Anyone driven Picton to ChCh since the Kaikoura rd was closed?

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Anyone driven Picton to ChCh since the Kaikoura rd was closed?

Geektastic

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#213812 13-Apr-2017 12:37

I am heading south next week and had planned to drive the road through Molesworth Station to Hanmer.

Irritatingly the road is due to be closed on Monday for the remainder of the winter and I won't be there until Wednesday!

This means I will have to take the far less scenic route via Murchison etc.

Has anyone used it since it became the main road? What is it like now? It's been a while since I used it last and it was just a back road then.

Is there much fuel availability from the main players?

Batman

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#1763772 13-Apr-2017 12:54

I heard it adds around 10 hrs to the journey or something like that.No i haven't driven it. And good luck to those with EVs.

Geektastic

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#1763776 13-Apr-2017 12:57

Yes, at least 7.5 hours depending on how you drive and the traffic.

I'm still stopping in Hanmer so it won't be quite as long.

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#1763781 13-Apr-2017 13:03

I'm altogether flabbergasted, amazed and grateful that the trucks can still bring stuff in to Dunedin! Or are they shipping by sea I wonder.

Oblivian

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#1763793 13-Apr-2017 13:30

joker97:

I'm altogether flabbergasted, amazed and grateful that the trucks can still bring stuff in to Dunedin! Or are they shipping by sea I wonder.

Truck. But it takes longer as they run out of hours and need to have breaks at about Springs Junction or double shuttle.

Hold your breath when passing them :) the road is a lot thinner. And Cell coverage is VERY sparse. But they have added portaloos along the way and some temp pull over areas for breaks as they were far between

Basically don't drive like a diddly and expect it to take a while rather than go HURRYRYY UUUPPP. Gas up in blenheim/picton. Cause the moment theres an incident it isn't going to get help in a hurry.

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#1763803 13-Apr-2017 13:35

I drove (most) of that road and back a month ago. The trip up, left early in the morning and it wasn't too bad traffic wise, the road surface has been taking a hammering though and plenty of road works where crews have been patching the surface - trying to keep up with the pace that the heavy trucks are destroying it.
The trip back - in the evening getting to Springs Junction around midnight - was absolutely awful. Bumper to bumper "H" rated trucks in both directions, Springs Junction was like a truck stop on a major US interstate, many dozens of large rigs parked up, mechanics crews working under lights on broken trucks. Bonus that the cafe and gas station were still open at midnight. I'm not sure if the difference in traffic was due to timing of ferry sailings, or if the trucking companies are doing overnight runs on purpose.

Murchison and Springs Junction have 24 hour card self-serve bowsers, but avoid Springs Junction for fuel if possible - unless you enjoy gifting the owner of the service station the very high prices he charges for diesel and petrol.

It seems very odd to me that at least one of the Ferries wasn't re-scheduled to run between Lyttelton and Chch, but perhaps there's no roll on / off facility in Lyttelton to handle the Cook Strait ferries. It's not just the "normal" trucking from Picton to Chch being diverted through Murchison and the Lewis Pass, but also all the extra freight that used to go by rail.

Geektastic

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#1763818 13-Apr-2017 14:01

Thanks.

I'll certainly be gassing up in Blenheim en route and am cogitating throwing a jerry can on the roof as well just in case. Big V8's are not well suited to a paucity of fuel stations...! Also I do not like putting poor quality fuels in the car and some of those rural stations look doubtful to me.

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#1763823 13-Apr-2017 14:06

Fred99:

Bumper to bumper "H" rated trucks in both directions, Springs Junction was like a truck stop on a major US interstate, many dozens of large rigs parked up, mechanics crews working under lights on broken trucks. Bonus that the cafe and gas station were still open at midnight. I'm not sure if the difference in traffic was due to timing of ferry sailings, or if the trucking companies are doing overnight runs on purpose.

Pretty much. Alwasy been an overnight thing but you didnt see them as much with the less windy Kaikoura run. They get 10hrs of driving allowance really and forced breaks which makes springs the mid point. Mix that with a 3am and 6am sailing and its all on

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Geese

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#1764030 13-Apr-2017 19:40

I went 2 weeks ago. Left Picton 3pm, arrived Christchurch 11pm. Worst section was between St Arnard and Murchison. 4 sets of stop/go crews within short distance. I'm glad I have an old beater of a car, I'd cry to have to drive anything new/expensive on that baserock/potholed/rockfall road. Most of the way (that wasn't 30kmh) is 80kmh. Was stuck behind large farm machinery, on several occasions. Was not much traffic on the road until dark, then noticed there were many more trucks than earlier.Once at Springs junction, the road and traffic was much better.

Linuxluver

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#1764848 16-Apr-2017 08:17

joker97:
I heard it adds around 10 hrs to the journey or something like that.No i haven't driven it. And good luck to those with EVs.

I drove from Lower Hutt to Christchurch a couple days ago in my 30kWh (electric) Nissan Leaf.

We took the Queen Charlotte route from Picton. It's 31km shorter than the route via Blenheim. It's narrow and winding, but the scenery was awesome. Plus EVs love lower speeds from a range point of view and the hills and turns provided lots of regen.

We charged up at Richmond and drove to Murchison and stayed the night at the Kiwi Park Holiday Camp, charging overnight. They have some very nice motel units.

We then got up at 4am and drove in the heavy rain to Greymouth. You can't go fast through the Buller Gorge area or over the Hope Saddle. 75kph was the usual speed. Relax and enjoy the view, though for us it was still dark.

We got to Greymouth about 7:30am and charged up at the fast charge there, having a quick breakfast at the nearby McD s We we on our way in under half an hour.

We then stopped at Jacksons Retreat on the Otira Highway. For $5 we charged back to 100% in 3.5 hours at 16amp.

From there, we drove through to Springfield, arriving on 35%. That would have been enough to get to Chch nearly empty, but instead we charged for 45mins at the Springfield Domain camp ground (16amp) and drove 100kph to Chch. We charged up at the fast charger behind the Z Station in Moorhouse St.

Job done.
.
So it took us two days, but it was a lot of fun. :-)

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andrewNZ

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#1764885 16-Apr-2017 10:03

No actual times for that piece of road, but a workmate did Dunedin to Whakatane around 20 december. Did the whole trip in 28ish hours I believe.

I think he said Dunedin to Picton was 10 or 11 hours.

Geektastic

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#1773134 1-May-2017 07:35

It wasn't too bad.

Going down, there were a lot of trucks and a lot of roadworks. Coming back on Sunday far fewer trucks and the majority of the roadworks were no longer traffic light controlled.

Took around 7 hours. Petrol wasn't an issue: filled at the start and arrived with over 185 km range in hand.

Road not too bad, in fact SH2 from Wellington to Featherston has a worse surface for the most part!

Sandflies at the rest stops a menace!

Linuxluver

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#1775243 3-May-2017 23:04

Geektastic: It wasn't too bad.

Going down, there were a lot of trucks and a lot of roadworks. Coming back on Sunday far fewer trucks and the majority of the roadworks were no longer traffic light controlled.

Took around 7 hours. Petrol wasn't an issue: filled at the start and arrived with over 185 km range in hand.

Road not too bad, in fact SH2 from Wellington to Featherston has a worse surface for the most part!

Sandflies at the rest stops a menace!

The sandflies seem to have a 10 minute lag.....so we would jump out and walk around a bit doing what needed doing...then get back in the car and close the windows. It seemed to work.

I also dressed so only my hands and face were exposes. I can police those.

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Geektastic

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#1775255 4-May-2017 00:15

Linuxluver:

Geektastic: It wasn't too bad.

Going down, there were a lot of trucks and a lot of roadworks. Coming back on Sunday far fewer trucks and the majority of the roadworks were no longer traffic light controlled.

Took around 7 hours. Petrol wasn't an issue: filled at the start and arrived with over 185 km range in hand.

Road not too bad, in fact SH2 from Wellington to Featherston has a worse surface for the most part!

Sandflies at the rest stops a menace!

The sandflies seem to have a 10 minute lag.....so we would jump out and walk around a bit doing what needed doing...then get back in the car and close the windows. It seemed to work.

I also dressed so only my hands and face were exposes. I can police those.

I keep Raid in the door pocket when down there...!

I also spray the car interior every night before heading to bed, just to kill any that got in during the day.

Sandflies are one reason I would be very careful where on the Mainland I lived: I got 8 bites in 2 days just on my hands before I got some 80% DEET.

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#1775321 4-May-2017 08:04

what's the difference between DEET and DEET-FREE?