EVENTFUL MOTOR TRIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20929, 20 July 1931, Page 10

EVENTFUL MOTOR TRIP.

CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS. MISHAPS IN THE DARKNESS. TWELVE HOURS FOR 130 MILES. • In these clays jof fast travel, when speed records are broken almost weekly, it is natural to assume that a motor trip of 130 miles which'* occupied 12 hours could not have been unattended by a variety of unforeseen incidents. Such a trip was made by eix Dunedin residents, who left Dunedin on a recent evening atr seven o'clock and arrived at Timaru at seven o'clock the following morning, after establishing what probably amounts to a record for mishaps. The first mishap, a puncture, was but the curtain-raiser to the subsequent events. About 100 yards further, on the newlyaffixed, tyre blew out with a loud report, and the second spare had to be put into commission. About a mile past Hampden, about 60 miles from Dunedin, the car was driven into a stream about 3ft. deep, the occupants being thrown against the roof. One received a cut on the forehead and another a fairly severe abrasion. The second spare tyre blew out shortly before Oamaru was passed. With the aid of a passing motorist, repairs were effected. At Pukeuri Junction, five miles from Oamaru, the party took a wrong turning and reached Georgetown, 19 miles from Oamaru, about 2 a.m. A further series of punctures added to the delay and a truck tube was borrowed.

When almost in sight of the end of the journey the petrol supply was exhausted and the car had to be pushed to St. Andrews, 10 miles from Timaru. With the tank refilled, the party resumed the journey, only to suffer another blow-out just before Timaru was entered. The last stage of the journey was made with the tyre stuffed with straw, the cover remaining in place until the centre of the town was reached, when it rolled off and the journey had to be completed on the rim of the wheel.