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NOVEMBER 2018 Issue: 340
Puff ‘n Stuff Central Otago Branch, Vintage Car Club of NZ Inc
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Front Cover: From our October Sunday Run, Murray George’s Model A in front of remnants of a house originally built for the Bullandale mine manager in late 1800’s Back Cover: Targa Rally. Smoko at Milton. Photo by Mike Elliott
Club nights: Second Wednesday of Month. 8pm Clubrooms / Parts Shed: Litany Street, Cromwell.
NOTICES
December 12 — Club Night— Club Christmas Dinner. From 5 pm. This year the Christmas dinner will be Pot Luck with the club supplying the ham, potatoes and peas. Members are to bring their choice of salad or desert or pre-dinner nibbles to share. December 16 — Sunday Run — Will be in the Omakau area— Barry Walker . Meet at 1:00pm at Tarbert St. (by Pioneer Park) Alexandra.
From our Games Night Forget the memory game, this is poker night!!!!
Hey Charlie are you there? We’re thirsty.
Copy deadline for next edition FIVE days after meeting day. Stories and photos unable to be used in next edition will be saved for later editions. The opinions and information presented in this newsletter are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the club or its officers. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information or opinions expressed.
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BRANCH OFFICERS -
2018-2019.
Partner: Phone: E-Mail: Murray George Mary Anne 0274333321 murraygeorgeelec@xtra.co.nz
Chairman: Past Chairman:
BillCrooks
Gill
442 0255
Vice Chairman:
Graham Taylor
Cheryl
443 1416
gtml@xtra.co.nz prydenz@xtra.co.nz
Secretary:
Murray Pryde
Jenny
443 5020
Treasurer:
Karelan Doran
Greg
442 0962
bill@arrowauto.co.nz
karelandoran@gmail.com
Club Captain: Committee:
Noel Hassed, Greg Doran, John Martin, Roger Healy, Maureen Johnson. George Page,
442 3908 noel.hassed@gmail.com, 442 0962 gfdoran@gmail.com , 445 0598 martin_jw@xtra.co.nz, 442 0861, twinbridges@xtra.co.nz 0223533910 arrowtowncottage@xtra.co.nz 442 1869 gsb.page@xtra.co.nz
Club Rooms / Yard: Roddy Maxwell
Yvonne 445 0682
Social Conv.: Maureen Johnson 0223533910 Parts Conv.: Roger Healy Kay 442 0861 Alister Stewart Mary 442 1146 John Loudon Sheila 448 7192 Noel Hassed Bernice 442 3908 Editor:
Don & Lynne Yeaman
443 2730
twinbridges@xtra.co.nz alister.mary@xtra.co.nz
noel.hassed@gmail.com yeaperson@xtra.co.nz
Magazine printers and distributors: Greg and Karelan Doran Idle Torque: Librarian:
Graham Taylor John Martin ,
Wendy
Health and Safety: Greg Doran , Karelan Area Reps: Arrowtown Alexandra Cromwell Wanaka -
Alister Stewart , Mary John Loudon Sheila John Martin Wendy Graham Taylor Cheryl
445 0598 442 0962 4421146 448 7192 445 0598 443 1416
martin_jw@xtra.co.nz gfdoran@gmail.com Alister.mary@xtra.co.nz
martin_jw@xtra.co.nz, gtml@xtra.co.nz
Bar Manager: Charlie Storey Helen 445 3181 craftystorys@xtra.co.nz Rally Conveners: Blossom Festival; Murray George, Noel Hassed, Ewen Duthie. National Day Co-Ordinator: Graham Taylor Golden Times: Greg Doran George Page Moped Rally: Lindsay Wilkie John Martin
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EVENTS CALLENDAR Please take care to read and copy to your diary! COVCC EVENTS December 12th Club Christmas Dinner at Club Rooms from 5pm. December 16th Sunday Run Omakau Area Barry Walker. 2019 January 19th our parts shed will be open during the Cromwell Car Show. February 17th Sunday run Cromwell March ?? Graham’s Tour to the Scenicland Rally Westland 2019 (More details to follow) March 17th Sunday Run Wakatipu Autumn Festival Golden Times Rally incorporating Lunch at Millbrook May 4th British & All Comers Day Wanaka Airport June 1st The Queens Birthday run to the West Coast. August 10-11th -Combined Rally Central Otago. John Martin August 25th - Daffodil Rally to raise funds and awareness for the Cancer Society. September Blossom Rally COVCC Moped tour
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———————————————————————————————————OTHER EVENTS December 1 North Otago Windsor Rally 2019 January 19 Cromwell Car Show 11 am / parts shed open January 26-27 65th Dunedin to Brighton Run—Otago branch February 14-17 Hawkes Bay Art Deco Rally-Commercial vehicles are featured this year. See Beaded Wheels for details February 15-17 26th National Motorcycle Rally—Blenheim March 3-8 Pre 55 MG Rally Cromwell March 7-13 North Island Club Captains Tour March 14-18 50th Anniversary Alvis Rally March 16 Scenicland Rally West Coast Branch March 17 Gore Swap Meet— Paul Corcoran April 12-14 Otago Rally April 19-22 South Island Easter Rally—Ashburton Branch April 20-21st Wheels at Wanaka more info will follow. May 6th-13 Vintage and Veteran Tour, Ashburton to Hanmer Springs by way of Haast. Expressions of interest to Diane Ross (03 308 2356 randross@kinect.co.nz August 16-17 National AGM — Greymouth October National Veteran Rally — South Canterbury, Timaru
VCC Branches that would like any of their events noted in our magazine, please contact us with the details. Don & Lynne Yeaman ( yeaperson@xtra.co.nz )
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Chairman's Report
Chairman's Report As I write this, Christmas is one month away. It feels as if the last year has gone quickly. That's life and there is no way of changing it. The Club is planning well ahead, so plan, program and support with enthusiasm. Over the last month Maureen Johnson has run a successful games night which was wellsupported by a teams of six, competing against each other. So bringing exciting rivalry. Last weekend Don and Lyn organized a club run to Frankton to visit the Buzz Stop. Where our editor's wife Lyn was brought up on their family farm which has been turned into honey processing farm come Cafe'. After which we proceeded to Arrowtown. We enjoyed the tour in the Chinese settlement. Planning for the Christmas function is well advanced. We plan to change the standard this year by having Ham and hot Spuds supplied by the Club, with salads and desserts brought along by the members in a potluck style. January 19th is the Annual Cromwell Car Show, which we plan to as in last year open up our parts Shed with a car parking in the yard to encourage public to hopefully buy parts. From January our Puff and Stuff magazine will be emailed. To cater for members who can't receive email they can pay an extra $30.00 per annum to cover the postage and cost or collect their copy at the monthly meeting and pay $15.00 to cover ever-increasing cost of production. The committee have agreed to buy two (2) advertising banners to promote the club at shows. See you all at the Christmas Party. Cheers! Murray George
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Minutes of the last Committee Meeting The minutes of the last committee meeting are displayed on the bulletin board in the Club rooms. Please read them.
Please note At the last committee meeting it was decided that due to increasing costs of printing and postage, there will be a fee for the paper version of the Puff’n Stuff. $30 per annum for the posted version. $15 per annum if picked up from the club rooms. Email copies no change. These prices are effective starting 1st Jan 2019. Those that want a hard copy must pay the fee into the club account 06-0921-0035-742-01 and contact Karelan or Greg (442-0962) with your choice. Those who change to the email version must contact the editors at yeaperson@xtra .co.nz with your email address. Next Committee Meeting The next committee meeting will be 5 Feb 2019 at 7:30pm in the Club Rooms. Future meetings will be held on the 1stTuesday of the even months starting February 2019. All club members are welcome to attend.
Games Night Competition was tight in our recent 'Games Night' with teams coming down to the final 'Jaffa in the Jars' results to determine the winners. Alexandra/ Wakatipu were victorious narrowly beating Cromwell, with Wanaka close behind. Teams were tested in the their General Knowledge, followed by a Team Challenge which proved too difficult on the night, and will have to be repeated in the future, ensuring that all teams are very clear on the rules before commencing. Teams then rotated through a myriad of games including 'StackCar', 'Memory Cars', 'Jack pot', 'Darts with a Difference', 'Petrol cap Toss' and Petanque. The evening concluded with members enjoying a well deserved refreshment. Maureen A big thankyou to Maureen for all your hard work in providing us with such an enjoyable and entertaining evening. (Editors)
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Editors Comments First we need to take care of a few housekeeping matters. 1) Please read the notice on Page 7 regarding the fees for a hard copy of the Puff’n Stuff If you are getting a posted copy, you must respond by 1st January 2019 or you will likely not receive your copy. 2) For those long term members who would like a badge to commemorate their years of continuous membership, there are 25,35 and 50 year badges that you can apply for. In order to obtain one of these you must apply through the Secretary Murray Pryde. 3) Name Badges— Members are encouraged to have a name badge and those who wish to order one should contact Murray Pryde. These names must be in by the end of November 2018. The cost will be about $15 per badge. 4) We have also had a couple requests to have the Puff’n Stuff come out on the 1st of the month instead of around the 20th. We (the editors) would like to know the members opinion on this so please email us @ yeaperson@xtra.co.nz and let us know your preference. This will also let us know if you are actually reading it!!!!! 5) I still have not managed to get all the email addresses onto my computer yet so Graham is sending this out for me. I will be sending the December issue out so if you have not received your December copy by Christmas , let me know by email and I will correct things. As you will see we have had a couple of our more adventurous members who have attended the Targa Time Trials and the Banks Peninsula Monte Carlo Rally and by reading the reports, they obviously had a fantastic time. Maybe a few more of us should make the effort. I know that I am keen to give the Monte Carlo a go if they have it again, it sounds like great fun. We hope to see you all out on December 12 to enjoy the Club Night Christmas function. Don A few more from Games Night
Graham, just put it where I tell you. OK.
And the winning team was!!!
Herb playing darts, hitting the Farrari was 20 points
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Sunday Run Nov 18 2018
We left the club rooms at 11:15 and travelled to Frankton where we were joined by the Wakatipu cars at The Barn and the Buzz Stop in an old farmyard. The Barn (a renovated old building) housed an eclectic mix of old and new childrens clothes, jewellery, home decor and much more. Across the yard the Buzz Stop (a converted woolshed) and café showcased all things bees and honey. Because of the slightly cool weather, Noel and Bernice Hassed very kindly set up tables in their garage for our picnic lunch. An added bonus for the men was Noel’s second garage/workshop housing his next few projects, namely a tourer and a pick up (Fords of course). After lunch we motored to Arrowtown, in a round about way, arriving at the Historic Chinese Village. After a walk through the village and a coffee and cake at Dudley’s Cottage we left for home just before the wet weather arrived. All in all a very enjoyable day out especially considering it snowed the next day. Lynne
Historic Chinese Village, Arrowtown
Have I got those directions right?
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2018 Targa Rally VCC Section Graham and Cheryl Taylor, along with several other local competitors, made the decision to give the Targa VCC Time Trials a go as it was the chance of a life time. Where else could you get the opportunity to drive on closed roads at a relatively high speed? Roads as diversified as the Catlins, Hillend, Moa Flat, Saddle Hill, Trotters Gorge, Oamaru environs, Crown Range and Highlands Motor Park to name a few. Daily distances ranged from 430 to 600 kms. Included in their group were vintage MGB’s, Jaguars, Triumphs, Porsches and a 1929 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. We spoke with Graham & Cheryl on the last day of the rally to find out how they went. Their Austin 1100 has been on the road for about 5 years with a 1300 motor fitted. This year it has travelled nearly 4000 miles on VCC events and another 1000 miles on general driving. The Targa fuel consumption was 35 to 38 mpg (normally about 42 mpg) which is an indicator of the challenging motoring. Unfortunately the Austin had to abandon the rally on day four after three laps at Highlands Motor Sport Park with low oil pressure and a main bearing noise. Results for the COVCC cars entered were: Mike & Liz Elliott Jaguar SS100 6th with 905 points Wayne Marsh & Peter Croft MGB 10th with 2561 points Graham & Cheryl Taylor Austin 1100(1300) 11th with 2656 points John Langley & Graeme Oxley Triumph TR4 12th with 2661 Points Overall winners were Peter & Madelon White Jaguar XK140 with 382 points. Placings can be found via Targa NZ website; chrissports and VCC time trial results. Very good results from our local cars and especially the Austin with it’s untimely exit. The full report from Graham should be in the next Beaded Wheels. Lynne. P.S. The Austin is currently in the Hospital awaiting a crankshaft and main bearing transplant.
The worker
The aristocrat
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Report on Targa 2018 Mike Elliott When I first heard about this Time Trial, I thought “Yes, I can do that!!”, without knowing the first thing about what is involved, but “How hard can it be?” Fool! I heard about the Targa Time Trial away back in February and was sold on the fact that it was for road-legal cars older than 30 years. I went to a briefing day at Highlands Park and we were given a fairly broad outline of what would be involved in a time trial: “This is not a speed event, but rather an exercise in precise driving & time keeping to maintain a set average speed through all closed stages – Speeding and accidents will not be tolerated and may result in exclusion. A Road Book is provided to aid with navigation on the event. Then they talked about the Rally Safe unit that all cars had to have wired in – Eh?? Does that mean drilling holes in my poor little car? Not really as the wiring is attached to the battery and the unit is fitted into the car (with suction pads as it turned out!) I filled in all the papers and sent them away with the entry fee and then I put it to the back of my mind for a month or two. Suddenly it all came into focus again as about six weeks out from the Rally, I sold the E-Type!! Fool!! With considerable encouragement from Rod Corbett and a few phone calls to England, we eventually got a letter stating the build time of the SS100 would allow it to get a VIC and we could use that instead! The VIC arrived about four days before we were due to leave for Invercargill, so no pressure, eh?? We set off for Invercargill on Sunday the 21st October with a nice clean car (Fool!!) and the speedo reading 14190 miles. Monday morning (Labour Day): Scrutineering and safety checks, then the Livery was to be attached – Windscreen Banner and Door Banners – Windscreen??? Our windscreen measures 225 mm at it’s deepest, and the banner is 145mm deep, so not too much visibility left, then!! We cut the banner into half and attached it to the bonnet in front of the windscreen instead, so at least we can see!! We then went to Queens park for a Show’n’Shine Car Display followed by the Ceremonial Start at 2.30 (late). Haydon Paddon was the “flag” man, along with lots of noise and cameras! We had to go to the Bill Richardson Transport World for a briefing at 4pm, followed by the Legends of Targa Dinner at the same place at 6pm. Day one of Time Trial was on Tuesday 23rd October. Briefing, then wait to get the Start underway – again, lots of noise and cameras. Nice day, so top down and let’s work on the suntan!! The 22 VCC cars – as we became known – were first away every day, followed by the Touring cars, and then the Competition cars. We were flagged off at 30 second intervals heading to the Start of Special Stage One. Having got to the start line, the panic of what to do to achieve
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the average time and use the RallySafe unit, the stopwatch, the notes, trying to remember all we had been told at the briefing – and so on!! The first stage was (purposely) fairly benign, certainly compared to some of the others later in the week, but it was a good introduction for us virgins to this style of driving. It became very apparent early on that there were two kinds of drivers involved in the VCC tour – those that wanted to follow the spirit of the Time Trial – and those that just wanted a blast on the closed roads! Essentially we had two nights in Invercargill, two in Dunedin, and two in Queenstown, with the sections arranged throughout the southern area of the South Island, taking in Southland, Clutha, Gore, Dunedin, Waitaki, Central Otago, and Queenstown Council areas, but whilst we had all the closed roads to run on for each section, I don’t think I had really factored in the amount of driving between sections. We did two separate tours of Highlands – first and last sections on Saturday – and we won them both!! It did pale into insignificance when Hayden Paddon showed us all how to do it, drifting round corners from about 100 metres out, and then doing a dozen doughnuts in front of us all at the main stand!! As the VCC group we all went out together on the Saturday night and had a meal at the Lone Star restaurant, which was really the first opportunity we had to get together in an informal way, so well worthwhile. The Prize-giving breakfast was held on Sunday morning at Coronet Peak, and the VCC car drivers all sat together – to show solidarity to the rest! All in all a great week of fun and involvement. We drove 2704 kilometres in the week, and the car never missed a beat!! Would I do it again? Certainly if I possibly can. Would I recommend it to others? Certainly if you like driving and having some fun. What did we learn? You CAN do it and you CAN have fun and you CAN enjoy it!!!! (editors comment: This report is made up of excerpts from a report by Mike Elliott to the Jaguar Club. The placings for the Central Otago VCC cars are shown in the other Targa report.)
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2018 Monte Carlo Rally: an adventure. We had already committed to the Targa Rally when the invitation to the Monte Carlo rally arrived. In today’s world where madness in the form of Trump, Brexit, Pike River, Gangs and the road toll dominate the news… there is a glowing of hope! Well thought out by the Banks Penninsula Branch, this rally caters for all- comers, points are gained by visiting various nominated places and transiting one of four way points, with the aim of amassing 250 points. We had planned on running the Austin 1300 but the Targa rally saw damaged main bearings, so out of the carport came the ’23 Overland, some minor maintenance and Wof, new tyres fitted earlier in the year, and of Canadian manufacture which should have given us some brownie points. We started in Haast midnight Saturday 16th Nov, the adjacent guests were up at the hour to see us off. It was raining and cool, hood up, wiper moved, who uses those in Central Otago? No traffic so made Bannockburn at 03:06, Bendigo 03:31, ( my estimated time being 4am), off to a good start, Omarama 04:48, and Tekapo where it was daylight 06:06. We were able to avoid the planned leg to Mt Cook as vintage cars were given 40 pints to start with, then to the McKenzie Pass monument 06:50 the pass was clear the road was smooth. Fairlie made at 07:38 where we stopped for a pie my estimated time here was 11am so we were running well, and avoiding Mt Cook saved over two hours, still very little traffic. Geraldine was waking up at 08:30 with traffic parking up for the market day. Ashburton made by 09;22, dropping the leg to Methven meant that we diverted to Taumutu (east of Leeston) 10:16. We then called in at my Daughters at Doyleston for a cuppa and nap. Then with an estimated time to Duvauchelle being 80 min we left at 13:20 to traverse the back roads to Motukarara on the road to Akaroa, bringing along my grandson Whetu (Banks Peninsula Branch member). We then came across the only other competitor we had seen, Daniel and Will Pope, 1926 Dodge with a minor fuel blockage. Being a long weekend the traffic was relatively heavy and having plenty of time did not affect us. We came upon several other competitors at Little River, who were also marking time, the Duvauchelle check point not open until 15:15, which we made at 15:23. My co-driver (son Daniel) had a ball at the field test and the wheels are still attached, but one should read the fine print, only three competitors out of 25 qualified for points, (the fine print said no passengers! Being a very French way of simplifying the judging! We then did an 18.6 min regularity trial around to French farm and back, we had to count the statuettes at the winery while a wedding was in full swing, here were all these VCC guys trying to count up to ten! The dinner that night reflected the humour of the rally, we were addressed by the Monaco Consul who was dressed appropriately, we lost points there, haven’t had a suit for years!
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The winners were Neil Glasson and family in a ’63 Volvo station wagon who started off in Bluff happy but tired. The trick was to max up on passengers the more the merrier, and I think one model A had five. The trip home started in sunshine at Akaroa, we took the high road and were in rain at Little River, but that cleared and we had a good run home via Thompsons track to avoid the heavily growing traffic. At Geraldine we stopped for lunch and after that the oncoming traffic was the heaviest we had seen. At Fairlie we were almost caught up in what would have been a multi-fatality but for the astute driving of the 80 series Toyota, who managed to avoid the idiot who suddenly pulled out on a U turn immediately in front, fortunately we were still in the 60kmh zone so were able to pull up. High winds fought us all the way to the Lindis, the Overland’s wind resistance even with the top down is like towing a parachute. On the Morven Hills flat we put on all the gear we had as the Southerly front was blasting in, and on the Deep Creek road we had snow and ice on the windscreen. The Overland achieved 30mpg, overall, and we travelled around 774 miles or 1238 Km road speed around 70-90 kph. Would we do it again? At the drop of a hat, a challenge but unforgettable, my thanks to the Banks Peninsula Branch, for the effort, the humour and the fun, we’ll be back! Deep Creek Road, Tarras Graham Taylor
McKenzie Memorial
Duveauchelle
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For Sale Two new Firestone 550-18 tyres and one SH one sound condition $500.00 Graham Taylor gtm@xtra.co.nz
Paul Crump (member) 03 44 50 478 is downsizing and is selling the following IH T6 and blade, Case ‘C’ 1929. Caterpillar RD 4 7474 c 1937 , Field Marshall series 2, Runners) Case ‘C’ 1929 and McCormick Deering 1020 engines free not running. Kawasaki Motorcycle, 11hp Robin Engine. 1926 Ford Model T Roadster, most of the work has been done, engine reconditioned, and apart from some metal work on the body, its ready for final assembly . There are a large quantity of spare parts all carefully stored some are good for exchange such as the ‘low’ bonnet below
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Parts Dept. The Parts Department is the place to go if you are looking for that electrical and related bits; points, condensers, spark plugs, distributor caps including some magneto caps, and that is only part of two shelves. A lot of this is NOS . At the working bee the floor in the tunnel barn has been cleared, there are quite a few bits for Triumph 2000 s and Hillman hunters including instruments Carburettors manifolds, steering racks, also quite a lot of BMC stuff. There are filters, fanbelts, gaskets, motors, gearboxes, new speedo conversion drives ie mph to KPH make your car 20% faster! We are selling a quantity of 200 universal beam (RSJ) in good condition. 3x 6m , 6x 3.1m, 4 x 3,9m $25per m or $1000.00 the lot. Build mum a clothesline.
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4-16
4-15
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For Sale FOR SALE 1964 EH Holden Station Wagon, plus spares The body was an Alexandra vehicle and so has no deep seated rust - just surface stuff from sitting around for so long. I have most parts here on shelves and in boxes to reassemble it, including a 149 reconditioned engine (20,000 miles ago), gearboxes or auto transmissions, completely re-cored radiator, wiring looms etc. A little panel beating required in a couple of places. Are any of your members interested? Martin Curtis Cardrona 443 8152
FOR SALE: Hillman 1936 ?? plus a significant amount of spares. A good
restoration project for someone. The car and spares can be viewed at the Club Rooms. The Club is selling “on behalf� and is open to good offers. Any interest contact John Martin 445 0598 martin_jw@xtra.co.nz
Puff N Stuff DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENT RATES From June 2017 Full Page $300.00 Half Page $ 150,00 Quarter Page $ 75.00 Contact the Ed for info.
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Watch Repairs
5-14
Now
Level 2 O’Connells Pavillion Queenstown 027 217 0442
twinbridges@xtra.co.nz 5-14
Graham Taylor Mechanical Ltd 114 Shortcut Road, Luggate. gtml@xtra.co.nz 443 1416 027 248 9942 MAXXIS TYRES -- MIXTECH BATTERIES — SPAREX AG PARTS
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Return Address: 10 Clan Mac Road, RD2, Wanaka, 9382
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