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Mark Moxon's Travel Writing

New Zealand: Submarine Car

Mark posing with Zed
Posing with Zed when I bought him; neither the shirt nor the car would remain clean over the coming months

By now I was thoroughly pleased that I was coming to the end of my road trip round New Zealand; it had been a total success. That is, I felt pleased until I reached a river some 22km north of Whangarei. In a move that didn't prove too popular with the local traffic, the river had decided that the best place to flow was right over the main highway, and I came across a huge queue, waiting to cross this flowing torrent with some help from the local farmers. I got a little nervous and remembered the last time I'd had to brave it and cross deep water; it was at a creek in Australia, somewhere in the Kimberley, where I'd just had to go for it with nobody around to help. If water gets into a petrol engine, it'll stall it, and the water level on the Whangarei highway was well above my headlights, but the best way to get into the sea is to jump, so I jumped.

The view through Zed's windscreen as Mark drives through deep water
The view through Zed's windscreen as the foot wells slowly filled up with water