Off to Westport this weekend (or Carters Beach to be specific) for the Buller Kennel Association Shows where we once again cleaned up, taking all the Best of Breeds in both the Long and Smooth Coats.
The fun part about these trips across to the West Coat, though, is the drive through Southern Alps via the Lewis Pass, At an elevation of 864 metres,it is the northernmost of the three main passes across the Southern Alps on the South Island. It is stunningly scenic as it passes through extensive unmodified beech forest. The area around Lewis Pass is protected as a national reserve and State Highway 7, which runs through it, is - in the immortal words of the Beatles = a long and winding road.
Oh, so very, very long and winding...
Which brings us to our favourite Road Trip Game, which we have named OMG! Look Out For The 45" Turn!!
The game came about just before COVID, when Jenny and another dog exhibitor - who, to protect their identity, we shall refer to simply as the The Passanger - drove to a show together. Jenny was driving and after about 40 minutes of silence The Passenger asked (in all seriousness) "Why do you keep slowing down on the curves?"
Now, we are not even going to address the issue of someone who has been driving for decades, asking why you should slow down when taking any curve, or how they have lived this long, if they don't believe that is a thing... because the next part was so much funnier.
Somewhat bewildered by the question, Jenny responded," because it's a speed advisory road sign that says what the safe speed to drive through the corner is."
"That's not a speed sign," The Passenger announces with absolute confidence. "That's the angle of degrees of the curve."
Now, give credit where it is due, Jenny did not drive off the road into a ditch because she was laughing so hard, or indeed openly mock The Passenger for their absurd answer. She simply corrected them by saying, "I think you will find it is the speed, not the degrees."
"But I saw a documentary on TV," The Passenger insisted. "About an Englishman who rode his motorbike around NZ. He said he liked NZ because the road signs all displayed degrees."
Realising there was not much point in arguing with this epic living example of the Dunning-Kruger effect in action, Jenny waited until they arrived at the show, where she immediately Googled the question, in order to prove The Passenger was mistaken. Highly offended by this, when they realised what Jenny was doing, The Passenger rang their spouse, to back them up.
The Passenger was doubly miffed when not only did Google prove them wrong, but The Passenger's spouse responded with something along the lines of "don't be an idiot".
Anyway, from this fallacy our road trip game evolved. The story was so absurd - and The Passneger so self-righteously determined they were right - that we couldn't help but bring it to life. The idea was so ludicrous it deserved to be made manifest.
So this is how you play the game. Any time you see a speed advisory sign on the road, you have to yell out "OH MY GOD! Look out for that [fill in the number] degree turn ahead!"
The winner is the first one to see the sign and yell it out.
We've been playing this game for more than 5 years now and it still makes us laugh. We've taught it to lots of other show people, too, who find they can't help themselves once they hear the origin of the game.
I'm pretty sure The Passenger would be mortified to know how many people have heard of their faux pas, but to be fair, they are not actively involved in the dog world anymore. Their legacy, however, lives on in the form of a fun road trip game.
Anyway, as you can imagine, the "long and winding" road to the West Coast was a vertible smorgasbord of OMG moments, so we pretty much laughed all the way there and back, making for a very fun trip.
Of course, once we got to the shows, we had quite a bit more fun. Ava took Best of Breed and Best Bitch in the Champ Show on Day 1 and in the Open Show, Ben took Reserve Best Dog and Best NZ Bred of Breed. Stellar took Reserve Best Bitch and Intermedaite of Breed and then Reserve Best of Breed in the Open Show. She then went on to win Best Intermedaite of Group! I think Stellar must like the Buller Shows. This was where she won her Best Baby Puppy in Show in 2023.
Scotty took Best of Breed in the Smooth Coats, Best Dog and Best Puppy of Breed.
Day Two and it was Ben's turn. He took Best Of Breed and Best NZ Breed of Breed while Scotty again. took Best of Breed in the Smooth Coats, Best Dog and Best Puppy of Breed.
Thanks to Gerard & Jo for all their hard work putting on the Buller Shows. They did a fabulous job.
And thanks to The Passenger for our road trip game. It made this long and winding journey - and many others - very enjoyable.
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