Three Strikes and You Are Out- Pre Day Four

The plan was for the six of us to meet at 0900 to leave  to catch the 10 AM Car Ferry to  Waiheke Island. It is a 30 minute drive to the Ferry terminal at Half Moon Bay. Looking at the sky and the weather report, it didn’t seem worth spending the money to take the ferry and be rained on all day, so we changed plans.

We would drive out to Titirangi Village for coffee then see the Waitakere Ranges and West Coat Beaches. If we were rained on, at least we could come back to the hotel and not have invested a lot of money.

Many other Morganeers had arrived during the night, so we greeted them as they meandered through the lobby.

Then we loaded up the Morgans and headed out for our drive. It immediately started raining, which was okay as long as we moved. A few blocks away, Michael pulled up to us and said his Morgan wouldn’t go into second gear. It would go into third, fourth, fifth, but not second. We turned around, and headed back to the hotel parking garage.  By the time we arrived, the Morgan would go into second gear, and the rain had stopped.

Back out from the garage and on our way again, soon to have more rain. But at least we were moving, so it wasn’t bad. Dennis, with his “quick” roof on his Roadster, already had the roof up. We had on our rain jackets, as did Michael and Patsy.

About 30 minutes later we arrived in a town that I thought was Titirangi, and pulled into a parking lot which turned out to have no available parking spaces. Philip told me that Garmin said we had 10 more Km to go. I had set Garmin to go to the Visitor Center in Titirangi, so we thought we weren’t in the village yet.  After some difficult turning around in the parking lot, we headed back on the road, with Dennis directly behind us, and between Dennis and Michael were three or more cars.  We arrived at a roundabout, and headed on the high road with Dennis following us. Having lost us, Michael took the lower road headed toward the beach, as he could no longer see Dennis, nor Dennis see him.

Shortly we slowed down looking for Michael and Patsy. No Michael……. so we followed the street round to come back to the town, which we had now decided had been Titirangi.

There was beautiful flora in this area.

West Coast Trees

Beautiful Ferns

I called Michael on the mobile and no answer. Okay, we will go to the village, get  cup of coffee and keep calling Michael, or he will call us.

We parked the car on the street up to the village, and as we were getting out of the car, a gentleman came up to us and said “ I am afraid your friends have been in an accident down the hill. They are basically okay, but the car isn’t”. Down the hill was a very steep hill, and we headed that way. Traffic had been stopped going down the hill and the firelady directing traffic didn’t want us to go down. But we told her we needed to “these were our friends”.

So we all headed down the hill, me with a lot of trepidation, because I had no idea how I would get back up. It was probably ½ mile down the winding road, but we trudged onward. We HAD to get there, despite the excellent job the police and fire were doing.

The ambulance was pulling away when the guys arrived, and we ladies were a bit later so totally missed them.

We answered questions for the police, and took photos.  It appears that Michael had made a U-turn and ended up back up driving on the right hand side of the road, rather than the left hand side (where they drive in New Zealand). Unfortunately a garbage truck came down the hill and as they did saw each other, slammed on their brakes, but not in time to not hit head on. This did major damage to the front of Morgan and no damage to the garbage truck.

Morgan post Accident

A very kind police woman drove us back up the hill to our Morgans and we headed to the hospital in Henderson where Michael and Patsy were taken..

Eventually I was allowed into the Emergency Room to see them both. Michael was totally physically unharmed. Mentally he was very distraught, but not a cut or bruise. He didn’t have an airbag, having changed his steering wheel.

Patsy had the airbag deflate into her, and had bumped and cut her knee possibly on the safety cross bar. X-Rays had been done which had some questionable results,  but then a CAT SCAN was needed to rule out serious injuries. Fortunately the results were negative, so her cut and banged up knee was treated, and all other bruises and sore spots considered easily healable with time.

Patsy and Michael After CT SCAN.

As her clothes had been cut off her, she arrived back at the hotel in one fancy hospital gown that said “Property of St. John’s Hospital”, and a blanket. I didn’t get that wonderful picture, but she was very stylish and attended Happy Hour in the most unique outfit ever.

I was very impressed with the Emergency Room and its staff. It was “a zoo” in there most of the time we were there (5 hours), but Michael and Patsy received pretty good care. My only criticism, as a nurse, was there was no call light for the patient, and I wonder if we hadn’t been there to arouse someone for Patsy, how that would have worked.

Michael and Patsy plan on hiring a car and continuing on the trip. Fortunately we have until Monday before moving on, and if we can get Patsy to take it easy, she should be feeling well enough to continue onward.

Sorting out the car will happen over time.

Philip and I went out to dinner with UK friends Callie, Colin, Roger, and Linda at a wonderful restaurant out along the harbor. 

 

Rissotto with Shrimp

Salad

Philip's Red Snapper

  

Philip, Susan, Roger, Elaine, Richard, Linda