (about 5:30 pm).

To give you an idea what was around me, I jumped up on a sand dune and took this:

Yeah.  Nothing. 

At around 6:30 pm, the tide went out far enough for me to brave the journey back down the shore.  I drove the 20 miles back to the original turnoff with the wipers on, in the fog and salt water splashing everywhere.  At the same time trying to stay on the wet sand, trying not to go into the water and doing my best to stay as far from the dry sand as possible.  At 7:30 pm, I touched the pavement.  

Make no mistake about it, I was scared shitless.

This morning I ran the rental car through a car wash and returned it and all seemed ok.  When I got back to Dunedin, I got a call from the rental car company.  The employee told me he had to speak to his boss about what to charge me for cleaning the car.  At about 5:00 pm today I received an email from said employee:

Dear Aaron,

Further to our discussion earlier I have attached photographs of the
underside of the car. As you can see there is sand everywhere and most
importantly there is a huge risk of corrosion as you were by the Ocean. Our
Workshop manager has been cleaning the car for most of the day and is
worried about further corrosion in the future. He has also stripped the
brakes and suspension for cleaning. 

This is very serious and as such I have consulted with my General Manager as
to what should be charged out to you. This is strictly against our terms and
conditions and you were informed of this on signing for the rental car and
as such you are liable for a damage excess of (insert high dollar amount here) which I have charged your credit card.

Furthermore we have incurred losses as the car cannot be hired out until we
are satisfied it is safe and in good condition to do so.

Kind regards,

Paul

So what did I learn?   Some of this seems obvious.

1. Follow the terms and conditions of a rental car
2. Do not drive a rental car on the beach
3. Do not drive a two wheel drive vehicle on the beach
4. Do not drive on the beach without checking the tide
5. Do not drive many miles into the middle of nowhere while being alone
6. Always have a cell phone charger in the car