Home-grown ‘mother road’
Day one
Deep South delights
A while ago I had the pleasure of driving across the US via Route 66, one of the world’s most famous roads — even if parts of it are disappearing and some bits are hard to find.
Yet, if I may be so bold, we have a similar national treasure here, appropriately named ‘State Highway 6’. It’s quite a bit shorter, but in the usual Kiwi way it packs in an awful lot in the scenery department, and scattered along its edges, as with Route 66, there are tributes to an awesome motoring heritage and a fair bit of cultural kitsch. It’s all there.
It’s even got a natural wonder in Milford Sound, which, like the Grand Canyon, is a worthwhile diversion off the main route that it would be a shame to ignore. If that sounds a bolshie or parochial comparison, no lesser judge than Rudyard Kipling christened Milford Sound ‘the eighth wonder of the world’ — even if there were quite a few other eighth-place-getter candidates scattered around the globe — and most who have seen it would agree it is a worthy contender.
Of course, Highway 6 has a couple of distinct advantages for Kiwis. We spent 22 days driving Route 66 in a leisurely manner and I can confidently state that we had an equal if not better time spending just over a week on our own State Highway 6.
We began our Highway 6 journey in Invercargill, heading north to the sun. This picturesque road finishes in Blenheim, a mere 1000 or so kilometres later. Route 66, for comparison, is a suitably grandiose
