NZ on Air - 28th July, 2016

You could just buy a boat like everyone else, trailer it to the boat ramp, do the whole awkward launching thing, park the car and hopefully get to the fish before they die of old age. Or you could buy a hovercraft and travel from the car park on a cushion of air and visit those places a boat can’t go. The problem is where do you get a hovercraft? Well it just so happens Turners can help there.

Boats are good on water but generally rubbish on land and cars do the land thing pretty well but anything more than a few inches of water will kill most of them. But New Zealand throws up many situations where land and water intersect and neither boat nor car are much use in those situations. Take a tidal flat where a low tide leaves mud and high tide is a no go for cars. Or flood plains – sometimes dry, sometimes waterlogged and sometimes in between. Or rivers where they can go from a heavy flow of water to shallow and sometimes dry. If only there was one vehicle that could tackle all of this and more.

It’s not often a hovercraft comes up for sale but Turners Tauranga have just such a beast. This 2011 Air Rider AR34 has the ability to take you to those parts of NZ inaccessible by boat or car on a cushion of air. It is at home on wet grass, sand, mud, snow, ice, water and even river rapids. It really is a way to see New Zealand on air.

The 40hp V-Twin can power it forward and backwards, it has key start, latest fish finder technology, 20ltr fuel tank, spare new skirt fingers, navigation lights, VHF radio and a quality trailer. And if one cushion is holed on a rough bit of terrain there are four more that will stay inflated keeping you afloat and powering on.

Piloting a hovercraft takes a bit of finesse, so the current owner could potentially give the next owner some lessons. In the mean time you can watch this video showing the Air rider in its element.

The price for this head-turning, almost James Bond style, transportation is $40,000. And when it’s gone I’m not sure when you’ll get another opportunity. So don’t hover your finger above the Buy Now button too long if you don’t want to miss out. More details here.