Daryl and Edna MacLean got to experience something not a great many locals get to - a night at the luxurious Stonefly Lodge tucked away at the top of the Motueka Valley, courtesy of Bowater Toyota.

Stonefly Lodge is a premium lodge situated at the top of the Motueka River specialising in exceptional fly fishing right on the doorstep of the 150 acre property tucked into a valley off the main Motueka Highway. The views are stunning and the lodge has a"complete privacy" feel to it.

Architecturally designed and engineered, the Lodge is built from natural stone and timber acquired from the 150 acre property. Stonefly Lodge is designed to meet the needs of the most discerning traveller and yet provide home comforts with personalised hospitality from the experienced hosts. Daryl and Edna certainly appreciated the high levels of comfort of both the lodge and also the drive there, as part of the prize package was the use of one of our demonstrator vehicles for the weekend. We were right there with them as they arrived at the lodge in the brand new 2012 Toyota Hilux SR5.

Daryl and Edna were the lucky winners of a promotion we held recently, and what a luxurious prize to win. Just look at their smiles!

Bowater Toyota had a fantastic recent A&P Show a couple of weekends back. Not only did we win the best Large Trade Exhibit, but also the honour (and trophy) for Best Overall Exhibit.
It is always a really nice feeling to win something, so that is one of the reasons we decided to give away a whole lot of great prizes this year.

We put up a brand new iPad3, an Oakley Toyota 86 Hoodie and a pair of Oakley Toyota 86 sunglasses. All anyone had to do to enter was come along to our stand at the show. Easy as.

The winners came by this week to collect their prizes. Understandably they were chuffed to bits, especially luck iPad winner Chris Foster. Reasonably good prize for filling in his details and correctly answering that indeed the Toyota Hilux had been the Number 1 selling ute in New Zealand for 30 years.

From left: Bowater Toyota CEO Tony Bowater presents Chris Foster with an iPad3, Renee Carver with her Oakley 86 Hoodie, and Mike Tunney with his Oakley 86 sunglasses.

The Toyota 86 has been out for a few months now, has been getting rave reviews and awards across the board, and now the videos from the big car shows like Top Gear and 5th Gear are beginning to filter onto the internet.

These shows, and what they say, can literally make or break the launch buzz as a new car comes onto the market. This is ever more crucial when that car has been hyped as much as the Toyota 86. Most people that have been following the development rely on the opinions of "those in the know" before committing to beginning the paths to purchase. At $41,986, the base model Toyota 86 is very affordable, but the last thing anyone wants to do is spend money on a performance car that just does not perform. Is all of the hype justified? What will my friends think? Is this really what I am looking for? These are all very valid questions, and the first stage of this journey is to let the "professionals" do the talking.

First show of the grid, the UK's Fifth Gear.
If you are in a rush fast forward 30 seconds to get past the intro.

 Overall a very positive outcome and an endorsement. The final word from Fifth Gear presenter Jason Plato "This definitely feels like a car that has been designed for people that like driving........"