Ngaroto, after a sojourn of just over 52 years departed Rotorua by truck bound for Mana, just north of Wellington where she was delicately lowered back into the sea for the second time in her life, after a half century interval. She then undertook a very uneventful passage across Cook Strait to the Nelson shipyard […]
On arrival in Rotorua, Ngaroto was launched and undertook her maiden voyage on Saturday 24th September 1955 for Judd and Jean Davy who had commissioned her construction in Great Britain. She was licenced by Maritime NZ to carry 117 passengers (as a Million Dollar Cruise boat she was licenced for 49 passengers) and had a […]
Million Dollar 1 had an interesting history of her own long before she passed into Betty and Wayne’s care and was originally called Ngaroto (many lakes). She was built at the Rowhedge Ironworks in Colchester in the United Kingdom from riveted Corten steel so that she would be able to cope with the caustic waters […]
After he sold the Hydrofoil Wayne had a variety of careers until he met up with the love of his life Betty. Together they planned to return to the lake with a lovely traditional launch and so the search began. Eventually they found the bare bones of what they wanted in Rotorua being a gorgeous […]
Find out the history of Million Dollar Cruise.
