Farmer Evelyn gets her wheels back

BIKE THRILL: Mid-North Honda owner Craig Blunt-Mackenzie presents Evelyn Reilly with her new quad bike. PHOTO/DEBBIE BEADLE

When Evelyn Reilly was asked to call into Mid-North Honda to see if a quad bike that had turned up there was the one stolen from her, she took her spare keys just in case.

The 79-year-old Kaikohe farmer was hopeful she'd be leaving the Waipapa business with a bike - but never in a million years did she expect it to be a brand new one donated by Mid-North Honda with the help of distributors Blue Wing Honda.

"They showed me a bike and asked me if my key fitted it. I said 'that's not my bike'," Mrs Reilly said after yesterday morning's surprise presentation of a new quad bike.

"I came over here to pick up my old bike and I'm leaving with a nice and shiny and brand new one. I'm a bit speechless, I really don't know what to say," she said.

Husband Sean Reilly and other family members helped keep the secret by spinning a yarn about the stolen bike possibly being found. "When we got there I didn't recognise anyone around me, then all of a sudden there were my two granddaughters and my great grandson," a delighted Mrs Reilly said.

Two weeks ago she was woken in the early hours of a Friday morning by a car slowly exiting the driveway of her small farm on the outskirts of Kaikohe.

Assuming it was one her grandsons being dropped off after a night out, she thought little of it - until she discovered her quad bike missing later that morning.

She's been farming all her life but as the years pass by finds her quad bike essential.

Blue Wing Honda read about the theft in the Northern Advocate and worked with Mid-North Honda owner Craig Blunt-Mackenzie to surprise Mrs Reilly with a new TRX 420 FPM model.

"It's fantastic to be able do this for her," Mr Blunt-Mackenzie said.