We consider ourselves extremely lucky to have bumped in to Neil and had some vital work done on our new van at his shop in Mt Mangenui. Finding a mechanic who is honest and does quality work is not always easy, and to find one where the owner is a genuine bona FIda , card carrying, wonderful “character”
and nice guy is probably a lot harder. We found it worth our while to drive back down south a couple of hundred kilometers to Neil’s garage to get service work, brake work, hang glider rack work and a lot of other small things that we kept adding on. Neil and his mechanics instilled confidence in us with the work they did on our van. Never having seen a Toyota Hiace before, let alone owning one,(the engine is in the front) it was great to feel confident and learn about the van. Neil lent us a car while the van was being worked on and we went on several shopping sprees buying items to make our van more comfortable for our travels.

We have been in Auckland three whole days now but it seems
like weeks. The glider made the trip OK and is still stashed in its little short pack box.
We have looked at a lot of vans for sale and seen a lot of crap.
A lot of shady car dealer types all trying to sell vans in Auckland
and some travelers trying to sell their vans that look like they have had a very hard life.
We finally found one we liked that we bought off of very nice English couple that had had it for a year or so. It has a few issues that need dealing with but this van “feels” good and has a very basic camper set up in it which is quite functional and can be adapted and improved to fit our needs.
After driving and vacationing in so many VW vans over the years it is going to be fun to try out the Toyota Hiace.

Debbie and Hiace

We were going to miss our Xmas dinner with neighbors and friends so we did it early