Overlanding to Australia: Part 17
Stunning landscapes, a clutch change and deep clean – the South Island leg of New Zealand proves memorable
“One night camp involves navigating an old mining track and crossing 23 rivers”
Waking up early in New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington, we make our way to the ferry terminal to cross the Cook Straight. It’s smooth sailing with our first view of the south island coming in the form of neuroses stacks rising from the clear turquoise waters of the Marlborough Sound and its white sandy beaches glistening in contrast to tree-covered cliff tops. Our ferry is making its way to Picton, the gateway to New Zealand’s south island.
On this trip we seem to have a pretty clear division of labour. I do most of the driving and Me-an looks after the navigation. I do the mechanical stuff and Me-an does the paperwork. Visiting the Marlborough region, famous for its Sauvignon Blanc, we can add one more thing to the list: I do the drinking and Me-an does the chauffeuring.
Best of South Island
With our fridge stocked with the local wines, we start exploring the south island. One of the main attractions for us in New Zealand is the Southern Alps, so we head west inland towards the mountains. As we edge closer to the mountain range, the snow-capped peaks come in to view. Our first stop on the Alpine tour is Lake Tekapo, the second-largest of the glacial lakes in the Mount Cook national park. This is the moment when it hits us. This is what the northern Kiwis mean when they say: “Wait until you see the South Island”.
We drive up the eastern side of the lake until tarmac turns to gravel, which eventually ends where the meltwater flows into the lake. The sign advises that the river bed can be soft and deep in some places. Me-an is not so sure about whether to continue. I'm more optimistic and as if to support my case,
a farmer in a Defender appears on the other side of the valley and picks his way across the rivers. This is enough to convince Me-an to get into the car.
I pick my way through the rivers, following where the other Defender has been as best as I can. But there are about 20 crossings to get to the other side and we can’t remember them all. There are a few sketchy places where we lose sight of the bonnet under the water. Me-an starts to get nervous, as do I, so we turn back as we know the track ends a mile further on. Even though we have chosen the Defender so that we can go wherever we want, we need to think about our end goal and know when to call it, to limit the risk and potential cost. It’s the nature of overlanding.
We continue to explore the island, stopping off at Mount Cook and Dunedin (Edinburgh of the South). With our sole aim for the day to get as far away from the UK as possible, we head for the most southerly point of mainland New Zealand, Bluff some 11,779 miles away from the UK. If you look at the map it definitely isn’t the most southerly point, but the main State Highway 1 does end here. From this point on, I can now tell my mother we are on our way home.
On our way home there is still plenty of things for us to see. We visit the famous Milford Sound, which is technically a fjord, where a glacier has carved out a valley that reaches the sea. With an annual average rainfall of 6.4 metres, we were lucky to have great weather on our boat cruise. We spot a pod of dolphins on their way out to sea and enjoy the company of lots of fur seals.
Leaving Milford Sound on one of the most picturesque roads in NZ, we turn the Landy north and head for the adventure capital and the feel-good tourist hub that is Queenstown, nestled in the snow-capped mountains on the
shore of Lake Wakatipu. Our time here is spent mountain biking, jet boating, driving the infamous Skipper Canyon road and enjoying the company of friends old and new in glorious weather. I also pick up a new gearbox output shaft from a local garage to change when doing the ever-looming clutch change.
As we head north we spend many a night tucked in close to the plentiful rivers as we find these to be the perfect out-ofthe-way camp spots we love. One night camp involves navigating an old mining track from Arrowtown to Macetown, crossing 23 rivers in the process. With a little bit of creativity and some local knowledge, there are many idyllic locations to explore in the South Island.
Our last port of call is the Abel Tasman National Park, located in the north-west. There are no roads into the park so the only way to explore is walk, boat, kayak or fly. We opt for an eight-mile kayak along the beautiful coast, calling in at a fur seal colony where an adult female swims up to the kayak to investigate us. After dropping the kayak off at the predesignated point, we walk back along the Abel Tasman coastal track.
Getting down and dirty
Back on the Interisland ferry our thoughts turn to shipping and fitting the clutch.
As we drive up the west coast of the north island, we liaise with our shipping agent to get our date fixed for shipping. If we want to get to Australia before Christmas, time is running out. So with the shipping date set, we have seven days to fit the clutch, clean the car and get it packed.
Dave, who has offered us the use of his shed for the clutch change, manages to make room for our early arrival. Now, a shed to me is somewhere you store the lawn mower. Dave’s shed, however, is a double-doored 20 ft high full workshop, storing his V8 Defender, which is currently getting its wheel bearings changed; a very old Morris Minor; an old 3 Series BMW and his V8 Toyota Supra. All this and we still have room to drop the clutch on our Defender.
I’ve never done a clutch on a car and Dave has never done one on a TDCI. However, before leaving for the trip, I was lucky enough to shadow the mechanics at Devon 4x4 for a few days while they gave the Defender a full pre-expedition service. We replaced a leaking seal on the transfer case so I know how to get the transfer box out. Dave gives me a hand with the heavy lifting. This is of course not an easy task when the car is only on axle stands. It is great to have Dave around to help me out and answer my questions.
With the boxes out, the clutch follows. The clutch plate itself is in very good condition after 80,000 heavy miles. The clutch springs however are about to fall out. It is definitely the right call to replace the clutch for a Clutchfix heavy-duty organic unit with the re-engineered springs to stop the same problem from happening again. The new clutch looks really well-made and it’s going to get a good testing.
With the gearbox up on the bench, we tackle the gearbox output shaft. I have noticed a lot of backlash when driving and it has been getting worse. So after some research I have found out that output shaft wear is a common TDCI fault. This shaft links the M82 gearbox to the transfer box and runs oil-free. Once the fitting grease wears out they are prone to teeth wearing, giving a clunky gear change which then leads onto total shearing of the teeth and loss of all drive – not something I want when I'm driving across the outback.
The old shaft is obviously worn and there is play between the shaft and coupler. The new one goes in without issues, as does the clutch. It is now time to get everything re-assembled with the added pressure of knowing we are due to ship in five days. If we have any issues and need parts which are not locally available, we may miss the deadline.
Refitting a gearbox to a Defender on axle stands can best be described as interesting. We are not able to get the gearbox input shaft pass the spigot bearing on the first go. On the second, we struggle again, so more tea is drunk. The third time we slip it in without issue. The transfer box soon went back on. I then spend the rest of the day and night rebuilding everything. We finally finish at 2am, with Me-an and I sharing the special moment of bleeding our first clutch together in the small hours of the morning.
I think the process of doing a clutch change on axle stands has really helped the bonding process between me and the Landy. The hospitality we receive from Dave and his family has been exceptional and we are truly grateful.
Clean as a whistle
It is now time to give the car a clean. With the new friends we have made in NZ this process is a lot easier and cheaper than it could have been. We are able to use Dave’s friend’s steam cleaner at his local mechanic workshop to clean underneath and outside of the car. Chris, who we had been camping with, lends us his vacuum cleaner and driveway and pitches in. The car, although dirty, isn’t as bad as it was in Malaysia and we finish the cleaning in two days. We will find out if this is good enough when we get to Australia.
With the car cleaned and ready to be packed into the container, it spells the end to our longest-running streak of consecutive nights in the tent and the record now stands at 60 nights. Accommodation is pretty pricey in these parts of the world compared to where we have been, so time without the car really eats into our budget. Mellisa, who we had met on the NZ Land Rover forum and has helped us from when we first arrived in NZ, comes through for us again. She offers us a bed in her spare house and the use of her Defender for the week before we fly.
The weather has been scorching on our last week in Auckland. The summer is here and our thoughts turn to our next destination. The Defender is on its way to Melbourne. The voyage should take five days and we hope to be reunited with her again before Christmas and get out to explore the outback before it gets too much hotter!