Hey everybody, thought I'd just check in really quick. I have moved from Utah to New Zealand and have been here almost a month, and this place is a Montero/Pajero wonderland! SWB's up to about 1997, SWB Turbo-diesels, cool options that we don't have back home, and all sorts of other crazy 4x4's we don't have in the US. I've only done a bit of wheeling here but it looks promising, a lot of the routes here on the South Island just follow streambeds and channels or just go down the beach. Hope everybody is doing well, let me know if you have any questions about importing some different/obscure parts and I'll see what I can do.

I'm envious..... and I hope you recognize how lucky you are to be in one of the most beautiful places on earth - populated by some of the world's nicest people. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I miss the South Island a lot.

Frank

We need some pictures of this cool stuff that we don't get here and explainations of the options that you speak of. Or wait, maybe seeing pictures would make it worse for me because then I would want them even more <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cyclops.gif" alt="" />

Yes I think photos are needed to back up these outragous claims <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Do you have your rig there? I've been to Christchurch, Queenstown & Dunedin for the 2000 Masters Games.

Wow, what do you do that you are there? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I'll have to start bringing my camera around with me so I can take some shots of some of these mutant Raiders down here. There is a guy that lives down the street from me that has a SWB Turbo-diesel, and there are quite a few around town. I wish I had my rig here, but we drove it from Utah to LA and sold it to a guy there on our way out of the country. I currently have a Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) down here but it makes me miss my Raider, just looking at the underside it's not as solid or well-engineered a rig as the Mitsus are. However, they have a burlier Nissan called the Patrol that comes in a SWB version that looks pretty good. Also there are some good-looking older SWB Toyotas called Landcruiser Prados that have the advantage of having solid axles front and rear, so I'm thinking about trying to get ahold of one of those. I'll try to get some snapshots and post them soon! As for a job, I'm a chef and so I'm working for a restaurant down here. My wife and I visited NZ in 2001 for about 4 months and have been planning to move back since then, so we saved up, sold everything, and came down here last month. Lately I've just been working, surfing, and fishing, so it's going pretty good so far!

PS-Gas costs about $4 a gallon down here, so even though it's getting more expensive at home the USA still has the cheapest gas in the world!