Her Magazine is New Zealand’s only women’s business lifestyle magazine! Her Magazine highlights the achievements of successful and rising New Zealand businesswomen. Her Magazine encourages a healthy work/life balance.
Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/54854
her motoring Ride & Joy This month Toni Marshall shares how she had the perfect driving experience over the Christmas holidays … well almost! YES I ADMIT IT; I was another Aucklander invading the Coromandel during the Christmas/New Year break. Circumstances meant we pushed across the firth of Thames gateway on Boxing Day. Further circumstances had required us to taxi a 'spare' car to the beach for one of the off-spring who turned up after Rhythm and Vines to claim her ride and joy. Driving in our mini convoy we both converged on the all new Kopu Bridge within minutes of each other. Conversations on Christmas Day presented a consensus of sorts that firmly predicted possible chaos as everyone descended on the round-about on the Thames side of the brand new majestic two-lane bridge. For some reason I found myself feeling very apprehensive as the new gateway to one of the world's most beautiful peninsulas came into view. No queues, no chaos, no lights ... just a feeling of significant change. For all my life the Kopu Bridge signified the emotional beginning of every summer holiday. Sweltering in the back of the old family car we had to open and close the doors repeatedly as we inched our way forward in snaking queues for what always seemed an eternity. Always an avalanche of questions directed at the ever- patient father in the front seat, 'Why do we always take so long to cross dad?' 'Can't they just change the lights?' 'How much longer?' This year, a new two-lane bridge, a car void of children, I crossed solo with my partner trailing me ... all just confirming that life moves on, things change. With memories and emotions swelling up inside me, the crossing was completed with little fuss nor fanfare. The Kopu Bridge had lost all its romance and meaning. 'God I'm getting old' I thought!' With such contrite weather we chose to spend a good amount of time on the road. Discovering great – and not so great – eateries, wineries and galleries. I would like to believe that my column in last month's magazine made an impact on all your driving, but whatever the cause the effect was dramatically positive. I witnessed tolerant, patient and courteous driving every time we explored the Peninsular. Great effort everyone! Great effort too from the local council, which had worked very successfully in presenting well sealed and safe roads to drive on. But as we all know something's got to give ... and it did! A week into the New Year the contrite weather really packed in, and with only the promise of three more very wet days ahead of us, we threw in the towel and decided to pack up and leave early. 62 | February/March 2012 | HER MAGAZINE Midday Saturday we were approaching Tairua and it soon became apparent that we were not the only ones leaving early. Steady progress begun to transform into slow motion, and then with three kilometres to go to Tairua we stopped. A quick in-car debate came up with a good range of reasons for this unexpected traffic jam, and 'atop the list was the annual Wine and Food Festival at the Tairua School grounds. After only a few minutes the tail back had grown significantly, trailing behind us high into the steep and winding hills above Tairua. After much more in-car debating and a good number of conspiracy theories explored, we had wasted away 35 minutes of our day and only moved a few kilometres! The irony of the new Kopu Bridge had not escaped us both as frustration began to evolve into seething anger! After what seemed an eternity the reason for this significant traffic jam was revealed – the one-way bridge in Tairua was being 'managed' by 'lay traffic controllers'. Pleasant enough elderly men I am sure, but experienced traffic management specialists they were not. Given the southern approach was more visible to them it became an urgent priority, and this short queue was being repeatedly prioritised. Oblivious to the delays to hundreds of lives, and that they had caused a quite serious accident on the road above the town, these inadequately prepared and isolated men simply continued their best intended efforts to manage what had become Coromandel's new 'eye of the needle'. Our return crossing of the new Kopu Bridge was done in silence and without fuss as the news on the radio announced another holiday period road fatality. It seems that no amount of road safety campaigning, development of safer roads and crack-downs on drink drivers can eradicate the bad decision making of so many of us. My New Year's resolutions: just two – to research international solutions to saving lives on our roads, and to contact Transit NZ and alert them to the two lovely men who need significant training before controlling the Tairua one-lane bridge next year! Toni Marshall