Originally Posted by Spokes

Hey Ponto, lets hook up, it will be good company to have another 993 in central Otago. I get jealous of all the meets, drives & coffee rides in Auckland.

S

Originally Posted by peterC2S

There will also be the guys heading down there on the Playday South Island track tour - must be close? Be worth finding out what day they are at Highlands and popping in to say gidday.

What do you run in the endurance? Ours starts in a couple of months and seems to have gained a lot of momentum since last year. Reckon there will be some pretty big fields for the 3/6 hour.

Originally Posted by Macca

Ponto. Welcome. Its always good to have another 993 owner on board. This must be the most popular model of aircooled 911 on this board by now I should say!

Steve (Spokes) has a wonderful example tipo coupe so Im sure you will catch up down there. Watch out for him as hes recently caught the "mod bug" and its contagious!

We will be taking another RSG group down for the SITT in March 2016. Already 10 signed up quick time and only a few more laces to fill. We will certainly look you up here. Most RSG members are on this board.

Do you know my mate Mike Robb (black Mustang race car). He does the Enduro. He was up staying with us in the Islands last year with Catherine and some friends...

Originally Posted by Ponto

Hi Macca, I'll contact Steve and meet for a catch up, will be good to meet another 993 owner and get a bit more info on them, cheers for the heads up on the "mod bug", I'm familiar with this condition! Will be resisting this with the wife's car and saving it for when I get something myself

RSG group? I know a few guys that did the tour last year and had a great time, definitely something I plan to do at some stage, 2016 will probably depend on how this years race season goes and if the car is in one piece at the end?

Yes, I'm familiar with Mike and his Mustang, we've met and spoke a few times at some race meets but I don't know him personally, I think he may of had a prang towards the end of last season and have not seen him this year, I hope he's got fixed up and back this year, his Mustang was always very well presented,

Originally Posted by Ponto

Hi Peter, SI track tour sounds fun, can anyone elaborate on what the program is? Although I did promise the wife I wouldn't track her car , definitely keen to come meet up at the Highlands leg to say hi, what date is this planned? I run an EF Civic with K20A engine / box etc, lots of fun and enjoy the Endurance side of racing, we took out the 2ltr class overall last season in SI series and had planned to do the NI this year, looks like the field is going to be very competitive and should offer great racing, but with the new purchase and saving for one myself I'm going to have to skip it this year and wait for the SI series again, I may get a drive in one round up North which would be good.

Originally Posted by John McM

Race cars arrived in one piece

Originally Posted by Macca

Mike. Nice of you to ask!

The first couple of weeks were busy sight seeing. We had 48hrs in LA (always good for a quick stock up at Costco etc) then on to Oaxaca City in the highlands. Lost of interesting history here both ancient and Spanish so many sites to visit and things to do. the old town is preserved and very pretty with lots of great cafes and restaurants. Alot of history here as this was Cortez domain and he had control of this state. We stayed 10 days.

The last month has been on the coast at Puerto Escondido. This is fishing village with a 16 km stretch of sand with some of the best surfing in Mexico. Very pretty town that grew from 700 people 80 years ago to 50,000 today! Weather in Mexico is awesome. Its our second time to Mexico and its never rained. Blue skies every day, around 28-30 and very very low humidity, no clouds or wind.

At the beach I must confess we havent done alot. We've rented a car and explored the cost south for a few 100 km. There are some great beaches and smaller beach settlements down there - full of yoga babes and surfies. Very hip. Weve spent a bit of tie on the beach or buy the pool. Rented a board, been on a few cultural tours, shopped for food at the markets, chartered a small boat and been fishing, seen the turtles and the whales etc. The food is great, lots of fresh red snapper here caught daily. Food and alchohol even at the bets restaurants at least 1/2 price of NZ and of course you can eat even half the price of that. Accommodation ranges from $50USD a night to 150USD a night. $100 buys us a nice spacious and light 90m2 open plan pad about 150m from the beach. Alcohol is plentiful and cheaper than back home. Days have been spent reading, swimming, RLing, keeping an eye on the markets online, and 3 times a week yoga. Starting to become brown and fat so will have to devise an exercise routine soon. I think we have finally wound down. Will do a microlight flight tomorrow at sunset (sunsets here are amazing) and then we will have been here a month so packing up and heading North next week. First stop (3 days) Acupocco 400km north of us. Remember the Love Boat? Nah you were probably too long. It was crap anyway but Ive been intrigues to see the place since even if it is a tourist fest. This place is famous for its cliff divers (and lap dancers). Im not sure Ill be allowed to sample the latter! After that commercial overdose we will head another 400km north to a small own on the water apparently very nice, we have a small place rented there for a month. More sight seeing, beach hopping, tripping around. After that its back in the travel part of the journey with 10 days in the Silver Cities (a few hundred km form Mexico City) before heading to Las Vegas for 9 days (Grand Canyon, firing range, a show, Casinos - all the usual tourist stuff - weve never been!), then into Malibu for 3-4 days before heading back to NZ. So 5 weeks already NZ Xmas, 3 months on this trip, 4 weeks NZ April/May (targa and tracks) and back to The Rock in late May!

Its not a bad life. I think we are learning more and more about how to do this travel thing better and what suits our personalities. This trip too much time in one place perhaps. We have adjusted that for 2016 travel already. Its funny but Jo and I have travelled around 40 countries and in the last 7 years have travelled quite a lot but we are still constantly refining our systems. Technology has made things so much easier. Currency and payment are still the biggest challenges outside of Europe. Every trip we take less and come back with more LOL!

Originally Posted by Macca

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the ideas. Did the full length of Mulholland last in 2012. We were luck with traffic but damn that was a rough piece of pavement! Also the drive from LA to San Fran via Monterey along Pacific Coast Highway. I did peel off for a quick drive up the back of Malibu but didnt get much further than 5-10km. This trip we are staying in the Malibu hills with Watt on this board. Hes kindly offered his 991S Cab so I may chase him in his 2009 Scud. That sounds like an offer one shouldn't turn down!

Ive done very little driving on this trip but haven't missed it too much. Probably because Ive OD'd in NZ. I was writing up the work sheets for the 911s (which are in at CCS for annual service, WOF, Targa prep etc in the next few weeks), and realised I have driven 20,000 km in my 911s in the last 15 months! I reckon that wasn't too bad really given such little time to do it. The GT3 is on 9600km and the 993 did SITT which was 6000 alone. Then both did NITT and both have done HD and lots of "sunday drives" and trips to Northland etc etc. I must have done a bit of driving this year because Im sure I put around 13,000km on my truck back in The Rock and Ive done at least 7000 km in rentals, Jos cars and other peoples cars.