MG 100th Anniversary Rally - done and dusted.

NB - PHOTO HEAVY POST

 WOW - what a great few days we had.  Tuesday morning we set off early to get to the starting point at Mercer - just over an hour south of Auckland.   We arrived early so had a good breakfast before collecting our Observation Rally instructions.... and off we went.  After a couple of kilometres on the main road, we turned off and it was all on secondary roads.  Such beautiful country side 

Beautiful Waikato scenery.   

Lunch stop was Cambridge where we all meet up again. 

Then back on the back roads for the next 3 hours till we arrived in Taupo.  We were staying a few kms out of town at the Wairakei Resort.  It had a superb outdoor swimming pool that was just so lovely and warm... heated by thermal power.  

Next day we head out to the Taupo Motorpark for a day on the race track.  Hubby had a blast racing the car.

Next morning it was off to Napier.  The scenery through the forest on the Taupo-Napier highway is spectacular... from high country plains through to forestry and down to sea level in Napier

It was really hot in Napier... up to 30 degrees C.  Thankfully our hotel had a pool so we were able to cool off at the end of our drive.   Napier is a stunning Art Deco city with the most amazing gardens. 

That evening the local Vintage Car Club provided a fabulous Barbeque dinner for us at their club rooms just out of town. 

Next morning we displayed the cars at Perfum Point and then headed to a local winery - Mission Estate for a fabulous lunch 

I've not got any photos of the next day's Motorkana as I left my phone in the hotel room.   It was another stunningly hot day so I stayed on the verandah at the Car Club as it was just too hot and dusty out on the paddock where the cars were going through their paces.   We ended back for cooling swim and a rest before heading out to the final dinner/prize giving.  It was a fancy dress dinner... 1920's/Art Deco style.

The two of us in our outfits and a sunning pic of the fountain on our walk back to our hotel at 10.30pm.

Sunday was a long day travelling back to Auckland - around a 6 hour trip made a bit longer by very heavy traffic coming into the city - stop start which caused us needing to make a few stops on the side of the motorway to let the car cool down.

All in all an incredible week - travelling on different road, meeting new people and trying new things.  

Now to settle back at work!

Hope you've enjoyed seeing all my photos.  

Gold for Christmas - and the MG 100 Anniversary Rally

 Hi there.   Been a busy few days - getting ready to go on the MG 100 Anniversary Rally - but I did manage to get a few cards made on Thursday and Friday.   Today I'm sharing one for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge..The Midas Touch.. first Christmas card for 2014! 

This paper was some wrapping paper that was around a present from my hubby to me.  It is stunning so I save some of it and used it for my background.  I glue it with a glue stick to some light cardstock and cut it out with a Gina K Master Layout 2.  Added to my white card and then onto a dark base.  Finished with a die cut foiled sentiment from Spellbinders (in my "magic mug" a la Laurel Beard) 

And a couple of photos from yesterday's Concours - Were lots of MG Rover cars were on display - from 1931 through to the latest MG EV car.  

Our car - 1997 MGF

Matching outfits.

We had a great day but it did not end well.  After the nibble and a talk from a MG engineer who worked on MG's in the 1980 onwards, we went to the car to head home.  Only to find we couldn't turn off the immobliser.   We ended up call AA Roadside Assist who told us that often older car alarms etc can be affected by inference to the signal around areas that are build up or where there a cell towers, lots of microwave signals etc.  We were parked surrounded by tall apartment blocks and under electrical tram lines.   So after another long wait, we got towed home.  The AA guy told us that most probably as soon as we were away from the city centre the immobliser would work.  Sure enough as soon as we got to the top of our drive - the towee stopped and we tried it... Yeap it worked.  So 3 hrs after we started to go home, we got there!  Good ending but a long day! 

Today was a rally just a bit north of us... we went to Matakana to visit the Morris & James pottery.  Had a good look around and I'm sure I'll be back with the bigger car to get some pieces.

Here I am on our way out this morning.

Tomorrow we are off to Taupo ( 4 hours south of Auckland) doing an Observational Rally on the way... Means I'll have to take note of the clues along the way...

Thanks for stopping by -  I'm scheduling a post for tomorrow the other cards I did on Friday and Saturday.  Not taking my Laptop so not sure if I'll get to post again till we are back on Sunday.