Get your trek on: 2017 Trillian tre — day four and five

23 March, 2017

Words: Liane Clarke Photos: Liane Clarke, Jacqui Madelin Video: Black Magic Media

Over the past 27 years, those involved in the Trillian Trek charity rally (formerly the Variety Bash) have been up and down the country many, many times over. Every Trekker has their favourite bit of road, some fancy the gravel, some like long stretches of straight and some love the winding country roads.

And in a league of its own, at least for us amateurs, is a burn down 90-mile beach.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves — day four of the Trillian Trek saw grants to a handful of extremely deserving kiddies and young people; a ferry across the harbour from Rawene; a community project in the afternoon; and an early finish at Taipa beach front for some light refreshments.

Usually on the week-long non-competitive rally, it’s a different town each night as we try to visit as many communities as possible. This year the charity convoy stayed two nights in Taipa, just east of Kaitaia, the perfect day-trip base to hit Cape Reinga and 90-mile.

Amusingly all the cars that attempted the 90-mile beach stage of the route on day five got stuck — most before they even got to the actual beach. Luckily a couple of the fire engines in the pack had already gone through with their five and six person crews who were then co- opted into assisting the little guys!

It was barely organised chaos for a good hour as Trekkers pushed and pulled vehicles out of the sand, including a couple of tourists in a Toyota Yaris who saw all the Trek vehicles attempting the sand and figured they’d be okay — they weren’t.

They somewhat reluctantly gave up their keys as it was clear they had never been in a car stuck in the sand before and were confused about the need to be in an actual gear and not neutral to speed the process along.

Once everyone had made it to the beach the pure joy of driving took over and the cars and fire engines of the Trek sped along beside each other enjoying the low tide, the firm sand, and the beautiful Northland afternoon.

Heading back along State Highway 1, we were reminded that you don’t have to be driving it to love a vehicle, it doesn’t even have to be roadworthy. Dakota (10) and Onyx (9) cannot remember a time when this 1950(ish) Leyland Comet Bus was not parked outside their neighbour’s house. They’ve played in it, on it and around it all their lives. The kids love the ‘Aroha Bus’ and they were very proud to show us around it. They also reckon it still runs …

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Official route of the 2017 Trillian Trek:
19th March Day 1 — Matamata to Orewa
20th March Day 2 — Orewa to Dargaville
21st March Day 3 — Dargaville to Omapere
22nd March Day 4 — Omapere to Taipa/Coopers Beach
23rd March Day 5 — Taipa to Taipa
24th March Day 6 — Taipa to Russell
25th March Day 7 — Russell to Whangarei

For more information about this event, or how you can support Kiwi kids by donating, head to trekevents.co.nz or visit the Trillian Trek Facebook page

NZ Classic Car magazine, September/October 2026 issue 407, on sale now

16 August, 2026

We love bugs!
A bit of TLC that became a major restoration
The 1302S, or ‘Super Beetle’ as it became known, was built for two years before it, too, was replaced by a further-enhanced Beetle, the 1303, continuing an amazing 65-year lineage for one of the World’s best-known shapes.
The world’s best-selling single-model vehicle, the VW Beetle, possibly established another record for the amount of controversy it has created since the inception of the Type 1.
In a meeting with Hitler in June 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was contracted to build a ‘People’s Car’ that could accommodate two adults and three children, was air-cooled and simple to maintain, and could cruise economically at moderate speed along Germany’s proposed new Autobahns.
Our feature car, a 1972 1302S ‘Super Beetle’, was found by Dave and Michelle Dickie in Mosgiel a few years back. It was a runner, but like most VWs of this age, it needed a little TLC. They were looking for a daily driver for Michelle when they first came upon the VW being sold locally on behalf of its owner.
“The owner offered it to his grandchildren, and they didn’t want it, so he got the guy out at Mosgiel in the Mobil petrol station to sell it for him, and he put it on Trade Me for them. We never met the owner, and we were always dealing with the guy at the petrol station. We put a bid on it, and we were the only people that bid on it.”
Their bid was eventually successful, eight years ago. Not knowing much of the history, in situations like that, it’s always a risk buying a car, but they were in for a bit of a surprise.

The other Q car

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Say the word ‘bond’ to anyone in the street and around 80 per cent straight away think of pop culture’s least-secret secret agent. The other 20 per cent may think of the wad of cash required to secure a flat or hire equipment that one gets back providing the fixtures and fittings stay much as they were.
However, mention ‘bond’ in specialist classic car circles and people will spin a very different yarn. If you dig deep enough, you will find an eccentric British carmaker that, throughout its 23 years in business, spawned some quirky and charming little cars.
The company was founded by Paul Sharp in 1922 under the name of Sharp’s Commercials Limited. However, the company did not start producing cars until 1948. The first car to carry the Bond name was the Bond Minicar. A three-wheeled, soft-top, two-cylinder eco car, the Minicar was a big hit at the time as the desire for an economical urban runabout that didn’t attract four-wheel car tax was strong in post-war Britain. All in all, 34,285 Minicars were produced over 26 years in a variety of variants.

Get your trek on: 2017 Trillian tre — day four and five

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