New Zealand Rally 2008

When I was a little girl, we lived in the Middle East, Kuwait and Jordan to be exact.

I was 7 when we moved to Kuwait and we stayed there for 4 yrs.

I have lots of wonderful memories and experiences to recall that not many can say they have had in their life time.

One of these such things was Rallying. Yep that is right, fast cars and lots of man power.

My dad co-drove for Datsun at one stage.

I remember going out into the desert in the middle of the night just to see them for 5 minutes as they came in off of a stage and got ready to go out on the next stage.

I also remember the driver of the car (David), who just happened to be a pilot, deciding that as they hit a sand dune then he would see if the car would fly!

You guessed it, it did sort of, although the front axsel didn't quite enjoy the flight as much as everyone else and they came limping in from the stage with the front wheels at a 45 degree angle, but the clever service guys had it all sorted and changed within 15 minutes!

Now you don't get service like that in an average garage!

My father also travelled to other countries within the middle east to partake of these crazy races. Dubai, Bahrain etc.

Now don't get me wrong, this was just a hobbie, not a job, although I am sure he would have loved to have done this more. It was in his blood as his father had also been involved with the rallies in England, although my aunty (dad's sister) told me a few months ago that she remembers helping her dad set stages when she was little, so we are talking many years ago.

Me, well I remember the rallies in the middle east and I also remember marshalling for the British Rally one year in Nottingham, I must have been about 20 yrs old. Getting out to the stage at 4am and standing in the freezing cold dark, whilst these mean fast cars came hurtling round a bend heading straight for you before turning in the other direction. I loved it.

I guess to an extent I am glad I don't have little girls, because I have come to the conclusion that I am not your average feminine young lady, I like too many boys sports, although I would attend these sports wearing pink, just to make a statement.

Anyway, The New Zealand Repco Rally 2008 is in Hamilton this weekend. Sadly no we are not going out to watch any of it, although my SIL and her boys are tomorrow.

But last night we did hang around town watching the official start parade.

Ben was interested in seeing the rally cars, so was I, but Alex spent the whole time wanting to go home. Not sure what Steve wanted to do, although I don't think he had much choice in what he did.

We had lots of fun, and I am sure as the boys get bigger we will eventually head out to the stages further around the Waikato area.

We do have a friend (Greg) that is part of the Targa New Zealand Rally, a rally for the average New Zealander and we have got to see him in action once this year. We will aim to catch up with him more over the next year if we can, although he will be back driving in Rotorua next May/June so we will be there to cheer him on. Picture below shows you him and his car (he is guy on left) INTGRR a Honda Prelude