Martinborough II - the 2nd of March event

Martinborough Fair – 2nd March 2024

This is a very big fair and the Better NZ Trust had its usual pitch outside Scottie’s butcher’s shop on the corner of Kansas St and Memorial Square, so we were assailed by the smell of barbequeing meats and fried onions for most of the day! But the biggest food drawcard was the home made rosti – see below – these were truly glorious! 

It kicked off at 8am, so the team was in place by 7:30 which necessitated those of us driving from Wellington having a ridiculously early start! The compensation was a stunning sunrise as we crested the top of the Remutakas!

The volunteer team was

Rob Birnie in an MG 4 – bright orange
Ben from Tesla – a dark grey Highland Model 3
Robyn Ramsden – white Leaf
Tom GT in his red Tesla Model 3
Sean in his OG Tesla Model S
Kathryn driving Rob’s white Model 3 

We did have to negotiate a couple of fruit-loop conversations early on with no real points of cross-over – for instance one gentlemen told us we were all driving ‘lemons’ and Toyota with their hydrogen offering would win the day,  but by and large the conversations we all had were informative and hopefully helpful to those we chatted with. 

The brightly coloured MG4, placed at the front of our display, was a great pull – and several current Leaf owners wanted to check it out as a potential upgrade for themselves.  Of course there is nothing we like better than to chat to other EV owners!

We also demonstrated the MG’s capacity for VTL – vehicle to load – in this case a 3 pin plug dongle that allowed us to keep the Coolbox very cool throughout the day.  This new feature, now in many of the later models of EV, was well received by those we showed.   And of course we, the volunteers, were more than pleased with our cool Cokes and waters consumed throughout the day!

The drive back to Wellington was fairly slow as the traffic over the hill is mainly single-lane with only a few overtaking opportunities. I have to say the GPS in the Tesla I was driving was fantastic at suggesting alternate routes away from SH2 – so I made it back to my friend’s place in an hour and a half – but it was a long day nevertheless!!