All for 1 and one for all going south

Highway 1 is not a name to conjure romance. The Australians might have named it The Hobson Highway or The Queen's Way.

If the Tourism Board and Transit New Zealand get around to following the naming style of some regional routes it might end up being called something like The Main Trunk Discovery Highway.

In the meantime it just carries the figure 1, from Kaitaia to Bluff, a bitumen artery for the nation, with Christmas-tree lit juggernauts rumbling along its length every night carrying the country's wealth.

It's also the cheapest way to get four people from Auckland to the skifields of Canterbury and Wanaka and have the use of a vehicle while there. So we load up a Honda CRV with just 39km on the clock and point its nose south for a 2.30 pm rendezvous with the Interislander.

Just when to leave involves some guesswork. I have driven the route to Mt Ruapehu many times but haven't motored further south for years. The consensus in the office is that 10 hours should do it.

The next issue is whether to faithfully follow Highway 1 or deviate down Highway 3 and 4 to Taumarunui and then to Waiouru. The office pundits are divided so I decide to put the question to a practical test.

We leave the North Shore at 4.30 am, our skis battened down on the roof-rack, the boot laden with the paraphernalia for a two-week holiday. The CRV is a mid-sized wagon and its interior is probably better suited to a couple than a holidaying family.

We opt for the Te Kuiti option, bypassing Hamilton by travelling from Ngaruawahia to Otorohanga through Whatawhata. As expected, we arrive in Ohakune in a tad over four hours and in time for breakfast.

At Waiouru I check the odometer. It has been 413km since we left home. Now it is Highway 1 all the way to Wellington.

The clock has climbed to 630km when we reach the outskirts of the capital. It has taken just over eight hours, including our breakfast stop.

We are only a couple of vehicles from the front when we join the line for the afternoon sailing of the Aratere, the latest vessel in the Interislander fleet.

Boarding is straightforward and efficient. The crew assure me our skis will be safe on the roof - the vehicle deck is locked during the voyage and under video surveillance.

We leave Wellington on time and arrive in Picton on schedule. A nice touch to the voyage are the fact-sheets about the ship and features of the route.

At Picton we stay in a comfortable tourist flat at the Parklands Marina Holiday Park, the choice made by consulting the (free) Holiday Accommodation Parks New Zealand Association directory and booking by e-mail.

The road to Christchurch is straightforward and scenic. We keep a close eye out for seals and are rewarded near Kaikoura where we stop to take photos.

The Mt Hutt skifield, with snow on the access road and open only to four-wheel-drives or those with chains, gives us a chance to put the CRV through its 4WD paces. It handles the slippery conditions without a problem but I was concerned, and remained so for the rest of the trip, that I had no way of knowing whether the vehicle had slipped into 4WD.

A fundamental of four-wheel-driving is to be in control before a problem occurs but the CRV relies on a slip of the driving wheels before hydraulic fluid engages the rear wheels. Once engaged, there is no way of locking the drive in 4WD mode.

South to Wanaka, we leave Highway 1 at Rangitata and take Highway 79 to Fairlie then Highway 8 to Wanaka. At Wanaka we travel daily up the road to the Cardrona alpine resort without a hitch.

For the return journey we leave at 7 am for the run of 762km to Picton, arriving at 5.30 pm after stopping for lunch in Amberley. When the Arahura berths in Wellington at 12.30 pm we keep on driving.

This time we follow Highway 1 to Tirau before diverting by Highway 27 and Highway 2 to Pokeno, and the distance from Waiouru to home is 412 km.

When I return the vehicle to Honda New Zealand it has 4101km on the clock.

CASENOTES


VEHICLE: Honda CRV, 4WD on demand, automatic 2-litre. Cost new: $37,450 on road.

HOW FAR: Auckland (North Shore) to Wanaka, 1595km. Total distance covered during ski holiday to Mt Hutt and Cardrona, including daily journey up the mountain road, 4062km.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: Total fuel used, 450 litres. For fully laden vehicle with skis on the roof and including daily low-gear mountain travel, 9.03 km/litre. Fuel costs: everywhere in the North Island $1.09 a litre, Tekapo and Wanaka $1.18, Omarama $1.19, Kaikoura $1.20. Total fuel costs, $510.

INTERISLANDER: Standard cost for vehicle, $330 return, economy $280; adult passengers $92 each return, economy $78. Discounts of up to 50 per cent are often available depending on date of travel and time spent in the South Island. Tranz Rail also has special ski packages which start at $209 return travel for a vehicle and up to two people.

ACCOMMODATION: Picton overnight, fully self-contained tourist flat, $65 for four people. Wanaka, bunkroom (for four people) with en-suite and shared backpacker-style kitchen, $65 a night for four people.

OTHER COSTS: Travel food, about $25 a person; daily food; ski-lift passes.

MUST DO: Stop to see the seals near Kaikoura; have lunch at the award-winning Nor-Wester cafe and bar at Amberley where they serve fine toasted panini.