9. My first house in NZ

15, Sheridan Street

This was my first house in NZ. It had 4 bedrooms and a small garage for one car. It was located near Silverdale Road and less than 10 minutes walk to the Waikato University for Kevin and just around the corner from Hilcrest High where Pearl and Eugene attended form 7.

The best feature about this house was the rear where it backed onto the Ruakura Research Centre. Quite often we saw cows grazing behind the back fence. Some of these cows had a small plastic window installed in their side. Research scientists came regualrly to take samples from the cow's stomach for testing and analysis.

Mercedes 280SE

I had always dreamt of driving a Mercedes Benz in Miri. Many rich timber tycoons owned Mercedes in Miri but none of them would let me drive his Bensi. With 3 teenagers to educate, there was just no chance for me at that time to buy such an expensive luxury car. I went to a car auction in Hamilton in 1998 and bought a 1983 model 280SE for 8k. Finally in NZ, I was able to fulfill my dream. At one stage I owned two dream cars!

2 dream cars!

I still remembered towing my Kestrel, a 17 ft trailer yacht one day to Lake Karapiro and saying this prayer out loud inside the car: I thank thee Lord for this Mercedes and this Kestrel. I was all alone in the car! That was one of the happiest moments of my life. The other happiest moment of my life was when I shot an eagle (2 under) at the 17th, par 4 hole, at the Narrows Golf course.

12. Challenger

The Honda being fueled by CNG was not really a suitable towing vehicle for the 17 ft. Kestrel. I was soon looking for a more powerful car to tow my trailer yacht to distant lakes in the North Island.


I switch to a 2.8 litre Mercedes. It had plenty of power to tow my boat but the maintenance cost was too high. It was too expensive for me pretending to be a timber tycoon. After two years I traded the Merc for a 2.6 litre Volvo.

This car was slightly newer than the Mercedes; but it lacked the oomph for towing my Noelex 22 over the mountains to Tauranga harbour. I was soon looking for a 4x4.

I traded the Volvo for a 2.8 litre, diesel turbo Mitsibishi Challenger. It was the ideal car for towing the larger trailer yacht which weighs 730 kg. I have used it to tow my boat over the Kaimais to Tauranga harbour, many times, without any trouble. The furthest I have towed my boat was to the Bay of Islands (368 km).

Russel, the Bay of islands