Classic Car Freedom again in NZ

With being able to reduce to Level 2 of our Lockdown last Thursday, we gained back our right to unrestricted travel within the whole country and being able to include close family members in our "bubble".

This meant we are now able to freely run classic cars again, other than to work or the supermarket. This has only been achieved so quickly by our isolation and very small population. Although most people had had enough of being in "gaol" for seven weeks, they are still mindful of how quickly the situation could go backwards, if we forget about the basic rules still in place.

With the whole planet being "put on hold" it has been amazing how quickly our climate has returned to the Southland of 20-30 years ago. Weeks and weeks of fine, calm, autumn weather again has been most

welcome, with temperatures still in the mid-teens for a few hours of the day. What a transformation from the high winds and torrential rain of years gone by. Local people of middle-age or older, have really noticed the change back.

So, having our grandson Levi to stay for the first time in a couple of months, we decided to make the most of it and go for a day out on the vast, empty Southland Plains again, to put some good running-in miles on our A90 Westminster.

With many cafe's and other eateries still closed because of the impracticality of "social distancing", we didn't go to our usual lunch-stop at Mossburn and instead opted for Lumsden, where there is a good take-away lunch bar. We then took our lunch over to the old Lumsden railway station, where there are barbecue tables set up. It was a very enjoyable couple of hours in the fresh air and sunshine.

By the time we headed for home in Invercargill, in the late afternoon, we realised how "not match fit" we were for these longer sojourns anymore, with Levi completely succumbing to all the fresh air and the comfy, new 'British' upholstery.

A view not seen for a while…..