Chaos in the North

Yes, my dear, what can I say. Maybe I shouldn't have bragged so much in the last post that we haven't had any big problems with Hapi so far. They were still to come! But I want to say right at the beginning that we were twice as lucky !!! So a thousand thanks to God and our guardian angel that we had! Thanks to the little guardian angel hanging in the front of the driver's compartment. From dear David's mom.
Well, I don't know anything about cars. But as soon as it smokes, smells strange or makes a loud bang, even I know that something is wrong. Or when you're driving towards a roundabout at high speed and the brakes don't work properly right away. Oh God, I was so scared! Pulled over to the left, we immediately noticed that it was smoking. Both rear rims glowing hot. The brake reacts too late. The first thought, shit! So guys, I'm honest. This is totally my fault. The handbrake was not completely released. I didn't notice anything during the drive. Man, I was so annoyed with myself! Well, what can you do, David is luckily very structured. It doesn't make sense to react to yourself forever. Everyone makes mistakes. So let's go to the next workshop, which was luckily only a few meters away... They said they could take a look in 15 minutes. While waiting, we noticed that the temperature of the rims had dropped significantly and the brake was working again as before. So we could save ourselves the workshop and continue driving north. Of course, with regular checks to make sure everything is fine. Apart from the additional wear, we were just lucky that nothing more happened and everything works again as before.
The decision to continue driving north was already very bumpy. For the reason that we noticed that driving further north and a detour to Coromandel Island (below Auckland) probably won't work for time reasons. Yes, you can also have time problems when you actually have enough time! The reason for this is that a few more days will be needed to sell our Hapi. At the last minute, we decided to drive further north. Really just before the turnoff! 😅 And it was definitely worth it. So there was our 'Happy-place'. Right on the beach, in a beautiful bay, on a large meadow, almost alone. Falling asleep with the sound of the waves, waking up, pushing the curtain aside and having a direct view of the sunrise over the sea. Wonderful, right? Yes, absolutely! We were also lucky with the weather. The region is described as very mild. And that's exactly how it was! 24°, sun and a light, mild wind. All the thunderstorms passed by our Happy-place. So we spent two nights at this beautiful place. Took walks on the beach, collected fantastic seashells, did sports, swung by the sea and enjoyed the view. Yes, it was indescribably beautiful. In those moments, you just need nothing more.
On the way back, the second nasty surprise came! But this time I really can't do anything about it !! Suddenly there was a bang and it immediately started to smell. So we pulled over to the left again to see what was going on. And there was smoke again. A look under the car was enough to see that there was oil everywhere. The entire transmission oil had leaked out. Shit! David's look immediately showed that this is not good. So again to the next workshop. Can we still drive with the car at all? The next workshop was 13km away. On the road, most people were driving 100km/h or even faster. Driving quickly was out of the question for us. So we drove slowly on the shoulder. Which is not comparable to the one in Germany! The shifter still worked luckily. But David's assumption was that the transmission was broken. Which would mean that the car cannot be driven anymore or a huge amount of repair costs would come up. Which would significantly reduce our travel budget. Finally, when we arrived at the workshop, we were lucky and our car was checked right away. That really brings the mood down. Does this have to happen to you now, Hapi, in the last week?
Then the great relief. 'You are lucky' said the man who just inspected our car. The fluid leaked out completely because a screw had completely come loose from the transmission and the other screw was loose. Thank God, the transmission is intact! So the screws were replaced and the fluid was refilled. Which also cost us 100 dollars. But it's nothing compared to if the transmission was screwed. We were so lucky again! We were also lucky that the screw didn't hit anyone else. That must have quite a force at 100km/h.
After buying Hapi, we had an oil change done. The transmission oil was also checked. It is highly likely that the screws were not tightened properly. The last gravel road probably did the rest. Thanks little guardian angel!
We hope that the next and last days with Hapi will go smoothly. We're heading back to Auckland. Where we will sell Hapi and spend our last days in New Zealand. Maybe even on Coromandel Island. Who knows 🙂
Cheers guardian angel