Broken Down in New Zealand

As any life on the road goes, there will always be trouble. So far we had mostly escaped any major car troubles, so I suppose our time was due.

After a late night picking up our friend Logan from the Christchurch airport, we woke around 8 ready to sieze the day and make our way to Kaikōura – a coastal town known for its year long whale watching and where the mountains meet the sea. Kaikōura is located about 2.5 hours north of Christchurch so we decided to make a stop near half way to check out a wave. This pitstop would be out a long dirt road (nearly a 40 minute drive from the highway) and surrounded by nothing but farmland. As we neared the final minutes of the drive, ocean in site, we came to a slow stop. Although Homy was in gear, it refused to move. The clutch was cooked. 

So, picture this: we’ve got 30 curious cows to the left of us, more farmland to the right of us, a hill in front and behind us, not a cloud in the sky, and a very dirty thin road. We were in the New Zealand countryside, far from any cell service or town. It was one of those moments where you might cuss, realize the situation, and begin making a plan of attack. There was nothing else to do but figure it out. 

Quite conveniently, a tour bus for a sheep farm came around the corner shortly after. Geoff, the driver, helped us push Homy to the side of the road and said he’d be back with some advice from the farmer who owned the property surrounding us. Twenty minutes later he was back with news that the farmer was unfortunately too busy to help us today but he gave us a reliable towing company’s phone number. As the bus driver left, he asked if we had food, to which we responded with “some rice.” He then instructed Ronan to come inside the bus to retrieve two beautiful charcuterie boards that were left over from a no show on the tour. New Zealand hospitality (with a bit of luck) at its finest.

Thanks to Ronan’s StarLink, we were able to get in touch with the tow company as well as Andy and Kim - our trusty mechanics from from A&J’s Automotive in Christchurch that I mentioned in the previous post. And 2 hours later, after many card games and a large herd of sheep that passed by us, our tow truck driver Ash arrived with a truck smaller than Homy. He dropped F bombs in every sentence, had us stop to let out a bumble bee, and told us how he knows about Charleston, South Carolina because his wife watches Southern Charm. Ash dropped us at a park in the town of Amberley and wished us luck. 

Sheep Traffic

Charcuterie & Cards

Curious Cows

Tow Truck & Cows

Amberley is located an hour North of Christchurch. It has three pubs, a supermarket, a handful of restaurants, and is surrounded by vineyards, olive orchards, and yep, you guessed it, more farmland. Over a brief phone call with Andy that covered the fact that he had a spare clutch in his workshop, the quote of the fix, and that he was willing to come to Amberley to look at the van, we had agreed to meet him at the park. Side note – what mechanic is ever willing to drive an hour to you to have a look at what might be wrong? And after work hours! It felt too good to be true that we actually lost all hope. By 8pm, we were contemplating what to do if he didn’t show up because certainly that was more realistic than him coming to us after work just because he felt like doing us a massive favor. 

Sure enough, at 8:30, Andy and his son Jack pulled into this parking lot with their ute (what the kiwis call trucks – short for utility vehicle) and a tow bar. Just like last time, Andy had diagnosed the problem in 2 minutes. Blundtly, he said, “yep, your clutch is f*cked”. Andy then gave us the rundown of exactly what he was going to do. We were to get in the ute, tow Homy back to his workshop so that he could elevate it, he would get his mate to help put in the new clutch, and we would hopefully be on the road that night. So we did as he told and hopped in the ute. 

We arrived to Andy’s shop nearly at 10pm dreary but excited to get this done. He told us that he required a quick smoke break and a coffee, and after that it would take about four hours, meaning he would be finished around 1:30am. We gratefully accepted and continued into his office. This office consists of two fake leather chairs that are shedding its plastic pieces, a gray rug that made Ronan’s feet black by standing on it barefoot, humorous thank you notes/photos/nicknacks covering the walls and his desk, and his framed certifications that are mounted to shape “A&J’s” on the wall behind his desk chair. Four hours later, after a few rounds of the card game Oh Hell, a massive destruction of a chocolate bar, and a mouse running around the floor to keep us entertained, Andy entered the room. He wasn’t happy with the clutch. It wasn’t fitting as it was meant to. This is where the beauty of low expectations helps. He gave us the option to keep working for a couple more hours, or to all get some sleep and return in the morning. We chose the latter. 

After a horrendous-sounding drive five minutes down the road, we arrived to a smelly estuary car park (and most definitely a homeless population location). We set up our bed, sent Logan to his bivy sack set up outside, and crashed. We woke defeated with high hopes but low expectations. He told us to return at 10:30 so we showed up at 10:20 eager to get this over with. We were met by Kim, Andy’s wife, with yet again a smile and lovely conversation. Although we may have preferred a more hopeful “it’ll only take an hour so hang around,” we were very grateful with her kind offer to borrow their car for a few hours and to head to the beach. We spent three hot hours roasting on the sand, another hour or so killing time in downtown Christchurch, and a final hour sitting in a park reading and dreading the additional cost of all the extra hours. Five or so hours since we dropped Homy, Kim sent us a text saying the car would be ready in 30 and to bring Andy’s favorite beer and chocolate. Without hesitation, we grabbed the goods and headed for Homy.

Per usual, Andy was sitting behind his desk covered in soot with a hand-rolled cigarette stuck to his lower lip. This time, with good news. Homy was back and better than ever. Andy had made some alterations to what the previous mechanic had messed up, and the clutch was where it was supposed to be. They handed us our bill, addressed to “Maddy and Ronan - travelers of this beautiful land,” and at the bottom of the page in Kim’s handwriting it said “same as quote despite extra hours :)”. Sweet relief. 

What I keep asking myself, and to the boys, is why? Why would they go out of their way to meet some American travelers an hour from their shop at 8pm on a Thursday before a long weekend, tow them back (charge free), work until the early hours of the morning, offer their personal car to borrow for the day, and stay true to the original quote they gave before they even knew the true issue. It makes no sense. I mean who does that?!

I talked to Kim for a while before we hit the road with Homy. We dove into the beauty of travel and how it is not possible to find yourself without it. We dove into the realness of what goes around comes around and how crucial it is to be kind, both to yourself and to others. And lastly we spoke about energy - how you are in control of your energy at the end of the day. It is easy for people or situatuations with negative energy to steal your positivity or to make you angry, but if you are able to step back, see the possibility of giving only good energy to others (and perhaps feeling sad for those who are unkind or negative), then you will make your whole world a better place. She compared it to a garden. You will have weeds that grow in your garden (whether that be people or experiences) as well as beautiful flowers. Learn from your garden, make changes to it, and keep it under your control. 

This experience, stemming from a real crappy situation, turned to be something really beautiful, and once again, another learning lesson. I feel extremely grateful to have had two people who had positive outlooks and moods throughout it all, and who influenced me to handle the situation the best way that I could. And I feel eternally grateful for my conversation with Kim. I will remember her words forever. Shit happens, and it’s up to you if you’d like to suffer through it or be positive and make the most of it. It’s your garden, learn from the weeds, figure out what you need to change, and control it. 

Hopefully that will be the end of major car issues for us, but low expectations! And I know that next time shit happens, whether it be with the van or really anything in life, it will all workout. Because it always does.

All for now,

Maddy

February 14, 2026 - Written by Maddy Dunn