On Location: The New Zealand Road Trip Mishap

By Gray Shealy

We were so excited to finally visit the South Island of New Zealand. Driving across it inspired a spectrum of comparisons of previous places we had been. "It's like Montana, Scotland, South Africa, and Switzerland all had a baby...and this is it," claimed my husband. We had an ambitious route planned, not unlike any of our other travels: land in Christchurch. Drive 6 hours to Franz Josef Glacier. Drive another 6 hours along the West Coast to Mt. Aspiring National Park and finish our trip in Queenstown, then fly out. We would move fast, and see as much as we could.

But the 6 hour drives on Google turned out to be much longer. Not only were we stopping every 15 minutes to gasp at the oncoming landscapes, but we were on roads that were - at best - American back-roads. There were no super highways here. And almost every bridge we encountered was reduced to one lane. Don't forget, the Kiwis drive on the "wrong" side of the road, British-style. And gas stations were few-and-far-between. At times, it seemed like it was hours before we passed one. It felt like the vast wilderness of Wyoming, when we were having to plan our gas stops way in advance.

Luckily, I had studied our credit card-provided rental car insurance before our trip. We almost never buy insurance from the rental car providers because our credit cards cover it. But read that very fine print: Australia and New Zealand rentals aren't covered. I insisted that we get full coverage.

We quickly learned the traffic laws, paying close attention to the signage. Before each one-way bridge, there was a sign, indicating which direction had the right away. Sometimes it was oncoming traffic you'd have to yield to. Other times, it was our right to proceed first. Cars would stop at the head of the bridge to yield accordingly.

We reached Franz Josef Glacier, hiked and had a surprisingly gourmet dinner before heading south toward Mt. Aspiring the next morning. But about an hour into our drive, we approached a one lane bridge. Our direction had the right of way. We were slowly following another, timidly driving car in front of us, about 6 or so car-lengths behind. They proceeded down the bridge about half way when another car came from the other direction. It yielded and stopped at the other end. But the (blue) car in front of us suddenly stopped, put the gear in reverse, and accelerated sharply and quickly backwards. We were just at the beginning of the bridge, but the sudden move was so fast that we didn't have time to react, nor even blow the horn. In the 6 or so car lengths between us, it had time to accelerate to a decent speed. I don't even know if they looked in the rear-view mirror to see us. (Clearly they hadn't). They slammed into our front, causing significant damage to their car, and to our front headlight and bumper. We were stunned. Ugh! Luckily, no one was hurt.

I jumped out and immediately started filming. Two Chinese tourists got out of their car, luckily one spoke a little English, and I recounted what had just happened and had them verbally agree to that accounting. [That video saved me a lot of back and forth later]. A few local passers by stopped to assist, and our vehicles were drivable, but we needed to file a police report. The problem was: there was absolutely no cell signal for anyone. Long story short, we had to follow each other over ONE HOUR south to the nearest town (Haast) and nearest police station to give our statements and be on our way. And following the car that had caused the accident all that way was harrowing in itself.

Luckily, when we returned the vehicle, because we had their insurance, there were no questions asked. We gave them the police report and left. About 6 months later, a new email chain emerged from the other rental car company, and we learned that the other drivers had tried to blame us for causing the accident. I sent them that video and never heard from them again. Thank goodness for instant documentation, even in a signal-less wilderness paradise.

Stay: Te Waonui Hotel, Franz Josef Glacier, South Island, New Zealand

100 rooms from 700 nzd (400 usd)

Tip: Get the Rental Car Insurance Coverage in New Zealand!!

Photo Credit: Syllogi

Syllogi’s ‘On Location’ is a series of trip reports reflecting on our personal travels, as we research and experience the bounty the world has on offer.