Today I booked the shipment of the FFRR from the UK to New Zealand !!! Finally, after too many years I'm finally shipping the FFRR to my home country (well the country I'm planning to live in for a long time, probably retirement, probably till I die). The sale of my Kawasaki ZZR1400 has raised the funds to get the FFRR here. I bought the Kawa in 2007 (only 1 year old with 877 miles on it) for a bike trip and kept it ever since. But since I now own my favourite bike ever, the Suzuki B-King, I don't need the Kawa anymore and I don't have space for two bikes anyway.

So today the sale was closed and straight away I booked the shipment.

If all goes according to plan, the FFRR will leave next week and should be in NZ before Xmas. If I'm lucky, I can pick it up just before Xmas, if not it will be in the new year !!!!!

I'm pretty chuffed finally getting my favorite car ever !!!!! MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

nice to hear from you eugene, hope all goes well..  ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Hi Stan, all is well these days. After the low work era, we have relocated to New Zealand and the family has settled in really well, the girls love it here and so do I. Beautiful country and the most lovely people you can hope for. The only thing that was missing was the FFRR (I'm driving a Toyota Estima for crying out loud) but that is going to be sorted soon.

How are you doing these days ?? MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Could you not have bought one from Japan and imported it?

Rust free and normally fairly low mileage.

Jim

Wondered where you had gone hope all works out well with the shipping

Hi Jim, I have owned this FFRR for a long time and it is my perfect configuration. Also the FFRRs are quite a bit more expensive once imported here and I don't have the experience of buying from Japan, so I would have to rely on the imported cars and then might have to deal with the quirks of Japanese cars (like our current Toyota).

I will keep you all posted on the process. I have one big advantage, our friends in the UK who are managing the detailing, service and the delivery to port. They are great as they have also been babysitting the FFRR for a long time.

It is good to be "back" on the forum as well, I have missed it quite a bit !!! I hope there is still the same banter as there used to be, the nice banter I mean . MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Da's lang geleden. Je bent een happy kiwi geworden, great!

Evening Eugene, glad to read your safe and well having relocated... Gods speed with delivery sir

Thank you all, it is great seeing you again.

Will keep you posted on progress. Today the FFRR will be delivered to port, detailing (focus on getting rid of anything NZ doesn't want to come into the country) and oil service (didn't want to put that in the trunk) done.

Paperwork is pretty much sorted, just need to send the package to the people on this side to do customs clearance and MPI inspection (looking for bio hazards).

It should be arriving just before Xmas, so if all goes well I will have a very very happy (green, hot/cooled seats) Xmas.

Apparently they give you tracking options (I already know the vessel that is going to take it so I can track that as well). Will be cool to see it make its way around the globe.

Once I got it fully rego'd here, I plan to take it on a few trips, most importantly the Whangamomona Hotel and the Forgotten World Highway and a photo with Maunga Taranaki in the background!!!! MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Yesterday the RR was removed from the container and today the MPI/IVS inspections were done and it is now fully cleared. Unfortunately I can't find any transport up North till Jan. Looking forward to picking it up. My youngest is looking forward to it as she gets to come along (we're flying which makes it even more interesting for her).

Will post pics when I have it in my grubby little hands !! The unloaded pics looked brilliant though. MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

dont forget to take the jump leads  ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Yeah, I'm a bit worried about that although in the pics they sent me of the unloaded RR, the hazard lights seem to be on, window open so I'm guessing it has power. Also the battery is virtually new (replaced shortly before shipping) so I may be lucky. Sofar this RR has been brilliant, so hoping that stays the same for the years to come.

Will keep you posted !!!!! MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Great to hear from you Eugene. All the best in your "new" country - I am sure you cant wait to get behind the wheel of the Fattie again.

Great to see she's landed in one piece!

Given how long you've been without her, you must be getting impatient knowing she's close now!

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

Wooohoooo, we made it home without any technical issues!!! On Friday I flew up with my youngest daughter (she loves the RR and flying so win win for her). The pick-up was easy peasy, two signatures and the RR was mine. It had good company, a Cayenne, McLaren and S-Class, not sure about the heaps of caravans though. Oh and there was a Defender hiding in the back as well.

Next step was compliance check and rego and that is where things didn't go too well. Even though I had booked and I was half an hour earlier than what I told them, they said they couldn't do it and I had to wait till Monday at least. That of course doesn't work for me as I have to go back to work (and it is very busy at the moment). So they arranged for the appointment to be transferred to the New Plymouth branch. The reason they couldn't do the compliance check as it supposedly takes 4 to 5 hours as they take all the door panels off, look underneath the carpets and behind all the trim to look for flood damage or lousy repair work and they look at the seatbelt mounting points, brake disks etc. etc. And because there was another car, they couldn't do it even though I arrived at 9.30.

So now we have an issue, the RR is still on UK plates and I have a 5 hour plus drive home (we were going to stay overnight in Auckland with very good friends of ours). So I thought, what the hell, lets risk it. That did turn out to be no issue at all. So I drove up further North, we went to the beach (in the RR) etc.

Next morning early up to beat traffic (it wasn't too busy for an end of holiday Saturday to be honest) out of Auckland (across the harbour bridge can be an issue) and down South towards New Plymouth. I saw one police biker, two police cars, of which one was sitting, looking towards us, doing speed checks and NOTHING, they either didn't notice (the front plate is white like here but still bigger and not 6 digits in a row and the rear plate is yellow, while NZ plates are both white) or didn't care. I'm insured anyway, so that is not the issue, here you can insure a car or bike before you get them registered (was the same with my motorbikes).

So the drive back was brilliant, (apart from the AC not working, it needs regassing I'm sure, luckily it is not that hot at the moment). The RR drove beautifully, absolutely no issues whatsoever. It was a great drive and I'm very happy to have it back. Monday morning it goes to the compliance check here and that can take a few days apparently as their team here is quite small. I don't care, I haven't had the car for 4 years, I can wait for a few more days.

Once it is registered, I will do a full service, coolant, gearbox, diffs, transfer case, brake fluid, filters, plugs (engine oil was done before shipping) and do a full brake check (especially the parking brake) and a check of all hoses etc. I also need to Gliptone all the leather. I will also update all the ECU's and switch on the DRLs. Today I did wipers (front), puddle lights (Land Rover logo, sorry very naff but I liked it at the time), I put a dash cover on (stop glare and the harsh UV light), rubber RR mats (only 50 NZD !!! and they're near new)). I also bought a Viofo A129 dual dashcam with parking detection (my Toyota got hit by someone recently while it was parked, 500 NZD excess !!) that also needs to go in. So plenty to do, in addition to getting the Toyota ready for sale. Oh and it needs a towbar as well (it has tow prep but not the bar).

As soon as I have cleaned up the car, polished it and have the ceramic coating done, I will take it out for a few photos!! MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!