Mr. GPS’ Wild Ride October 28, 2005

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So these two Australians visit New Zealand, and rent a car from Avis with a free GPS device inside. Throw away those maps, Jane, me Tarzan will rely on satellites to guide us. The couple had used GPS in cars back home, and though it would be the “safest way to travel.” The device led them across streams, along narrow cliffs, and through wilderness preserves to the 869-metre-high Jacks Pass—it then followed the Wairau River into the Rainbow Valley. Some 10 hours later they arrived in pitch black to the end of a “shingle goat track” on New Zealand’s highest public mountain pass.

“We knew from the device we were heading north. We just assumed this could be a quicker route to another highway, but then it came up that it was 90km till the next turn.”

That’s right, the restaurant in the guidebook is just there past all the 6-foot high and 3-foot wide illuminated signs that say: Road Closed. The funny thing is, that GPS was probably still better than Mapquest.

GPS leads tourists into wilderness [Stuff]