Toyota’s Top to Bottom off-road team, including Marc Ellis at the wheel of a special expedition FJ Cruiser, set off on its epic journey from Cape Reinga to Bluff yesterday.
The trip is to help celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Toyota Land Cruiser, an iconic vehicle which has been in New Zealand for nearly six decades.
Television presenter Marc Ellis received a dawn blessing and haka from tangata whenua Ngati Kuri ahead of an expected 16-day challenge to get to the southernmost tip of the South Island using back country roads, farm trails and established tracks.
“It is a highly spiritual place for Ngati Kuri, and their words will no doubt cause us to reflect on the task ahead,” Marc Ellis said. “I love challenges, and there are few things I like better than being out and about in heartland New Zealand, encountering down-to-earth Kiwis who make this country special.”
If he wants to drive on tarseal at any point he has to earn credits by accepting further challenges from the public. An expected highlight will be to take the FJ Cruiser on a Goodbye Pork Pie-inspired train trip from Masterton to Wellington to avoid the city’s motorway network.
Nearly 1000 people around the country have answered Marc Ellis’ appeal for help, with route advice and offers of classic Kiwi hospitality. Each one has gone in the draw to win a 1970s FJ40 fully refurbished by Toyota’s own ‘Signature Class’ plant in Thames
He will meet locals and national legends alike on his journey, including netball icon Dame Lois Muir, multi-world champion shearer David Fagan, and rugby great ‘Grizz’ Wylie. His first passengers this morning were two Ngati Kuri kaumatua along Ninety Mile Beach.
The new FJ Cruiser’s design is unashamedly a tribute to the original FJ40. It has been specially fitted with high-tech navigation equipment, storage capacity, and even a fridge. Read the rest of this entry »
For 2011 Toyota New Zealand is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its legendary Land Cruiser.
The vehicles will head south on the North Island’s western side as far as Taranaki, traverse the island to Hawke’s Bay, and on to the South Island via Wellington. From Picton, the FJ Cruiser will go through the centre of the South Island high country and the heart of Otago.