Two 10-metre, bulletproof army excavators rolled into Tauranga last night.
With a top speed of 90km/h, the high mobility engineers' excavators (HMEEs), also known as combat engineer tractors, arrived in the Western Bay about 7pm, following a long haul from Gisborne.
The mammoth diggers are two of six owned by
the New Zealand Army.
A team of five army personnel is touring the North Island on the excavators as a mobility exercise, said section commander Corporal Marcus Good.
The group left Linton Military Camp in Palmerston North on Monday and will drive to Whangarei today. They will then travel to Hamilton on Thursday, arriving back in Palmerston North on Friday.