Aussies take the NZ back roads

Sunday, 27 Oct, 2005 0

After flying into the Christchurch from Brisbane at midnight an Australian couple recently ended up with a trip much longer than expected.

Their rental car had a GPS system into which they entered their destination, Nelson and set off. Where they were did not want to go was off the beaten track at all, but that was what they got – an adventurous back country ordeal that finally ended in Nelson 10 hours later.

The satellite navigation directed them to turn off at Hamner Springs onto a dirt track usually closed to the public, which they then followed along the Clarence River and then the Wairau River, opening several gates along the way and travelling over two rugged mountain ranges all at night, until they reached St Arnaud where they eventually turned back onto the main route.

At one stage, the pair got so worried they wrote a note to leave with the car in case they had to abandon it. Both were familiar with GPS and said they regularly used satellite navigation in Australia and have never been shown the wrong route.

So why did a potentially simple trip up main South Island roads take this couple into the back of beyond?

According to the GPS manufacturers, Navman, the satellite navigation unit had been set to the shortest route and programmed to avoid all urban roads. Navman President Voyl Divljakovic expressed concern over the setting and said it would look at options to build new software which can’t be altered.

Until that happens, it looks like this Australian couple may be using a good old fashioned map to get back to Christchurch.

Report by The Mole

Graham Muldoon

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